Full Careers

How would you improve your schools career service ?

If you could improve the careers advice service at your (old/current) school how would you do it ?

Public Comments

1. omg
2. Make sure that the teacher assigned the responsibility for Careers, is really interested in this field and genuinely cares for the young people he/she is advising, so that the advice is carefully and thoroughly researched. Ensure that the students are listened to, and that their interests are put first. Treat them as equals. Choose a teacher who relates well to the students, who is not patronising, or a petty-minded authoritarian, and is someone who wants to do this job for philanthropic reasons, rather than to make their CV look good. Ensure that there is good quality, detailed information available on all careers. Differentiate between those who wish to pursue a career via an academic route and those who do not. Make special efforts to provide the less academic students, and those with special needs, with career options that will allow them to progress, should they wish to, at a later stage. Take the students' ideas as a starting point and show them how their ambitions could be fulfilled, together with opportunites to change direction later, in or out of that chosen field. Do not be judgmental, and treat every student equally well. Find interesting speakers, who can fire the students with inspiration, motivation and determination. Arrange visits to local employers, particularly the ones whom students would normally dismiss as 'boooooring' - they may have to revise thier opinions subsequently. Recognise that some young people are not ready to choose a career until well into their twenties, so their stop-gap options need to offer opportunities for acquiring transferable skills. There is probably much more, but that should do for a start.
3. In England most schools use Connexions which does way more than just careers.