AdVICE FOR Parents & Carers

The basic definition of a career is the sequence of positions and roles held by a person in the course of their working life. This definition refers to the information that is typically recorded on a person’s CV. A wider and more holistic definition would include how a person feels about the experiences they have had on the way and its impact on their life as a whole.

Refers to taught activities and interventions in the planned curriculum that lead to learning. It is very difficult to teach careers education well as a subject. The term ‘career-related learning’ is sometimes used to describe a looser provision in which other learning may be dominant, e.g., career related learning in animal care. ‘Career learning’ is a useful term that describes the learning of the career by a student taking a vocational subject such Catering or Horticulture. Career learning is embedded across the curriculum at Petty Pool College. Students are given opportunities from Year 1 to take part in work experience placements linked to their curriculum areas to help build work related skills.

This term can have many meanings. It can refer to all the activities that make up the College’s careers provision, e.g., careers information advice and guidance, careers education, work-related experiences, planning and recording progress, coaching, mentoring and guidance. It can also be used to refer to the range of help and support activities for young people across the College.

There is more to careers guidance than one-to-one interviews or conversations, group work within curriculum areas and on work placements, curriculum links, job coach interventions, use of digital technology and social media tools for job searching and careers related research are part of emerging practice. Where the term ‘advice and guidance’ is used, ‘advice’ refers to the straightforward help given to a student and ‘guidance’ refers to the more complex and in-depth help that some young people need.

Young people need career skills to manage their own careers and to contribute to the well-being of themselves, their families, their communities, the wider society of which they are a part, the environment and the economy. The College’s careers provision, therefore, needs to help individuals to develop and raise their aspirations, carry out career exploration, become more adaptable and resilient, make decisions about transitions, increase motivation, and be able to present themselves well in applications and interviews.

The shorthand used in education can be baffling to outsiders! CEIAG stands for Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance.

A young person is employable if they have the skills and resources to get and maintain themselves in work. The key point from a careers perspective is that employability is not just about possessing the skills that employers need. It is about having the skills that employers are looking for and which enable the individual to fulfil their aspirations in working life.

At Petty Pool college we deliver an employability course to our leavers in their final year looking at all those skills they will need to become employed.

Showing initiative and being entrepreneurial are key qualities and skills that enable individuals to contribute to the health of the economy, whilst helping them design and manage their own working, social and independent lives.

The Equality Act (2010) offers protection to individuals and groups that might otherwise experience stereotyping, discrimination, or prejudice in any area of their lives including their careers and work. The ‘protected characteristics’ that apply to young people are sex, race, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity. At Petty Pool College we strive to promote the importance of the careers guidance duty being underpinned by the equality duty.

IAG refers to Information, Advice and Guidance (see ‘careers guidance’ above)

Impartial does not mean being neutral. It refers to putting the interests of the young person before any other consideration. Impartiality can be compromised if college staff were ignorant of the full range of opportunities available to their students at key decision and transition points. What matters most to students is the credibility of careers staff, e.g. Do they know what they’re talking about? Can they make things happen? Our very experienced job coaches will work with all students, completing vocational profiles to ensure the students voice is heard and supporting students to consider their career/transition choices after college.  Independent In this context, means external to the college. Petty Pool employs an independent careers guidance company to meet and advise students individually.

Mentoring is a planned programme in which a more experienced individual helps one or more less experienced individuals to develop and make progress in their learning and work.

Refers to a specialist member of staff who will support students/young people as they move toward the transition from education to adulthood, focusing on access to employment, whether paid or voluntary, exploring providers who will be able to offer a service after transition, and help with training to ensure students have the correct skills needed as they move into adulthood including work skills, independent living skills travel training etc. Job coaches help students to get the best out of themselves strengthening the motivation and aspirations of individuals to succeed in their chosen transition pathway.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic education. It refers to programmes of study that are designed to promote personal and social well-being and ‘learning for life’. Petty Pool College delivers a programme of Preparing for Adulthood activities which encompasses PSHE. Aspects of careers education may be delivered through PSHEe either in an integrated way or as separate modules.

Senior Management Team. A member of the SMT has overall responsibility for careers work in the College and can therefore ensure that the college is providing appropriate levels of support for all students. Mrs Wendy Bowyer is the SMT member who is the Careers Lead at Petty Pool College.

A Supported Internship is a type of Study Programme. It is specifically aimed at young people aged 16 to 24 with learning difficulties and/or disabilities who have an EHCP and would therefore benefit from extra support to gain employment. It is an alternative to classroom-based learning, it is employment focused, more hands-on learning in the workplace. This will help students to develop the confidence in their own abilities to perform successfully at work. Upon completion the Intern should have developed the skills needed to enable them to progress into sustainable paid employment.

Work-related learning is learning about, for and through work. Learning about work promotes economic and industrial understanding. Learning for work promotes careers awareness and employability skills. Learning through work promotes the use of the world of work as a resource and is relevant and underpins learning in all subjects.