6th February 2019 In September 2017, CCH published elements of the unique LEO (longitudinal education outcomes) data so that Careers Advisers and Teachers could use this rich and reliable data (based on PAYE data) in its proper context with their clients and pupils. Significant amounts of this data made uncomfortable reading while it also highlighted many success stories for universities …
Things for Careers Advisers and Teachers to watch out for in 2019 (as well as Brexit!)
Andy Gardner January 2019 Happy new year! For the next few months there will be relentless media coverage of Brexit developments. No deal, the negotiated deal, a people’s vote or kicking the can down the road by delaying Article 50, who knows? In some ways it seems that the government is stuck in a zombie state, with nothing much happening. …
Dire Financial Situation in Schools Threatens the Careers Strategy
Opinion from Andy Gardner November 2018 As Dr Deirdre Hughes notes in her blog, Time to Rethink (1) “At a time of ‘little extras’ and stringent cuts in education and local authority budgets, many schools and colleges are increasingly unable to afford career guidance for their students.” She also points out that “In 2001, circa £450m was spent annually on …
BBC Careers Adviser Gets it All So Wonderfully Wrong
Andy Gardner October 2018 When my 11-year-old son told me that I had to watch the CBBC programme, Class Dismissed, because it had a Careers Adviser in it, I was straight onto I-Player. Of course, it was all done for laughs, but it was so obviously the opposite to what a trained Careers Adviser would do, that they either had …
My 31st A Level Results Day
Written by Andy Gardner, August 2018 1988 16 August 2018 will be my 31st continuous year of providing Careers Advice on A Level Results day. Things have changed in many ways. In August 1988 I was given the responsibility of providing the AFEIS (Advanced Further Education Information Service) Service for all the schools connected to Stratford Careers Office, part of …
MPs interrogation of CEC shows the need for Local Careers Services
Andy Gardner 17th May 2018 “It’s not Rocket Science, and it’s about 20 years since I was Chairman of the careers company in Tyneside, and technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now, but we had outcomes data for 10,000 young people, and we knew where they were and what cohort they were in.” Ian Mearns MP On the morning …
T Levels – my money is on a dog’s dinner!
Opinion from Andy Gardner It looks like we are going to be chucking a whole load of money at T Levels, the latest attempt to solve the well documented skills gap and give us a new answer to providing an alternative to A Levels in the Technical/Vocational space. The courses will be run by Further Education Colleges who are currently …