news


Few schools know how to provide the service effectively Careers guidance in schools ‘inadequate’


CAREERS guidance in schools is not working well enough, according to Ofsted. A recent survey carried out by the education watchdog said that three quarters of the schools visited were not implementing their duty to provide impartial careers advice effectively. It further found that guidance for schools on careers advice was not explicit, the National Careers Service was not promoted well enough and that there was a lack of employer engagement in schools. Ofsted examined the quality of careers advice since September 2012 when schools were given the legal responsibility to provide this service to students aged


14 – 16. The survey looked at the extent to which young people in this age-range, in the 60 schools that inspectors visited, were receiving appropriate advice in order to make informed decisions about their future. Very few of the schools visited knew how to provide a service effectively or had the skills and expertise needed to provide a comprehensive service. Few schools had bought in adequate service from external sources.


Employers


Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said it was vital that employers worked with


Student units for new Waltham Forest scheme


PLANNING has been granted for a new ‘urban quarter’ in the Blackhorse Lane Industrial area in Walthamstow. The mixed-use, residential-led


regeneration, which has a gross development value of £175m, will transform the declining industrial estate into a thriving community to include new homes, student accommodation, community and commercial space. The scheme will be the


first significant development of student accommodation in Waltham Forest. The site lies between Blackhorse Lane and the High Maynard Reservoir, just north of Waltham Forest Town Centre. Gnome House, a 1930s industrial building will be retained and refurbished as a community gallery and café to stimulate the local, emerging creative industries and act as a focus for the new neighbourhood. The masterplan creates a new tree- lined link, which begins at Gnome House and runs east-west through the site, allowing future public access to the Walthamstow Wetlands, London’s largest urban wetland nature reserve. Pollard Thomas Edwards architects are working on the development with client MacDonald Egan. Start on site is expected in early 2015.


8 educationdab.co.uk


schools and colleges to ensure all young people received high-quality careers advice – with employers taking centre stage in inspiring young people to get on in life. In response to Ofsted, the Government said it will revise the guidance it provides to schools and colleges. It will ensure schools improve the information about where pupils go on to after they finish their GCSEs and A levels (destination measures). The National Careers Service will also be improved to give young people a greater understanding of the full range of options available to them. It will use its local networks to bring employers, schools, charities and social enterprises together.


Chain


reaction


OF THE 3,300 schools now open as academies, 1,660 are now in academy ‘chains’ – nearly double the 897 this time last year. Around 348 schools are leading these chains. The new figures show how high-performing academies are now working with other schools to drive improvement through the system, dispelling fears, says the DfE, that the cooperative traditions of the school system had been abandoned as a result of the reforms.


Headteachers are moving across schools in the chain to pass on expertise, while the sharing of central services, including HR, finance and IT procurement is helping to cut costs and create efficiencies.


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