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<insert school name>

Career Education Plan

2011 - 2014

INDEX

Career Education Plan in Context

1Strategic focus and policies

  • 1 School’s charter / Strategic plans and goals
  • 2 Career education and guidance policy
  • 3 STAR policy and priorities
  • 4 Work-based learning policy
  • 5 EOTC policy
  • 6 Equity policy
  • 7 Memorandum of Agreement

2Procedures and systems

  • 1 Subject selection and academic guidance
  • 2 Off-site activities and work experience
  • 3 Student profiling and tracking
  • 4 Identification of and interventions for students at risk
  • 5 Referral and follow-up
  • 6 Student entry and leaving procedures
  • 7 Family and community liaison and communication

3Development plans

  • 1 Career education and guidance development priorities
  • 2 Implementation (or action) plans
  • 3 Learning areas annual goals (x8)

4Evaluation and review

  • 1 Planning and review procedures
  • 2 Evaluation plan
  • 3 Career Education data and analysis (baseline and other)
  • 4 Student achievement and destination data and analysis
  • 5 STAR and Gateway evaluations
  • 6 Family and community survey review
  • 7 Annual school reviews
  • 8 External reviews

5Accountability and reporting

  • 1 Job or person roles and responsibilities
  • 2 Job descriptions
  • 3 Performance management/appraisal system
  • 4 Annual report to the board of trustees
  • 5 Bi-annual report to the principal
  • 6 Annual STAR funding report (to MoE)
  • 7 Annual Gateway reports (to Tertiary Education Commission)

6Financial management

  • 1 Budgeting procedures and dates
  • 2 Entitlement notice
  • 3 Gateway funding contract
  • 4 CIG, STAR and Gateway budgets
  • 5 Careers department asset register
  • 6 Monthly statements
  • 7 Departmental budgets

Career Education Plan in Context

A Career Education Plan (CEP) links and consolidates a range of documents related to career education management and provision in our school.

It sets down in writing:

  • what is already happening, especially areas of good practice
  • priorities and strategies for further development
  • ways to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies.

It is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ document. Rather it is a ‘reference collection’ that brings together in one place essential career education planning and process documentation with other relevant documents from across our school.

A career education plan helps our school to develop and maintain quality, sustainable career education which is focussed on ensuring smooth transitions to work, education or training for our students.

It provides a foundation for the delivery and development of integrated whole school careers education and a scale against which our school’s progress and performance can be measured.

To be effective, the plan needs to:

  • become an integral part of our school’s strategic planning
  • reflect contributions from a wide range of people across the school and community
  • be implemented and evaluated.

1Strategic focus and policies

1.1Strategic plans and goals

Mission statement

Career education and guidance in our school will provide students with the skills, knowledge and attitudes they need to:

•make informed decisions about school study options and post-school directions

•enhance their performance in various study, training and work roles throughout their lives

•develop competencies in self awareness, work awareness, decision-making and planning skills.

Aims

Career education and guidance will enable students to achieve the following:

•have a realistic understanding of their own abilities and values

•be able to locate information about education, training and employment

•have a clear understanding of the wide range of educational, training and employment options available to them when they leave school

•understand the requirements of tertiary institutions and employers

•make good subject selections (relevant to ability)

•set educational goals and be able to implement plans to ensure that they realise their potential

•identify and develop skills that will assist them to perform to full potential in future work roles

•be able to communicate to others their skills and abilities

•have an understanding of job maintenance skills

•understand the nature of the New Zealand scene and its impact on individuals and society

Strategic goal 1 / Develop and implement whole-school, integrated career education
Operational goal / Review current delivery across the school
Operational plan /
  • develop career learning outcomes survey forms
  • attend HODs’ meeting to brief them on the scope and components of career education and to establish an understanding among staff of what is already being delivered
  • distribute survey forms and ask HODs to discuss with their staff at department meetings and complete for return to HOD Careers by (date)
  • check and summarise the results of the survey. Follow up where necessary to get clarification or further detail
  • identify strengths and gaps in current provision
  • develop the plan for the second Stage 1 goal: assist staff to further develop or enhance existing programmes, to enhance careers delivery in those departments or faculties identified through the survey as having a strong focus on careers

Evaluation approach / Assess material received for completeness and quality of information. Obtain feedback on the s survey process and format through discussions with departments.
Strategic goal 2 / Develop and implement whole-school, integrated career education
Operational goal / Develop the capacity of curriculum areas to deliver career education
Operational plan /
  • discuss career learning outcomes survey findings with heads of departments or faculties identified as having little focus on careers. Establish with each the feasibility of including career education components in their programmes in the forthcoming academic year
  • select two departments to work with first to develop career education components for delivery
  • with each department, attend a department meeting to:
–give a brief overview of the scope and components of career education
–report back on the survey findings and discuss how existing teaching could be given more of a careers focus
–brainstorm ideas for additional activities or modules which could be incorporated into existing programmes
  • provide a summary of ideas to each head of department for further discussion with staff
  • meet with head of department to get feedback and agree next steps
  • work with assigned staff member(s) to develop teaching and learning activities and resources, and determine an evaluation approach
  • include a summary of the proposed career-related content in the school’s career education plan
  • provide other relevant resources and display materials, as available
  • provide professional development as required
  • meet with department staff to review delivery and identify/plan any necessary changes

Evaluation approach / Agree methods with departments to get teacher comment on the process and outcomes, and to measure changes in student understanding of how what they study links to the world of work.

