Complete Careers Conference:

‘Work readiness – may the force be with your learners’

Thursday 4^th May 2023

9.30am -1.00pm

Conference theme:

‘Work readiness – may the force be with your learners’

We (yet again) have updated statutory guidance for careers (January 2023, Careers guidance and access for education and training providers ) and we are 10 years on from when ‘Gatsby’ was first introduced to the careers vocabulary.  This conference will celebrate the success of all that has been achieved, but ask the question: are we doing enough to enable our learners to become ‘work ready’?

Careers education and guidance can have a significant impact on a learners’ mental health and wellbeing.  It also has a vital role in supporting social mobility and social justice.  For most in policy and wider society however careers education and guidance is about preparing young people to the world of work.  With careers education and guidance undervalued and misunderstood, this conference will shine the spotlight on work readiness to help improve our offer to learners and develop the impact of our work in society.

In preparing young people for work we often talk of ‘essential skills’ or ‘ employability skills’.  This conference questions the value of this approach and introduces a broader concept of individual agency and empowerment underpinned by a full understanding of what it means to be ‘work ready’.

This no cost conference will provide Career Leaders with an understanding of the existing evidence of impact for work readiness.  It will explore the views of employers and young people from recent local and national research projects including Luton Careers Hub and the Local Skills Improvement Plan.

The conference will consider all career related national policy and practice with a focus on the individual learner with contributions from:

• The Careers and Enterprise Company – Ready for the Future: A review of Careers Education in England
• The Career Development Institute – How the Career Development Framework supports work readiness
• Luton Careers Hub – Work readiness research project

At the conference workshops will introduce you to simple and effective methods you could introduce to develop and quality assure your learners’ work readiness.

These include:

• Careers Guidance – Utilising your Careers Guidance Practitioner to measure work-readiness.
• Focus groups – can learners ‘talk the talk’?
• Turning the table – what can meaningful encounters tell you about your learners?