Good career guidance and tutoring should be a process that is formalised in schools at the age of 12 to 13, so that it compliments and conceptualises the academic diet of the pupil up until they leave school and beyond.

Higher education and careers departments like that found at Bishop’s Stortford College in Hertfordshire believe that all pupils have an equal entitlement to high quality Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG). As a framework, many British schools will use HM Government Policy, updated in 2018, which incorporates the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Careers guidance and tutoring is delivered through a planned and progressive programme of activities and CEIAG. This comes in many forms, for example, labour market information (LMI), mock interviews, meaningful employer engagements, work related learning and encounters with further and higher education. However, it is the personalised tutoring, advice and guidance sessions that provide pupils at the College with an unique experience – communication is at the very heart of this.

The department is open during the school day (6 days a week) and pupils can visit and ask for help at any time. Specialist advice and guidance is available for pupils who choose employment, school leaver schemes or apprenticeships. This includes application advice, interview guidance/practice and could include communication with providers if appropriate.

Outstanding CEIAG should make provision for groups of learners. International students require specialised support and tutoring for applications to overseas universities, for example, USA, Canada, Europe, Australia or their home country universities. Career guidance specialists should have the training and knowledge to support the preparation of the additional and often lengthy and complex academic documents required in the fulfilment of such applications. Students should be developed to understand and cope with the responsibility of adhering to the timelines and provision of documentation requested by universities.

Careers guidance specialists understand that every pupil will have different careers guidance needs at different stages of their education. Advice may be required at transition to secondary school, choosing GCSEs, A Levels or more specifically for sixth form subject choices with a university goal in mind. All pupils should be provided with opportunities for guidance interviews with an appropriately trained member of staff, not just whenever they feel they need help and advice, but crucially, whenever significant study or career choices are being made.

Some individuals will require more support and CEIAG than others, and this is not always obvious which makes trained staff better placed to identify needs and suggest suitable options. Pastoral and teaching teams should therefore work closely with a careers department so that pupils may be offered support when there is a need.

As all careers guidance professionals should know, some of the most important skills young people can have are self-reliance, a proactive approach to taking independent action and a resilience to cope and manage change. A combination of personalised tutoring together with support and guidance to improve self-management should underpin the careers professional’s work with a sixth former.

Careers guidance and tutoring should have a formal recording method in what the pupil or student should perceive as a relaxed and informal interview/tutoring process. Careers tutors should ask questions that allow the pupil to reflect on who they are and what they want from life. They should challenge stereotypes and raise aspirations. Good tutoring is about providing information about paths not considered and informing on emerging technologies and areas of study.

Meeting outcomes should be recorded and where necessary, communicated to teaching staff, where appropriate, in terms of further actions; for example, where a future career path may necessitate a particular portfolio of A Levels. The truly excellent Higher Education and Careers department will offer specialist careers guidance and support for those students who intend to study at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, or to become Medics, Vets or Dentists.

The pupil of 13 years of age is a very different person to the student at 18 applying to universities; it is important they have the continuity and support of CEIAG in order to make pivotal decisions. This support also extends to parents who at different transition points in their child’s education, may feel lost and inexperienced in an educational landscape that has changed so much since they left school.  Bishop’s Stortford College puts a great deal of emphasis on collecting and maintaining accurate data for each pupil in their tutoring sessions. This can be referred to in follow-up sessions and with parents or carers, thus building parental confidence in their children’s futures as well.

A good tutoring system will ensure the careers department complements the academic progress and outcomes of pupils. In fact, there are studies that support the theory that target setting; for example, working towards a career goal, improves academic engagement and results. Finding those targets is a key part of outstanding career guidance and tutoring.

Об авторе