The theme for this year’s virtual Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) and Work-related Learning (WRL) conference was to ‘Inspire and enable learning providers to develop an inclusive careers and employability programme’.
Career leaders, senior IAG leaders and Services for Young People (SfYP) staff were among those who attended.
The conference was opened with a welcome from Terry Douris, Cabinet Member for Education, Libraries and Lifelong Learning and Head of SfYP, Peter Hosier.
SfYP IAG WRL Development Manager, Tim Edwards, then reported on the results and key findings from the 2021 Young People’s Survey. Our area teams are currently working with young people who participate in the Youth Strategy Partnership Groups to develop action plans which address the key findings from the survey. The action plans will also encourage partnership working across all areas of Hertfordshire so that we can work even more closely with other agencies to provide wraparound, high quality support for all young people in the county.
SfYP Performance and Development Manager, Emma Gratwick, and Senior Keeping in Touch Adviser, Gareth Ashby, followed with talks on destination data and the activity survey which is carried out by SfYP every year. Destination data from schools is important as it enables local authorities to fulfil their requirement to ensure students have an education or training placement for the September after they finish Key Stage 4. Destination measures can also be used to review how effective a school’s careers provision has been to its students at this stage and supports the achievement of Gatsby Benchmark 3: ‘Addressing the needs of each pupil’.
SfYP carries out an activity survey every year to capture the first destination of every young person leaving School Years 11 and 12. We identify and contact all those who do not have a place by the end of October and then report the September Guarantee data to the Department for Education (DfE).
Attendees also got to hear from speakers from our partners, such as Herts for Learning (HfL) who provided information about 16 to 19 funding, the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) who gave a helpful insight into the labour market information (LMI) resources on the Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal (HOP) website. West Herts College Group and the DfE presented talks on T-levels, and an employer spotlight from Cariad Marketing gave attendees a flavour of careers in social media and self-employment.
The SfYP Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities (LDD) Team showcased best practice delivery models with local schools. Attendees particularly enjoyed hearing about an enterprise biscuit scheme run by Hailey Hall School for a local care home.
A black careers panel provided a thought-provoking insight into improving the early careers of people from black heritage backgrounds and how we can prepare all students for diverse workplaces. We were excited to have Temi Fawehinmi, HCC’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion and other inspiring presenters on the panel.
At the end of the conference there was a chance for attendees to network in breakout rooms and share best practice around the Career Development Institute's Career Development Framework.
Slides from the conference can be found on our ‘Info for Careers Leaders’ page.
Some feedback from attendees:
“Thank you so much for yet another inspiring day!”
“Very interesting to hear external speakers and their personal points of views. Very inspiring.”’
“Great variety of speakers, informative and ideas to take forward.”
“Some excellent content – I especially enjoyed the panel session.”
SfYP Senior IAG WRL Development Worker said:
“Our conference was a great success; it gave local schools and colleges the opportunity to hear from a wide range of speakers to help inform their careers and employability programme and keep them up to date with IAG and WRL developments. Thanks to all the presenters, and those who attended.”
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