“Vital” careers guidance should be priority of school leaders when planning funding spend, says Skills Minister praising North East college
Providing high-quality careers advice and support is not just “a question of funding, but how a school chooses to spend it”, said Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Robert Halfon.
The Minister argued that some schools have better careers provision than others not because they have a “greater share of the funding pot, but because they see providing high-quality careers advice as being vitally important to the future of their pupils.”
Gateshead College was mentioned as an example of good practice, where careers learning is “weaved into all aspects of students’ learning”. However, Mr Halfon pointed out that “these are isolated examples and we need to spread good practice more widely”.
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Judith Doyle, CEO and principal of Gateshead College, gave the skills minister a tour around different campuses, speaking to students and employers, seeing first hand some of the types of learning they’re undertaking and capturing their views on issues like access to careers advice and guidance.
She said: “Technical education is already at the heart of our curriculum and has been for some time. From full time study programmes through to higher level technical training and apprenticeships, our curriculum is seamlessly aligned to the region’s economic priorities for skills development. We are here to get people work ready and give them an edge in the jobs market and that is what we do.
“Mr Halfon saw the exciting, innovative work we’re doing in the construction and building services sector, how we’re creating a dynamic new career pathway developing the higher level technical skills employers are demanding.”
The Minister also mentioned the Good Career Benchmarks, currently being piloted in the North East, and encouraged all schools to use the Compass tool that allows them to review their progress against the benchmarks.
Mr Halfon announced that the Government will publish a careers strategy for all ages later this year, in a bid to address the quality and consistency of careers provision across the country.
The full speech is available to read here.