Improving accessibility of careers guidance for each and every learner
A review of careers guidance materials for students at Derwentside College in County Durham led to a reshaping of the provision, tailoring materials for students with SEND and those who are geographically ‘hard to reach’.
Benchmarks addressed: 2, 3, 4, 8
Aim: To improve careers development and exploration specifically with SEND learners and geographically ‘hard to reach’ learners.
When Derwentside College, a further education college providing post-16 education and training, adopted the Good Careers Guidance Benchmarks as the guiding framework for its careers provision, the full suite of guidance materials was reviewed.
The majority of the College’s learners are apprentices, who spend significant amounts of their time off-site. This led to the decision to refresh the careers guidance materials, making sure that they can be accessed remotely, that they can be used with or without teacher support, and that they are suited to all learners, including those with SEND.
A new Careers Workbook was created for each level of learner, with different activities available depending on the individual student’s needs. Workbooks not only serve as a resource but also as a permanent record of activities and discussions, which can be accessed by the students at any time.
The College recognised that learners with SEND often need more input from teachers and careers leaders in order to make careers decisions and follow through on action plans. As a result, the College’s Careers Advisers are available to spend as much time with each individual learner as they require, and parents or caregivers can also be included in these meetings.
This extra one-on-one support has proved invaluable in breaking down barriers to higher education, which for students with SEND can often include lack of confidence and constraints around securing student finance.
The combination of extra guidance sessions and improved access to differentiated careers materials has had a positive impact on progression and destination data for SEND learners in particular. The 2018/19 cohort of SEND learners has a 100% positive progression rate, with destinations including further study, higher education and supported internships.
Vital ingredients that would make this activity successful if replicated by others:
- Gather careers materials together and make them easily accessible in a variety of formats if possible.
Possible challenges to consider:
- Coming up with resources generic enough to be useful to all, without being so generic as to be deemed irrelevant.
- Having a thorough understanding of subject-specific knowledge and skills needs, as they relate to curriculum area and as they also relate to ability level.