Colleges reap the benefits of Careers Impact System

Stoke on Trent College, Sandwell College and Wirral Met College are trailblazers for a cross-regional peer-to-peer review of the quality of careers education, using the Careers Impact System.

The Careers Impact System is a step-by-step staged and integrated approach to improving and assuring quality in careers, with peer and expert support all the way through.

The peer-to-peer review was facilitated on Friday 31 January by colleagues from the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Careers Hub and involved the Careers Leaders from the three Colleges sharing practice and progress against the national standard for careers guidance (the Gatsby Benchmarks), to identify what works well and areas for improvement; reviewing each other’s leadership and delivery of careers guidance and providing feedback to drive improvement, ultimately ensuring the very best advice and services are available to support young people.

The Careers Impact System was developed by the Careers and Enterprise Company, with funding from the Department for Education (DfE) and the Gatsby Foundation, and has been highlighted as making significant impact across the sector, in the Gatsby Foundation’s recently published report – Good Career Guidance: The Next Ten Years.

The Careers Impact System is a process that drives continuous improvement in the quality of careers education. It’s a systematic approach to raising standards and is directly linked to wider college improvement.

Dave Hopley, Assistant Principal and Designated Careers Leader from Stoke on Trent College said,

“I have seen the impact first-hand of Schools in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire who have taken part in the Careers Impact System peer-to-peer review in the region, and was keen to see if we could pilot amongst three Further Education Colleges a cross-regional Careers Impact System.  Careers education and guidance is very different in Colleges to Schools and I was keen to see if we could use the system to improve careers provision and student outcomes across our institutions.  Thanks to the support of the three College Principals Hassan Rizvi, Lisa Capper MBE and Gill Banks for their support in making this happen”