In order to help you learn about the current careers provision at your school, we have suggested some questions you may wish to consider asking. The questions can form the basis of an individual discussion with a designated staff member responsible for careers or be part of a collective discussion at a governing board meeting. The questions are designed to help you understand what your school is currently doing, how well it has thought about this provision, and how the school plans to develop its careers provision in the future.
If you are interested in careers education, you could consider becoming a Link Governor for careers education. The Link Governor’s role is to help shape the school strategy in this area and monitor the plans put in place to ensure they have the desired impact. The below questions are suitable for all governors but may be particularly useful to those who are Link Governors.
Main questions are suggested in bold, with follow-up questions suggested underneath.
- 1. Does the school have a designated staff member who is responsible for careers/employability provision?
If not, is this under consideration? If not, are there any reasons why? If so, what support does this person have to fulfill their role? Do they have access to development and training opportunities?
- 2. Does the current careers provision address any areas of the School Improvement Plan (SIP)?
Are the school SIP targets addressed in the careers provision on offer? If so, how can this be demonstrated? If not, does the careers provision provide a good opportunity to evidence development in SIP targets?
- 3. Does the school have a policy for incorporating work-related learning into the core/wider curriculum? In which year groups?
What guidance is given to class teachers to help them deliver this? How are all students supported to reach their potential? Is there support for students who face certain learning and progression barriers?
- 4. How does the school monitor the effectiveness of this?
Is there data available to help understand this? Have any surveys with students, staff, or parents been conducted?
- 5. Does the school have a budget to spend on careers/employability provision?
If so, how are decisions made about what to spend it on? If not, how does the school finance any spend needed for careers education?
- 6. Does the school work with external organisations such as the ‘Careers and Enterprise Company’, ‘Enabling Enterprise’, ‘Young Enterprise’ for example, to help deliver programmes/sessions?
If not, has this been considered? What options have been explored?
- 7. Does the school foster links with local businesses to help provide a wide view of what the professional world looks like?
What can we as a Governing Board do to help further develop this?
- 8. Does the school partner with other local schools to share resources and ideas that have worked well to help promote best practice?
If so, is this likely to continue in the future? If not, what is preventing this from happening?
- 9. How is the school championing careers education in the current climate?
Have any challenges been encountered? If so, what are the school doing to mitigate this/ how has the school responded?
Questions for a follow-up discussions about Careers Education – Primary
As a governor, monitoring careers education is important. In the current climate, it is understandable that priorities in a school can change very quickly, so following up on initial discussions can be a supportive way to ensure that careers education stays high on the agenda.
Ideally, if your school has a Link Governor, they should meet the designated member of staff once per term. It is good practice to review your initial discussion and establish what, if anything, has happened in the intervening months. Reviewing what actions have been taken and the impact of these actions is imperative to beginning to understand what works or doesn’t work for your school and how you can best support within your role.
Main questions are suggested in bold, with follow-up questions suggested underneath.
- 1. Overall, what has progressed since we last met?
- 2. Has the school developed a policy for incorporating work-related learning into the wider curriculum?
If so, how is it going? If not, is that something the school hopes to do? What do you think would be a realistic timeframe for one to be developed?
- 3. Has the school further explored options for partnering with external organisations to help deliver employability provisions?
Has the school decided if it wishes to use any of these services? How was this decision reached?
- 4. Has the school been in contact with any local businesses to develop bespoke relationships to support employer engagement sessions?
If so, what came of the contact? Have you faced any challenges?
- 5. Have the school held any work-related learning sessions for pupils in recent months?
How were these evaluated? Which year groups were they delivered for? How did you target the students that could access the opportunities mentioned?
- 6. Have the Senior Leadership Team within the school been receptive to developing work-related learning opportunities for students at the school?
- 7. What more can we do as a Governing Board to support you in further developing this provision?
- 8. When shall we next meet to check in on careers education progress?