Andy Bradburn, IYSS Team Manager and Roger Pakeman, 14-19 Advisor to attend to discuss careers advice.
Minutes:
Roger Pakeman, 14-19 advisor and Andy Bradburn, IYSS Team Manager attended the Youth Cabinet Meeting at the request of the Youth Members to discuss careers advice.
Andy Bradburn advised the Youth Members that schools and colleges are responsible for providing their own careers advice. Andy reported that he is creating an all-age Skills Strategy, it will focus on how to give young people in the borough exposure to jobs and highlighted how careers is being picked up through Ofsted inspections within schools and therefore is giving an opportunity to talk to schools around careers advice. All schools took part in work experiences up until 2012, some schools have reinstated work experiences and others have decided that pupils do not need work experience.
In a response to a question around the Youth Members knowing who their careers lead is within their schools, approximately half of the young people said that they knew who their careers lead was.
In response to a question around having careers advice at a younger age, Roger Pakeman explained that they are looking at doing an element of careers advice in year 7 and advised of a project around having early education advice in Primary Schools, although it isn’t yet known if Bury will be included in this project.
In a response to a question around careers advice in college, Andy reported that there is a big push around apprenticeships, to promote a technical route and advised of apprenticeship advisors as well as colleges attending careers events.
Youth members advised of their experiences within schools and colleges around careers advice that had been given. In a response to a question around ensuring the quality of careers advice in schools and colleges, Andy explained that there are 2 main contractors in Bury that are used and will take the feedback Youth Members provided around the issues with the quality of the careers advice to the network of career leads. It is up to the schools to ensure that they are getting quality careers advice. Each school should have a linked governor as part of the governing body to ensure that careers advice is being looked at.
In response to a question around financial skills in life, Andy reported that it is important to have skills for life when you leave school around relationship, careers and that skills for life need to be broader.
Jeanette Richards, Executive Director of Children’s Services, thanked the Youth Members for their feedback and advised that some of the broader messages will need to be taken to the CS Partnership to enable them to make the best decisions. In summary the Youth Members advised that they would like:
It was agreed: