Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance Policy

Our careers policy details how we will help our beneficiaries to develop their employability skills.

Introduction & Context

Maximising the life chances of our young people is at the heart of Homefield College’s provision. We want students to be valued members of their local communities and so we need to adequately prepare them for life beyond college. We have adopted this policy in order to provide a clear commitment to and framework for Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance (CEIAG).

Purpose & Scope

This policy covers CEIAG given to students on all study programmes, and has been reviewed in line with the recently published Department for Education (DfE) guidance document ‘Careers guidance and access for education and training providers – Statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff’. (DfE, January 2018).

This policy accepts the 8 Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s benchmarks as set out in the DfE guidance and covers the legal duty of colleges to ensure that a range of education and training providers can access learners for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships.

All staff at Homefield College are expected to be aware of this policy and the importance of CEIAG for our students, embedding content across the curriculum; CEIAG is not the sole responsibility of the Careers Lead. It is important that students leave college aware of themselves as individuals and the opportunities available to them, and able to make some decisions about their own lives through personal and social development.

Objectives

  1. Meet the Gatsby Benchmarks

  2. Meet the Careers & Development Institute Framework

  3. Improve the outcomes for our students

Responsibilities

As a College

The College has a series of statutory duties:

  • Students have access to a Level 6 qualified Careers Adviser

  • This careers advice must be represented in an impartial manner, showing no bias towards a particular institution, education or work option

  • This advice must cover a range of education or training options

  • This guidance must be in the best interests of the student

  • There must be an opportunity for education and training providers to access students

  • The College must have a clear policy setting out the manner in which providers will be given access to students (Provider Access policy). This policy and these arrangements must be published.

  • The College will base its careers provision around the Gatsby Benchmarks & the new framework from the Careers & Development Institute.

We believe that good CEIAG connects learning to the future – it motivates young people by giving them a clearer idea of the routes to services, jobs and careers that they will find engaging and rewarding. Good CEIAG widens students’ horizons, challenges stereotypes and raises aspirations. By providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary to make successful transitions to the next stage of their life, we can support social mobility by improving opportunities for all young people.

We will continuously monitor our CEIAG offer and seek further improvement. This will be done by the staff involved in the design and delivery of the study programme as well as by external stakeholders who assess the work of the College (e.g. Ofsted, Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LLEP)).

Trustees

The Board of Trustees will ensure that the College has a clear CEIAG policy and that this is clearly communicated to all stakeholders. They should ensure that this policy is:

  • based on the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks & CDI Framework

  • meeting the College’s legal requirements

Trustees will also ensure that arrangements are in place to allow a range of educational and training providers, and that there will be a designated Trustee who takes a strategic interest in CEIAG and encourages employer engagement.

Provider Access

Homefield College have legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997 to manage arrangements for allowing providers access to students for the purpose of giving them information about their education or training offer.

All students are entitled to a bespoke careers proposition, depending on the outcomes from their education, health and care plans:

  • to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;

  • to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events;

  • to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

The Provider Access policy states how education and training providers can get in touch with the College about further opportunities. We will then work with providers in order to identify the most effective means of sharing this information with our students and/or their parents. 

Monitoring, Evaluation & Review

The Principal will ensure that:

  • the work of the Careers Lead and CEIAG events are supported and monitored

  • a member of the Senior Management Team has an overview of CEIAG work and reports regularly back to the team

  • the designated Careers Lead completes a compass return every term

The effectiveness of this policy will be measured in a variety of ways:

  • Feedback from stakeholders through mechanisms such as the student and parent survey, observations and student voice

  • Feedback from external visitors to the College such as Ofsted

  • The number of students who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in October, having left the College in the previous academic year. This figure can be compared to national figures as well as against the equivalent figure from similar colleges both nationally and within the county.

The trustees of Homefield College will review this policy every two years.

Links with Other Policies

  • Provider Access Policy
  • Safeguarding Policy
  • Guest Speakers Policy

Approved by: Trustees
Last Updated: September 2023
Staff Lead: Careers Lead