Primary schools looking to raise pupil aspirations and develop careers awareness from Key Stage 1 can now achieve the Quality in Careers Award with Career Connect, which is now an official awarding body for the Quality in Careers Award for Primary Schools – the standard in school careers excellence.
Taking a collaborative approach, the Career Connect Quality Award guides primary schools through a step-by-step process covering five key areas:
- Management and organisation
- Designing a career-related learning programme
- Provision of information resources
- Partnership working
- Monitoring and evaluation
By the end of the award, the primary school will have developed its own career-related learning policy and been able to draw on Career Connect’s decades of experience to develop a robust careers strategy and plan future activity.
Post-award, Career Connect can continue to support each primary school by:
- maintaining and creating comprehensive continuous improvement strategies
- identifying ongoing professional development opportunities
- sharing innovative practice
- making suggestions on how schools can further enhance the impact of their programmes
- sharing updates on legislative changes, industry trends and best practice
- providing access to resources, workshops, webinars, and networking opportunities where schools can connect to a community of professionals dedicated to high quality career-related learning.
Career Connect made its first award to Eccleston Lane Ends Primary School this month.
Eccleston Lane Ends Primary School Headteacher Sarah Bond said: “The journey of pursuing the Careers Quality Mark has been both rewarding and transformative for our school. We have thoroughly enjoyed the process, as it has allowed us to be far more strategic in the planning of our career’s curriculum and the provision of additional opportunities for our pupils.
“The feedback we have received from both parents and pupils has been incredibly positive. The process has opened meaningful conversations at home, where children are now actively discussing their aspirations and the steps they need to take to achieve their goals.”
A wealth of experience working with primary schools
Career Connect brings a wealth of experience in working with primary schools, with the charity already delivering a range of activities direct to primary schools across KS1 and KS2. This includes a raising aspirations programme on behalf of a local authority, challenging stereotypes sessions, enterprise sessions, and employer engagement activities. It also offers targeted support and consultancy to primary schools to enable them to make improvements to their careers provision.
Several of the Career Connect team are trained primary school teachers and have experience of the early years and primary school curriculum, while several staff are specifically trained to develop and deliver careers resources and activities for children aged 4 and upwards.
Career Connect’s awarding body status for primary schools is in addition to their awarding body status for secondary schools, which they have held for seven years.
Career Connect CEO Sheila Clark said: “Research shows that the earlier a child can access impartial careers education, the better the long-term outcome.
“We are passionate about the power of careers education, information and guidance to transform lives, and we are excited that we can now help more primary schools to embed careers into their day-to-day work with pupils.
“With the world of work changing, it is vital to help pupils early on in gaining confidence in careers, understanding pathways and raising aspirations.”