PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
careers support. They start seeing the point
of school and why they need to tuck their shirt
in – not because the teacher wants them to,
but because they’ll need to at work.
Although I’m immensely busy, I love it — the
role takes me out the classroom and into
business, where I originally started my career.
I’ve done everything from working in a
brokerage firm in London, owning a café in
Portugal, working as an auxiliary nurse and a
stint in transport and logistics. This gives me
gravitas because I can talk to young people
about the transferable skills I have learned:
communication, leadership, team working,
initiative and flexibility.
What was most valuable
about your online training?
It has allowed me to learn about best practice
while not having to take time out of the
classroom — I completed most of it during the
weekends, at my own pace. There is also an
online forum where you can exchange ideas.
The most valuable modules were around
maximising internal resources, managing
external partners and linking careers to the
curriculum — like many schools, we have
struggled with Gatbsy Benchmark 4. There is
a section on how to use and access labour-
market information which was particularly
helpful as teenagers can find this part really
dull. They suggested quick and easy wins to
incorporate it into lessons in an engaging way.
Free training for careers leaders
The Careers & Enterprise Company has developed a 12-hour online course with Teach First
for careers leaders. This flexible, free resource introduces the essential knowledge, skills
and resources required to deliver against the Gatsby Benchmarks. At the end, participants
are supported to identify further steps in the learning and accredited opportunities.
THE BITE-SIZE MODULES COVER:
• reviewing your school or college provision • managing external partners
• developing your careers programme • pulling it all together in a plan
• maximising internal resources
Bursaries for face-to-face training are also available to 1,300 careers leaders in England.
Find out more at: careersandenterprise.co.uk/careers-leaders
How have you been able to
put this into practice?
Sarah Noble,
Arrow Vale RSA Academy
I asked
teachers to
display on their
classroom doors
the jobs they
had been in
before and the
skills they
learned
As part of National Careers Week, I asked
teachers to display on their classroom doors
the jobs they had been in before and the skills
they learned. This sparked lots of conversations
and the kids were really inspired.
After watching a video during the training,
of a guy talking about how he approached his
school’s needs through a careers education
audit, I asked every department to list what
they were and were not doing, and after
identifying the gaps, have asked them to build
careers activities and opportunities into their
curriculum maps and schemes of work.
I have also introduced a more targeted
approach to ensure employer encounters are
meaningful for every child. Teachers conduct
a short interview with each student and draw
up a spreadsheet to record their interests and
career aspirations.
We found it quite useful to rate the students
too — from those who don’t need much in the
way of intervention through to those who have
no idea what they want to do. We can then
target those in most need of support and have
identified employers such as the NHS to come
in and speak to young people who showed an
interest in becoming porters, nurses or doctors.
What challenges have you faced?
First, you can get pulled into doing everything,
but we need to lead our colleagues and
encourage a whole-school team effort.
The biggest challenge, however, is getting
buy-in from the rest of the team. If I stand up
in the staffroom and say that careers is
important, it doesn’t always carry much weight.
It’s finding evidence that this works. And we
are seeing this through the transformation of
FUTURE
FUTURE
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