Why is this important
All students can benefit from individualised careers guidance with a qualified careers adviser. This can help them to confirm and clarify their ideas and goals and ensure that they have considered fully the implications of these ideas.
For those students with little or no ideas about the future a Careers Adviser can support them in moving toward clearer plans.
As a school the deployment of a qualified careers adviser provides assurance to parents and others that you are delivering impartial and independent careers guidance.
What is the difference between a Careers Leader and a Careers Adviser?
The key difference between a Careers Leader and a Careers Adviser is that the Careers Leader is the person who is responsible for the strategic plans and delivery of the whole school careers programme, the Careers Adviser delivers personal guidance to students individually or in group.
It is possible that the Careers Leader also acts as the Careers Adviser if suitably qualified. However, it is important to remember that the benchmarks outline that every student should have an interview before 16 and one after they are 16. Interviews often last 30 minutes or more. The Careers Leader role, overseeing the whole school careers programme, is a significant task. It therefore may not be realistic for the roles to be combined, particularly for large schools.
Commissioning independent careers guidance
If you do not have a Level 6+ qualified Careers Adviser at your school/college you may need to look to commission an IAG service. Please refer to CDI Careers Guidance in Schools and Colleges: A Guide to Best Practice and Commissioning Independent Career Guidance Services for further details.
CDI registered career development professional can be found here: Find a Registered Career Development Professional (thecdi.net)
Remember that even if you commission an individual or a service to deliver your careers guidance you remain responsible for ensuring that the guidance provided is appropriate, impartial and of a high quality. If you commission a service to meet your needs you should satisfy yourself that their quality assurance process is robust. If you commission an individual or you employ your own adviser you will need to consider a range of processes including:-
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Observations of interviews and group works
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Review of action plans
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Student feedback
Training an Internal Careers Adviser
There are a number of routes to train as a Careers Adviser Details of the options can be found here.
As a school or college, it is very likely you are paying the Apprenticeship Levy, your could use this levy to fund the training for apprentice Careers Adviser.
Best Practice
This information is provided in partnership with the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC). For more information about CEC Careers Hubs please visit the Careers Hub Provider Access Policy.