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1.2Career education and guidance policy (see Appendix 1)

1.3STAR policy and priorities (see Appendix 2)

1.4Work-based learning policy (see Appendix 3)

1.5EOTC policy (see Appendix 4)

1.6Equity policy (see Appendix 5)

1.7 Memorandum of Agreement (see Appendix 6)

2Procedures and systems

2.1Subject selection and academic guidance

(school to add in current procedures)

2.2Off-site activities and work experience

Work experience

Work experience gives students chances to experience and recognise the demands of business environments and undertake work-related tasks within that environment. In many schools it is facilitated through placements in Gateway courses.

To get the best from work experience, you should:

•ensure senior management in schools and business are committed to the process and involved in developing the programme

•have clear aims and objectives and work with businesses on what is needed to deliver these (eg the type of placement, length, monitoring, supervision, assessment and evaluation)

•organise ahead: dates, locations, hours of work, transport arrangements, risk mitigation, student profiles for employers, what students need to take to placement, work experience agreements (which include parental permission), etc

•have processes that deliver good matches between the students’ interests and abilities and the opportunities employers are offering

•prepare and brief participants on expectations of participation, work output, conduct, time frames, safety issues (health and safety, child protection). If possible, involve the employer in this and arrange a visit by student and staff to the workplace prior to placement

•monitor students during work experience and check that logs, diaries or assessments are on track

•debrief students post-placement to discuss the learning gained from their experience and connect this to school learning

•evaluate the placements: look at completion rates, the suitability of individual placements, the learning and skill gain evidenced in students and ways to make the programme more effective.

Desirable elements in work experience programmes include:

•comprehensive induction for students as they begin their placement, covering expected business and learning outcomes, rules and regulations in the workplace and the people responsible for health and safety issues

•sufficient resources and support from adequately trained personnel for the student to achieve successful outcomes

•regular reviews of performance, with a two-way feedback process between student and employer

•completion of an employer evaluation report that the student can include in a portfolio and use as a reference for future work experience or employment. A report could include dates of the work placement, a short description of the work undertaken, key tasks, skills gained and attitude evidenced. Checklists with 5 point scales are generally welcomed by those completing the forms. Some employers may want a similar report from the student to help them evaluate the usefulness of the experience from their point of view.

Potential benefits for employers in providing work experience for students include:

•cost-effective access to motivated labour with new ideas from a different perspective

•influencing and possibly identifying future employees

•completing projects without using valuable time of full-time employees

•promoting vocational qualifications by keeping students in education but close to the labour market

•raising the company’s profile in the community

•giving current employees opportunities to gain experience and develop skills in training, supervising and supporting trainees

•better understanding the changes in the education system, through discussions with students about school life

Mentoring programmes

STEP 1

•What are the specific needs of the students that the programme will serve?

•What is the school already doing to meet these needs?

•How will the mentoring programme be integrated with and add value to that?

•What are the intended outcomes for the students, the mentors and the school?

•What is the likely demand from students to participate in the programme?

•What sort of organisations or individuals might be ready and willing to contribute to the programme and how will you promote the programme to them?

•Do your school and the organisations or individuals you wish to involve have the capacity, commitment and capability to run/provide quality mentoring programme?

STEP 2

•what type of mentoring would work best for the participants (given available time and resources)

–traditional: one adult to one student

–group: one adult to a group of up to four students

–team: a number of adults with several groups of students (with ratios of up to 1:4)

–peer: youth mentoring other youth, usually one to one, in curriculum based or pastoral activities

–e-mentoring: one to one using email, with occasional face to face meetings.

•the structure and scope of the interactions

•how your programme will handle:

–duration of relationship: what will work best for both parties?

–consistency of relationship: at least four hours per month is a good guideline. Strong relationships between mentor and student are particularly important for students at risk

–good screening of mentors and, where possible, training for mentors

–good matches between mentors and students

–disputes, complaints and other issues that could arise.

2.3 Student profiling and tracking

Recording student information is done in a variety of ways.

Need to think about think about:

•What information do you need and for what purposes?

•Who else needs or should have access to the information? Students, wider school staff, parents?

•Where will the information be stored?

