Giving careers advice to children/childrens parents

teacherrk

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie to this forum and was hoping to get some advice around the subject of giving secondary school children careers advice. We have a few resources at our school although many seem to be dated, what's everyones thoughts on current careers provision within our secondary schools? Some of my students and friends who are parents have asked me recently about the best way to help them or their children decide on a future possible career in preparation of choosing GCSE's, Diplomas/A Levels. I've looked online and found some resources but was hoping the members of this forum could possibly share any resources or just their general view around the subject?

teacherrk

Kate78

advice-resources.co.uk is very useful and has a careers database which outlines different careers, qualifications and progression routes.

Some of the fact sheets could do with updating though imo.

Would you be able to get some prospectuses from universities and colleges to give pupils some ideas of entry requirements which may affect the subjects they choose?

How about your local Connexions service?

EDIT: this part of the TDA site might be useful too.

7891368

The school college will probably have a careers library AND a careers advisor. Does it have either?
If not try connexions? They have an extensive website showing careers and options.

A careers advisors job is to show you whats available to you, not to make your mind up for you.

How old is the child? Is it choosing a degree choice or a levels?
Makes a big difference

Oldernotwiser

Careers advice and guidance for this age group is provided by Connexions and shouldn't be delivered by unqualified people in schools.

Have you discussed your Careers Library provision with your Connexions PA or with the Careers Adviser who worked in your school before Connexions was introduced?

7891368

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Careers advice and guidance for this age group is provided by Connexions and shouldn't be delivered by unqualified people in schools.

Have you discussed your Careers Library provision with your Connexions PA or with the Careers Adviser who worked in your school before Connexions was introduced?

My college had a careers advisor that was qualified to do so?
Dependant on the institution the resources can be excellent.

There's no harm asking teachers what they did or for example if choosing a levels, what the course covers, how much is coursework etc.

They teach it they know? A good teacher will tell you if they do not think the child is suitable to advance with the course.

teacherrk

Hi guys,

Thank you for your quick responses. We do have some Connexions provision within the school, however I have found through discussion with some students, especially those who are studying the 14-19 diplomas that a lot of the job descriptions through Connexions are hard to digest due to their broadness and lack of interactivity. I was hoping if anyone knew of any online resources such as videos of young people talking about their jobs in an open and honest way, which I believe my students would find more engaging and perhaps could also be accessed with their parents at home? I know friends of mine who are parents who are seemingly worried with helping their children make decisions about their career future due to lack of information available to parents directly. Do any parents here share any similar views to this?

Oldernotwiser

7891368 wrote: »

My college had a careers advisor that was qualified to do so?
Dependant on the institution the resources can be excellent.

There's no harm asking teachers what they did or for example if choosing a levels, what the course covers, how much is coursework etc.

They teach it they know? A good teacher will tell you if they do not think the child is suitable to advance with the course.

Most schools employ a careers teacher but very few employ a careers adviser - yours may have been the exception.

I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying in your last sentence; could you clarify?

7891368

As in a teacher's experiences of a subject may be helpful to advise an individual.

A teacher will (in a sixth form based school) know about the A level course offered so could explain modules and how the course is set out. So man people have preference over exams/coursework it could depend whether you choose to pick the subject or not.

In a further sense, an Alevel/college teacher should tell you that x subject may not be suitable for you to study further if they believe you may struggle. Not in a horrible way, they want whats best for you, they'd never turn around and say no don't do it but often open your eyes to further options.

I was going to study Law with French, I was advised against this by the colleges career advisor (I'm bilingual) as I would be bored and instead to tack on a module. I did exactly such, so now study more law modules and just took an extra exam at the end of the year. Thus achieving the same 'result' but with further modules than I would of. In addition to avoiding the boredom I would have suffered in lectures.

jennynoo

I remember at my school we had past pupils visit and tell us what they were doing. I found that really interesting and motivational. Hth

purplerose

I can't comment on resources in English schools as my experience is only of Scottish ones. I'd say if you are referring to resources such as those in the career library, the books are often pretty old. I've found that most kids seem to prefer looking things up on the internet to picking up a book anyway. The Connexions Jobs4U database is good: link. In addition to that, the Connexions direct website is a really good resource and it would be worth familiarising yourself with what it offers so that you can tell pupils where to look. Another good site to find out about jobs is PlanIT Plus with some good resources on there too. I would also suggest you go talk to the school careers advisor and just say you are being asked about jobs by parents and pupils and if there is any particular resources that she/he might suggest you give to the pupils, even if it's just a leaflet about when they're available for appointments. I imagine most career advisors will welcome the support of other school staff.

purplerose

teacherrk wrote: »

We do have some Connexions provision within the school, however I have found through discussion with some students, especially those who are studying the 14-19 diplomas that a lot of the job descriptions through Connexions are hard to digest due to their broadness and lack of interactivity.

Perhaps these students would benefit from a proper interview with the career advisor? Either at the school or at a local connexions centre and it would also be possible to ask if the parents can go to the interview too. It would help in identifying jobs more suited to the pupil.

For videos, perhaps CareerBoxTV might help?

Also, the Sector Skills Council websites can be quite good if someone has a particular career in mind. Some of the sectors have better sites than others but for example, I just had a look at construction skills and they've got case studies of a day in the life of... so that might be useful. Here's a link with links to most of the sector skills councils http://www.sscalliance.org/SSCs/LinkstoSSCs.aspx