Careers education can be crucial in developing the knowledge, confidence and skills young people need to make well-informed, relevant choices and plans for their future. This is especially true of students from poorer backgrounds, who are less likely to have family or friends with the insight and expertise to offer advice. High quality careers education can help them progress smoothly into further learning and work. Additionally, careers education works best when it is personalised and targeted to individuals’ needs from an early age.

At Holgate we have engaged in Careers Education Training and Consultancy and have utilised the Careers Development Framework to enable us to design learning and teaching activities that focus on six areas of learning that facilitate positive careers and lifelong career development:

• Personal agency – helping children to become enterprising, optimistic, adaptable and resilient
• Knowledge and skill development – helping children to gain the knowledge, skills and attitudes they will need to get and keep fulfilling work
• Learner voice – giving children a say in their own personal development so that they stay motivated and engaged
• Good work – helping children to recognise and aspire to decent work
• Sustainability – helping children to understand that positive careers need to be based on sustainable living and working
• Social justice – helping children to recognise and tackle the barriers to fair and equal treatment, including challenging stereotyping and discrimination

“Career-related learning in primary schools is about broadening pupils’ horizons, challenging stereotypes and helping them develop the skills and sense of self that will enable them to reach their full potential.”

The Careers & Enterprise Company

 

Research into best practice around Careers & Enterprise Education suggests the following:

Career-related learning should be viewed as an essential cross-curricular element, alongside other key areas of personal development, such as spiritual, moral, social, and cultural growth, healthy living, citizenship, and environmental awareness. Integrating career-related learning throughout various subjects and activities within the curriculum helps students make meaningful connections between their studies and real-life applications. This approach carried out at Holgate Primary and Nursery School supports learners in understanding how their education relates to their future career opportunities and life goals.

The most powerful models to develop career-related learning are shown in the table below. The models prioritised at Holgate Primary and Nursery School include talks from employers, PSHE work, topic work and enterprise activities.

Additionally, theme days are held to raise the awareness of careers, including but not limited to:

• World Book Day
• Workplace trips to the library, farm, Veolia and museums
• Recycling awareness week
• Enterprise activities for school fairs

Please come back soon for our Holgate Careers Development Framework.