Jump to content

CEIAG embedded within an integrated curriculum led by non-teaching staff

Case study

"The school wanted CEIAG that was part of the curriculum, not an ‘add on’ to the curriculum." (curriculum assistant head)

Consequently the school has created a personal development programme, inclusive of careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) and worked hard to engage the students and make them see it as an integral part of the curriculum.

Key learning

  • A vision for CEIAG and personal development sits within and links to the curriculum to ensure relevant, rigorous and impartial guidance.
  • The school has established a school improvement group with a remit to integrate CEIAG and personal development within a reviewed curriculum.
  • It has recruited and trained a non-teaching careers leader and restructured to position this post within the curriculum team.
  • The school ensures rigour by using the same monitoring and evaluation systems for CEIAG as are used in other curriculum areas.

Background

The Marches School and Technology College is an 11–16 comprehensive school with approximately 1,200 students on roll. The proportion of students with special educational needs is above that of most schools. The school is situated in rural Shropshire with limited job opportunities for school leavers. The Marches is a training school which has been awarded Investor in Careers and Leading Edge status.

Key challenges

Changing the status of CEIAG

The pressures of the core curriculum meant that CEIAG could be overlooked by staff and students alike.

Following a successful core curriculum review, a subsidiary school improvement group was established to develop CEIAG and personal development. Leaders were keen to integrate these areas into a more meaningful experience, linked to the revised curriculum, which had greater personal relevance to students.

Community support

The opportunity for students to talk to a range of employers and higher education representatives was initially limited as it was difficult to encourage the latter’s involvement.

Solutions

Delivery model

Managed by the subject leader for citizenship and delivered by a core team of teachers, the programme includes:

  • personal social health and citizenship education (PSHCE), careers education and aspects of learn to learn incorporated throughout Years 7–11
  • Year 10 and 11 students split into two ability tiers, enabling the school to provide them with an appropriate curriculum
  • students opting for collaborative courses from Year 10 accessing their CEIAG through the ASDAN certificate of personal effectiveness (CoPE)
  • careers education delivered to each year group through a seven-week focus module

Changing the status of CEIAG

Raising CEIAG’s status has been achieved by:

  • making the careers leader a member of the curriculum team
  • integrating CEIAG within the personal development programme, linked to the curriculum
  • having a largely senior team teach this programme
  • applying the same systems and standards to CEIAG as to other curriculum areas
  • empowering the careers leader to develop CEIAG over a two-year period leading to Investor in Careers status

Engagement

The school faced the challenge of finding ways to ensure all students committed to, and benefited from, CEIAG. This has been improved by:

  • students viewing CEIAG as integral to the curriculum
  • introducing different tiers of CEIAG provision at Key Stage 4
  • building partnerships with local colleges and businesses
  • restructuring the timetable so that students can access a rich programme of vocational and academic study
  • linking careers education classes to CoPE

Community support

The employment of a careers leader with a business background was pivotal in turning this around. Instead of starting conversations with ‘What you can do for us’ the careers leader would begin with ‘What we can do for you’. This was combined with often visiting employers at their offices.

Impartiality

The school found that both curriculum inflexibility and limited staff experience could result in biased or limited CEIAG. This was mitigated by:

  • introducing flexible curriculum pathways
  • employing a non-teaching careers leader so that students had an objective third party to discuss their plans with

Timetable restructuring

One-day collaborative vocational programmes were blocked against an option subject in ICT and PE. Students studying these programmes would take their chosen diploma in place of one of their options and flexibility was worked into the timetable to ensure they could study the ICT at a later point.

Increased rigour

The school improvement group made the decision to apply the same systems used within the core curriculum to CEIAG. This included developing a centralised programme and monitoring systems comprising work sampling, lesson observations and use of student voice.

Leadership structure and approaches

Continuing professional development (CPD) for the careers leader has included studying for a postgraduate certificate of careers information advice and guidance, attending national and local conferences and attending local CEIAG network meetings. In turn, the careers leader has led staff in-service training (Inset) days.

Following workforce reform, the decision was made to change the careers leader to a non-teaching post. The senior leadership team (SLT) was looking for someone with a business background who could forge external partnerships and had the potential to learn how to work with young people.

The careers leader’s line management was changed from the business manager to the curriculum assistant head and she became a member of the curriculum team. This has meant that dialogue relating to CEIAG between team members has drawn on relative expertise and informed developments.

Evaluation of impact

  • The achievement of Investor in Careers status is an indicator of the provision’s quality.
  • Employing the same monitoring and evaluation processes for CEIAG as for the rest of the curriculum means that evidence is held from lesson observations, student voice and work trawls. Self-evaluation using these measures reflects the same judgement of ‘outstanding’ which Ofsted made in its recent report, saying that "a stimulating, creative and practical curriculum prepares students exceptionally well for the future" (September 2010).
  • Eighty-five per cent of students progress to further education with 1 per cent not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Next steps

The Marches next steps in developing CEIAG provision are to:

  • further secure impartiality of advice by increasing opportunities for CPD in CEIAG
  • restructure the timetable to ensure that the careers rotation happens at the most appropriate time of the year for all groups
  • re-evaluate the responsibilities of the careers leader in view of potential changes to external services

Further information

Report written by Catriona Sampson, National College research associate and assistant headteacher, Stratford-upon-Avon High School