Local authorities

Engagement with local authority groups and networks

We can contribute to strategic and operational local authority networks such as head teacher groups or school DYW leads meetings to gain and maintain buy-in to career education and skills, provide professional learning, offer information and guidance, explore potential collaboration and plan implementation.

Professional learning

We offer a range of career education professional learning to meet the diverse needs of teachers and other practitioners. As well as delivery on a school-by-school basis, we can contribute to authority wide professional learning including:

• newly qualified teacher mandatory or elective programmes
• centrally coordinated professional learning programmes for primary and secondary practitioners
• bespoke professional learning for Lifelong Learning / CLD or other teams who support young people
• dedicated support for other partners working with local authorities e.g. employability providers
• keynotes and workshops at conferences or events

Collaborative projects

We can provide more intensive and sustained support for schools or authority working groups to:

• assist authority initiatives and to develop and test new approaches
• provide advice and professional learning for primary clusters or groups of primary schools in embedding career education and skills across the curriculum
• assist with more in-depth and extended support for identified schools
• support shared developments between schools, local authority and college

Parents

We can provide information to local authority Parent Council Chairs Forum and/or work with other parent groups including school Parent Councils to support parents in their role as career influencers.

Parents and Carer Engagement

The Education team is currently leading a review of the SDS Parental Strategy.

The strategy fully recognises the key role that parents and carers have within young people’s career decision making and looks to positively support them.

Recently piloted national webinars for parents and carers have been developed with our career colleagues in the North and North East. Feedback from these webinars has been extremely positive and we would encourage schools to share the subject choice and school leaver support links with parents and carers.