Agenda item

To consider a report of the Strategic Director of Children, Families and Adults.

Prior to inviting the officers to present their report, the Chairman drew the Committee’s attention to the fact that students from the two respective Sandbach secondary schools had been co-opted onto the Committee for this item. He also noted that Mr John Knight, a careers advisor at Sandbach High School was present. They were invited to participate fully in the discussion and the Chairman stated that their involvement would provide an invaluable insight into how careers advice was being delivered in the Borough.

Peter Cavanagh, 14-25 Manager, provided the Committee with an update on Information advice and guidance (IAG) and in particular the Council’s changing role within this landscape. He explained that the Government had passed legislation to amend the responsibility for providing careers guidance to young people, which had previously been provided by Local Authorities via Connexions services. Peter explained that following these legislative changes, from September 2012, schools themselves would be responsible for securing access to independent and impartial careers guidance for pupils in Year 9-11. He also noted that the Government had established a National Careers Service for England which would provide information and guidance to young people through a helpline and website. Within this new framework, schools would be free to make arrangements for careers guidance for young people that fitted the needs and circumstances of their pupils, and would be able to engage, as appropriate, in partnership with external, expert providers.

In terms of the Council’s engagement with careers guidance, it was no longer an expectation that the Council would provide a universal careers service. Rather, the Council’s role would be to fulfil its statutory duty to encourage, enable or assist young people’s participation in education or training, particularly with respect to the Government’s commitment to raise the participation age to 18 by 2015.

Peter reported that the Council also had a responsibility to support vulnerable young people to engage in education and training, intervening early with those who were at risk of disengagement. Peter explained that the Council used the local Client Caseload Information System (CCIS) to record and track progress against a young person’s post 16 plan. The Council was expected to report monthly on participation and this generated the Council’s ‘NEET’ figure.

Building on this latter point, Peter reported that the Council had transferred former Connexions staff into the local authority and that it was these who were being used to target intervention to those school pupils identified as at risk of disengagement.

The Chairman invited the representatives from the Sandbach schools to outline how careers advice was administered in their settings. Mr John Knight from Sandbach High School explained that it was his role to offer a universal careers service to the students. This began at Year 9 when students selected their options and continued through to Year 13. John added that in Year 11, students were given an individual interview to which parents were invited.

The two students from Sandbach School reported that their school did not have a designated member of staff for careers advice and instead, they had an informal system in which teachers and Head of Years offered guidance. Both Joshua and Jonathon agreed that they preferred this system as they felt the teachers knew them personally and therefore had a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. They also acknowledged however that it was important to reach those students who were not seeking careers advice and were unsure of their future options.

A discussion was had over the merits of both systems. It was agreed that the benefits of having teachers advising on careers was clear. They would have a relationship with the students that had built up over time and therefore they were in a good position to make an accurate judgment. Having said this, it was asserted that sometimes teachers were not best placed to advise on careers as they might have limited knowledge of industry and be naturally inclined to suggest an academic route. Furthermore, it was noted that having a designated officer such as that found in the Sandbach High School model would have the advantage of helping the school to be proactive, so that there was universal coverage. The Committee noted that was missing from both systems was a fully independent careers service and that it was likely that this would have to be commissioned externally. It was suggested that the Council could put together an IAG best practice model, taking into consideration the aforementioned points. It was also queried whether the Council could provide such an independent advice service and whether it was marketing its expertise to the fullest extent. Peter Cavanagh explained that the Council only had a small amount of transferred staff and that these were predominantly focussing on the targeted support services. Having said this, he also noted that the Council had sent letters to schools regarding their services and they had received 10 expressions of interest.

It was queried how the Council would interact with schools following the changes to legislation. Peter explained that the Council would work with those students who had been identified as being at risk of being a NEET and/or disengaged. He noted that there were 15 indicators which generated this list which would then go through a final iteration after a discussion with the school. Those children still on the list would then receive additional and focused support. Peter added that every school in the Borough would receive this support, including Academies.

It was questioned how the careers service engaged with care leavers. Peter reported that if a young person was in care then this would be recorded on the NEET risk indicator. He added that work was being developed to make links with the Family Intervention Service and the Virtual School. It was requested that Peter draft a short position paper outlining this work for the benefit of the ongoing Care Leavers Task Group.

It was queried whether the Council had any ability to hold schools to account for not offering independent careers advice. Peter confirmed that he would seek an answer to this question and circulate it by email.

A question was also asked about the capacity of the service and how it would cope with a potential increase in workload following schools commissioning IAG services from the Council. Peter confirmed that he would provide an answer to this via email.

A number of further comments were made about careers advice and guidance:

·         That schools should be encouraged to tap into a network of parents to provide assistance with advice and work experience

·         Careers advice was not just for future work but also useful for gaining part time employment and experience.

·         Careers advisors needed to be very knowledgeable and it should be respected as a specialist and technical job.

Moving forward it was suggested that the Committee could receive an update paper on the progress that schools had made against the new legislation in six months. The students were invited to return when this paper was scheduled and they agreed to this idea.

RESOLVED

a)    That the report be noted

b)    That the 14-25 Manager be requested to provide to the Committee via email:

a.    A short position paper on the work being developed with the Family Intervention Service and the Virtual Head with regards to Care Leavers and careers advice.

b.    Information on whether the Council has any powers to hold schools to account for not offering independent careers advice.

c.    Information on the capacity of the IAG service and in particular the potential ramifications of schools commissioning additional support from the Council.

c)    That 14-25 Manager explore developing a IAG best practice model for schools.

d)    That an update report be brought back to the Committee in six months detailing the progress that had been made by schools in delivering their new careers guidance and advice responsibilities.

e)    That the Scrutiny Officer contact the Head teachers from Sandbach High School and Sandbach School commending the contribution that the students had made to the meeting.