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THE NEED FOR QUALITY IN CAREERS EDUCATION
Throughout the FE and HE sectors "quality" and "impact" are factors that are continually being measured and reported upon. Careers work, whether it is delivered by qualified careers advisers or teachers within the their lessons, is not exempt and the Government is placing increasing emphasis that careers work, who ever delivers it and however it is delivered, needs to meet specific quality standards and its impact measured. There are additional reasons as to why a cross-college quality careers service is important, and these are:
careers provision and student destinations are significant influencers on people's course, college or university decisions.
Petroc's financial security is partly dependant upon meeting strict quality standards in relation to its programme of careers provision.
Providing a quality of careers provision cuts across the whole college and can include visits to businesses, employer visits to the college, work experience, in-course careers teaching and impartial 1:1 careers information advice and guidance.
To this end, holistic careers provision across the college needs to conform to a set of quality principles so that when measured provides Petroc with the highest standards of quality that are on offer. The careers quality standards that Petroc needs to work to include:
Gatsby Careers Benchmarks
Gatsby is a charitable educational foundation which has produced a set of 8 careers benchmarks that set out what a quality careers service should offer. The DfE state that all schools and colleges need to have a stable careers programme that meet the 8 Gatsby benchmarks by December 2020.
They go onto to say that "Colleges are expected to comply with this guidance and this forms part of grant funding. In the event of non-compliance it is open to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to take action in accordance with the provisions of its Grant agreement". Department of Education, (2018). Careers guidance Guidance for further education colleges and sixth form colleges. London, page.6.
Of particular relevance to the curriculum is benchmark 4 which states that:
"All teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. For example, STEM subject teachers should highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of future career paths." Ref:https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/schools-colleges/gatsby-benchmarks Accessed 4.10.18
For a full guide to this benchmark click HERE.
Quality in Careers Standard
The latest statutory guidance issued by the DfE (2018) "... strongly recommends that all colleges work towards the Quality in Careers Standard - the national quality award for careers education, information and guidance."
Matrix
"The Matrix Standard is a unique quality standard for organisations to assess and measure their advice and support services, which ultimately supports individuals in their choice of career, learning, work and life goals." Ref:https://matrixstandard.com/ accessed 15/11/18
Matrix assess the quality of advice and guidance services and it is a requirement of the Department for Education that all colleges receiving their funding hold this award. Petroc's Advice and Guidance service is fully assessed every three years with "improvement" checks annually.
Ofsted
The House of Commons Library briefing paper (Number 07236, 8 October 2018) "Careers guidance in schools, colleges and universities" states that "... from January 2018, Ofsted will be required to comment in college inspection reports on the careers guidance provided to young people".
Ofsted are interested in the impact of careers work and during their inspections will ask your students whether or not they have received any careers support and in what impact this has had upon them.
TEF
The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework is a measure of the quality of teaching and other factors within English HEIs. Based on the outcomes of the assessment, awards are given to HEIs at bronze, silver and gold levels. For example Petroc and Plymouth University were awarded a TEF silver rating by the Office of Students.
TEF uses 6 metrics, two of these are directly related to careers and are:
Employment or further study (6 months after graduation)
Highly Skilled Employment or further study (6 months after graduation)
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