Careers Strategy
We are committed to meeting requirements under the provision of a careers programme. We pride ourselves on delivering excellent independent careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG). It is informed by the eight Gatsby benchmarks of good career guidance.
Executive Summary
Yeovil College is fully committed to ensuring that all learners acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes to progress their career and achieve their best. This is reflected in our Mission Statement:
Mission: ‘To maximise the potential of all.’
As the educational landscape evolves and the nature of employment shifts, it is increasingly important that all learners (whether actual or potential) have access to the knowledge and resources they need to be able to make informed decisions. This will include employment information as well as educational pathways including higher education.
We are committed to meeting requirements under the provision of a careers programme. We pride ourselves on delivering excellent independent careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG). It is informed by the eight Gatsby benchmarks of good career guidance:
- A stable careers programme
- Learning from career and labour market information
- Addressing the needs of each pupil
- Linking curriculum learning to careers
- Encounters with employers and employees
- Experiences of workplaces
- Encounters with further and higher education
- Personal guidance.
We also assess ourselves against the following:
- OFSTED Education Inspection Framework
- Careers guidance and access for education and training providers (DfE, July 2021)
- Career Development Institute (CDI) Careers Framework.
100% Compliance within the Gatsby Benchmarks
Gayle Pogson, Head of Careers, Work Placement and Employability at Yeovil College
The Purpose of Our Careers Hub
The purpose of our Careers Hub involves:
- Implementing the College’s vision to develop learners’ understanding of career opportunities and progression routes through their programmes and enrichment sessions.
- Promoting the College’s role in supporting learners to successfully progress into the world of work, independent living or further and higher education.
- Raising aspirations, promoting both social mobility and economic prosperity.
- Ensuring all learners are inspired to develop robust career plans with personal SWOTs, psychometric tests and a clear understanding of their next steps. Supporting learners to develop hard and soft professional, personal and social behaviours and attitudes.
- Ensuring representation at Information Events and Careers Events, both pre-16 and post-16 students.
- Ensuring the best quality, learner and industry-centric approaches such as independent careers information, advice and guidance and the use of labour market information (LMI).
- Ensuring parents and legal guardians are informed, supported and part of the process to understand career options.
- Providing a careers’ service committed to fair and equal access to all – with impartial careers advice and guidance; helping to raise awareness of prejudice issues, discrimination, stereotyping that work against equal opportunities.
- Ensuring accessible record keeping on Grofar that enables learners and stakeholders to track advice given to individual students.
Success Criteria
It is vital to us that our Careers team are meeting the needs of our learners, employer partners, and colleagues. We measure this by recording all activities carried out, making use of our careers system Grofar. The careers lead meets with all staff involved in delivering the careers programme to review the results of our activities and adjust plans where needed.
Student/employer engagement:
- Availability of careers appointments
- Attendance at talks/workshops
- Grofar statistics.
Student/employer feedback:
- Involvement with Heart of the South West Careers Hub, with termly meetings
- Surveys following an appointment/workshop/talk
- Anecdotal feedback in case studies
- Feedback forms on Grofar.