–well-designed databases allow easier sharing as well as easier analysis and reporting of career-related data, as long as there are clear rules controlling the way content is entered

•Who enters and/or edits the information?

–for example, student management systems (SMS) can be set up so all staff can access information but only selected staff can enter or change information

•How will access to confidential information be managed?

Student management systems

Student management systems (SMS) now provide <insert school name> the functionality to record a lot of the information about students that used to be kept on other careers department documentation.

Some SMS, eg KAMAR, have a specific section for careers information which can be used to record career ideas, career event participation, etc. This is a useful tool for compiling lists for career events of students who have indicated interest in a particular field.

Our <insert school name> system MUSAC, can develop customised modules for schools for our SMS.

As the SMS is only accessible by staff, there is also be the facility to record confidential comments that may have come up in discussion with students. These may be useful to staff involved in pastoral care when they are working with a student.

Learning and career plans

At the culmination of a career education module, students record data such as their skills, interests/hobbies, achievements, school subjects and career goals onto a learning and career plan. This information can be shared with parents/whānau, staff and the careers adviser to assist with discussions about career planning and subject selection.

If you are using paper-based learning and career plans, entering career ideas from these documents into the SMS can be an easier way for wider school staff to access the information rather than having to go to the centralised location where the paper copies are held.

Student profiles

A student achievement profile is a record of academic and extracurricular involvement. Information may include involvement on committees, responsibilities held (such as being a peer mentor, year group leader), participation in sporting or cultural activities, school projects or competitions, awards, achievements and goals for the year. In many schools, students complete or update their student profile during form time.

Student profiles are not a career specific document but they may be useful:

  • in discussions with students about their subject selection and career ideas
  • for students developing a CV writing
  • for staff writing testimonials for students.

2.4Identification of and interventions for students at risk

At-risk (school to insert current policy or procedures)

aKnowing which individuals and groups in the school to target in terms of equity of training, placement and job opportunities.

bAnticipating from gathered data which students are nearing the transition from school to work or tertiary study.

cGroups who are statistically over-represented in problematic transitions from school to work.

dWorking with dis-engaged students who do not respond well to traditional teaching and learning models.

2.5Referral and follow-up

Referral and follow-up processes (insert current policy or procedures)

Students from Years 9 - Year 13 receive opportunities within all teaching and learning programmes, targeting Identity Production and Career as Process/Transition, integrated into all curriculum areas. Students have the opportunity to go on work experience, attend STAR courses, be involved in the Gateway programme, open days at tertiary and industry and have access to the Careers Adviser.

Current referral and follow-up processes are being updated in terms of addressing students’ needs. Careers advice and guidance, and referral to a transition programme is being adapted to a differentiated programme utilizing the Clusters of Navigation (underpinned from NZCER’s Karen Vaughan’s research) Help is being sought from School Support Services and Careers Services in this integration across the curriculum.

2.6Student entry and leaving procedures

(school to insert current procedures)

2.7Family and community liaison and communication

It is expected that <insert school name> will lead all relationship building. Our school’s Career Education team needs to:

•understand what is already happening across the school,

•work through the Principal, SMT, and school personnel who have responsibility for community relationships, public relations, school publications, and so on,

•work with school personnel involved in existing initiatives that link the school with the community, for example Gateway, Home-school Partnerships, kapa haka.

“Family participation in education is twice as predictive as socio-economic status in students’ academic achievement.” (Walberg, 1984)

The benefits for our school of having family involvement in home-school partnerships include:

•improved student learning and achievement outcomes

•improved schools

•strengthened families and invigorated community support.

(Ministry of Education, LeadSpace)

LEVELWHANAU INVOLVEMENTCAREER STRATEGY

Parenting / Help families and whānau establish a home environment that is conducive to student learning. / Help shape the career goals and aspirations parents and whānau have for their children.
Communicating / Communicate effectively and appropriately with parents and whānau about school programmes and student progress. Encourage two-way communication. / Communicate with parents and whānau about the options available to their children in school and post-school and invite face-to-face discussion.
Volunteering / Improve recruitment, training and activities to involve parents, whānau and community members in school activities. / Encourage community members and former pupils to act as mentors and role models for students across a range of occupations.
Learning at home / Involve parents and whānau with their children’s homework, goal-setting and other curriculum-related activities. / Encourage parents and whānau to participate in career events in and out of school. Provide information to parents and whānau to help them talk to their children about their career ideas, plans and dreams.
Decision making / Include family and whānau in school decision making, governance and advocacy activities through the board of trustees, school committees, parent organisations, consultation, etc. / Include career education in the school charter / strategic plan. Consult the school community on the design and delivery of career education and guidance programmes.
Collaborating with the community / Coordinate resources and services with community groups, including businesses, agencies, cultural organisations, and training institutions / Provide community groups and organisations with information on career options within the community.

[Adapted from Epstein (2004) model of six levels of school-family engagement]