Education Act – Statutory Guidance for Schools
Just before the Easter break, the Department for Education (DfE) released a new communication to headteachers, school staff, governing bodies and local authorities.
The communication provides statutory guidance on the Education Act 2011 duty to secure independent and impartial careers guidance for young people in schools.
Here, we highlight the key points contained in the guidance.
- The aim of the statutory guidance is to illustrate the key responsibilities of schools regarding careers guidance for students.
- DfE states that schools must ‘have regard’ for the guidance when providing careers guidance.
- DfE wishes to impress on schools the importance of helping students to make well informed choices about education, training and career options.
- It also highlights the importance of guidance as Raising the Participation Age comes into effect.
- The duty requires schools to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance for students in Years 9-11 from September 2012.
- DfE defines ‘independent’ as being external to the school and ‘impartial’ as showing no bias towards any education or work option.
- DfE defines ‘careers guidance’ as activities intended to assist individuals to make education, training and occupational choices. The activities may take place on an individual or group basis and may be face-to-face or at a distance (including help lines and web-based services). This includes careers information provision, assessment and self-assessment tools, counselling interviews, careers education programmes and transition services.
- Schools are free to decide how they deliver the duty. However, they must have regard for the guidance provided by DfE.
- Schools are expected to chose the delivery model which best suits the needs of their students.
- Schools should secure access to face-to-face guidance where it is the most suitable support for students and particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs.
- Schools can work independently or in partnership to commission careers guidance services.
- DfE has highlighted the importance of considering the quality of careers guidance services when procuring careers guidance services.
- DfE encourages schools to explore the benefits of other careers activities including work experience, enterprise activities and links with FE and HE.
- In acting impartially, schools must ensure that students are aware of the full range of academic and vocational options, including Apprenticeships, A levels and other post-16 options. Schools are encouraged to develop links with FE, training and work-based learning providers.
- Schools should ensure that they are able to offer advice on specialist provision for students with special educational needs or disabilities.
- The guidance applies to all community, foundation and voluntary schools that provide secondary education.
- The guidance also applies to pupil referral units.
- Academies and free schools will be subject to the same requirements through their Funding Agreements.
- Schools must use their overall budget, including the pupil premium, to meet the cost of provision.
- The National Careers Service will not offer adviser-based services to young people. People over the age of 13 can access the telephone service and website.
- From September 2012, local authorities will not be expected to provide a universal careers service. However, they still have a responsibility to ‘encourage, enable and assist the participation of young people in education or training.’
- This will require local authorities to support vulnerable young people who are at risk of disengaging with education or work.
- Local authorities will also be required to ensure that 16 and 17 year olds receive and are assisted to take up an offer of post-16 education or training.
You can read the DfE communication by clicking here. You can also find out more about the Education Act 2011 in our FAQs here.
CASCAiD is committed to helping schools to deliver the new duty in line with the statutory guidance.
Core to our approach is ensuring that young people have the opportunity to explore the full range of education, training and career options that are available while helping them to understand where their own interests, skills and aspirations could lead them.
Our programs are completely independent and impartial and we produce dedicated products to support each transition stage.
By mirroring the guidance process, our student-centred approach produces results that are unique to each student and give young people a strong starting point to enable them to explore the full range of career, education and training options.
Central to our philosophy is transparency: young people can see exactly why they have the results that are displayed. This promotes self-awareness and builds confidence.
Our career information is impartial, up-to-date and verified by professional bodies. Our information is updated three times each year, ensuring that your students have access to quality resources, while reducing the time and money spent on monitoring and updating resources.
We offer schools cost-effective solutions to help them deliver their new duties, starting from just 50p per student. Click here to find out more.
For schools that are looking for face-to-face adviser-led provision, we have developed Inspire, alongside our partners the Inspiring Futures Foundation. Inspire is a new approach to raising aspirations and achievement by delivering high-quality, impartial careers guidance in schools.
Inspire uses specially designed school activities, delivered by experienced advisers to:
- Raise aspirations by showing students what they can achieve if they aim higher
- Give access to impartial guidance for students making career decisions
- Offer an exciting way for students to enhance their employability skills
- Improve student achievement and their school’s success rates.
For more information on Inspire, please click here.
