What the Project is
Teach First received a grant of £50,000 in the 2016/17 Grant Fund to support their Careers and Employability initiative. Teach First want to build a fair education for all, they help develop great teachers, support teachers in becoming brilliant leaders and connect schools in networks of support.
This initiative took Teach First’s initial teacher training programme and combined it with ongoing CPD and targeted leadership development with a focus on the development of whole school career strategies. Teach First’s Careers Leader Programme (CLP) is an 18 month programme training middle/senior leaders in leadership skills and careers expertise. During the programme each participant develops a whole school careers strategy to take back to their own school environment. Alongside the 10 modules of the Careers Leader Programme, this initiative provided 40 regional CPD sessions and also launched the Access Toolkit to equip teachers to support young people about the range of post 16 options available to them and support them in making decisions about progression routes.
Across the three strands of the initiative over 500 teachers from 43 schools (primary and secondary) benefited from the programme, with over 90% taking a whole school careers strategy back to their home school. The Access Toolkit was downloaded nearly 4000 times.
In addition, participating teachers reported significant progress in their schools against the Gatsby Benchmarks as a result of the initiative, with most citing the Careers Leader Programme as the biggest driver of embedding a careers strategy across their schools.
Teach First staff work alongside the CLP cohorts providing support and guidance as well as brokering a number of employer introductions that can be developed into long term employer/education relationships.
The programme has undergone some changes since it was funded, but continues to produce excellent careers leaders. More information about the programme can be found here.
Quotes
Harewood College Bournemouth“Thanks to the programme every pupil knows there’s a careers team embedded in the Trust, they know every teacher has a role to play in career guidance, and who to go to for guidance. There are clear lines of communication and this allows advice to be specifically tailored to each student, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to achieve the career goals that they set for themselves.”
CELP Participant“The Teach First Careers and Employability programme has been fundamental in shaping our career and employability strategy. Experts and high-quality speakers delivering at each module have ensured our strategy has been developed using current research and practice as well as providing access to further guidance and support from specialists.”
Find out more
To find out more about this project and the work of Teach First visit their website or contact Sarah Stacey on sstacey@teachfirst.org.uk