The Career Mark approach
Since the first Lockdown in 2020 Education for many young people has been significantly affected.
At Complete-Careers we believe it is more vitally important than ever to keep career learning at the centre of your curriculum. Learners need to be thinking positively about themselves and their futures and your career programme can support this.
Supporting your learners
The national Quality in Careers Standard requires you to show how you are supporting learners to make successful transitions through learning and into work.
Key to career learning currently for learners are the following three strands.
- Learning about themselves and the ways they can develop their skills, qualities and knowledge.
- Learning about the world of work, locally, regionally and further a field so that they know what opportunities may be available to them now and in the future including the full range of learning opportunities from 11 and up.
- Preparing for their future byIdentifying targets and goals including day to day SMART targets to ensure they do their best to fulfil their individual potential. This might be by remembering to be prepared for lessons, doing their homework, knowing how to become a Paramedic or even how to fulfil their dream to become a rocket scientist. i.e., moving themselves from where they are to where they want to be.
You should also be working towards or have achieved the Gatsby Benchmarks.
Changes of Plans
In March 2020 things changed. Your plans for career learning as well as many other things may have had to go out of the Window, but you have no doubt been continuing in a variety of ways to support your learners. This 2021 national lockdown is no doubt also impacting on what you are doing to help learners move towards their futures. We believe that there are opportunities as well as threats with what is happening.
Achieving the national Quality in Careers Standard Currently
Achieving the national Quality in Careers Standard using the Career Mark approach through Complete-Careers is still achievable now. Ask yourself the following questions and then review what you were planning to do, what you are doing and what you can do.
You will then see that the award is still within your reach despite lockdown.
Key Questions
- How are you making sure learners still have access to Career learning, information, advice and guidance?
- How did you support Y11 and 13 in the Summer term and other learners?
- Have you identified and shared resources for learners to access via your website or in other ways?
- How are you helping learners to think about the impact of lockdown and the pandemic on them as individuals?
- Have you asked for their feedback on how they find working at home or online?
- Are you asking what skills and qualities learners are discovering in themselves during the pandemic? Examples might include helping others, creating, that they need people, that they can work alone?
- Are you asking learners to think about the new ways of working and living the pandemic is creating? For example, remote working and lessons, buying more online.
- Are you helping them to understand the role of key workers both front line and less visible? Examples might include hospital and care home staff as well as those who keep the utilities and logistic sectors functioning?
- Have you asked them to think about the scientific and economic developments the pandemic is identifying in your area and across the UK? The creation of the vaccines is a central element of this.
- Are you helping them understand the role of the media including social media in the pandemic? This might include use of Data and real and fake news.
Striving for Continuous improvement in the current climate.
We are sure you are still helping learners to be best they can be so they can find and achieve career and life goals. If you are doing this and can evidence what you are doing, then you can still achieve the Quality in Career Standard.
Not perfection but keeping career learning at the centre.
We are not looking for perfection in your career programme and realise things will have changed. We are looking for evidence of how your organisation is flexibly keeping career learning as part of its core curriculum.
Janet Hutchinson
Career Mark Manager
Complete-Careers
