Resources and Facilities
Modifying and building on existing arrangements for careers education and IAG to support the implementation of the 14-19 reforms will require local consortia and their partners to review the resources and facilities allocated to these areas. Issues to consider include the following.
ICT capacity – maintain a watchful eye on ICT capacity. Increased use of ICT to support career exploration, progression planning and transition raises issues of capacity, access and compatibility both within individual organisations and across a local consortium.
Accommodation – increased partnership working reinforces the need for schools and colleges to have a dedicated multi-purpose careers base. Check that existing accommodation:
- provides space for partners to meet and to undertake curriculum development and IAG activities
- offers users easy access to a telephone, a computer workstation, the internet, information resources etc.
- provides secure storage for sensitive and/or confidential information.
Administrative support – review the level of administrative support for careers education and IAG. Ensure that individuals with operational responsibility for careers education and IAG have sufficient support to enable them to focus on leadership and management priorities rather than routine organisational and administrative tasks.
Non-contact time – check that those responsible for leading, managing and co-ordinating careers education and IAG in schools and colleges have sufficient non-contact time to fulfil their responsibilities.
Collaborative work – identify the resource implications (e.g. staff time) of the collaborative development of careers education, information, advice and guidance resources.
Careers information and resource areas – check that these:
- are in a convenient location and easy for young people and those supporting them to access
- have comprehensive, up-to-date, objective and accurate information resources in a range of media that meet young people’s needs and support the delivery of the career-related elements of their curriculum
- are organised in a logical and user-friendly way, and that layout, displays, signposting and staffing help young people to make effective use of resources and give them anonymous access to sensitive materials.
Funding – identify funding priorities. In the initial stages of implementing the 14-19 reforms these may include supporting action to:
- review and revise careers education activities – e.g. to enhance provision in years 7 and 8, to introduce new career exploration modules on 14-19 learning opportunities, and to incorporate new curriculum requirements and guidance
- develop common systems for individual learning planning
- promote staff development – e.g. professional development placements, learning visits, training sessions on qualifications, progression opportunities and basic guidance skills
- enhance ICT facilities for careers work
- update careers information resources.
Questions to ask yourself
- Do existing organisational and/or local consortium resources and facilities support the effective delivery of careers education and IAG?
- How do you know?
- What, if anything, could you do to improve the situation and who could help?
