AI-powered CareersPro platform launched to support careers guidance

Complementing the growth of Learning Curve Group’s existing Ed-Tech solutions, CareersPro is designed to provide individuals, young or old, with the tools and resources to make informed choices about their education and career paths. This platform harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to deliver personalised recommendations, guidance, and costings that are tailored to each individual’s unique skills, interests and aspirations.

Last year’s Ofsted inspections revealed that 80% of educational institutions required improvement in their Careers Education, Information and Guidance (CEIAG). The platform has been built with this in mind and will give the likes of schools, colleges, local authorities and independent training providers the ability to offer careers guidance through an easy-to-use online resource.

Taking career advice and guidance to the next level

With a vast library of resources, including industry insights, salary data, and job descriptions, CareersPro has made it easier than ever for individuals to explore different career paths, empowering users to choose careers that align with them.

Users can explore careers that complement their skillset and make use of their existing qualifications. CareersPro gives them all the facts, so they can make well-informed decisions.

This innovative platform uses comparative judgement to discover what is most important to people in their careers. If users already have an idea of a career, they can browse the database of over 500 careers and explore which qualifications they’ll need, what the local labour market looks like, and consider which skills they already have that match that career.

Building a CV has never been easier. CareersPro identifies transferable skills and provides a personalised career report for each user, meaning they can tailor their CV with the rich information from the platform.

World-class careers advice using the power of software

CareersPro is at the forefront of EdTech solutions and has been designed to support education providers meet the Gatsby Benchmarks to offer world-class careers provision. It has been developed to align with the Gatsby framework, which all providers are responsible for implementing within their education setting. Legislation states that “careers information is a fundamental right for all children in the UK”, so it is imperative that providers have the resources to facilitate young people’s understanding of their possible career routes and how they can get there. 

Far more than a career quiz, what really sets CareersPro aside is its AI-powered recommendation engine, which uses sophisticated algorithms to analyse the user’s interests, skills, and career aspirations and builds a personalised career report. With this platform, users can be confident that they are making informed decisions about their futures.

Providers can purchase access for users in bulk, so they can explore careers, job opportunities and qualifications that will get them to where they want to be. There are a range of licence options available to support organisations of all sizes.

To book your demo today, visit https://www.lcgonline.co.uk/careerspro

The success of London Multiply demonstrates the importance of adopting a local approach

Maths and numeracy skills play a crucial role in the lives of everyone, from working out household bills to getting the skills to find better paid work. In London, the mayor is committed to making sure all Londoners have the skills they need to succeed in a fair, inclusive, and thriving society. This includes increasing participation and progression in numeracy skills training.

In the past year more than 24,000 adults in London have accessed maths and numeracy courses funded by the mayor through the adult education budget (AEB). Nevertheless, low participation in numeracy courses and negative attitudes to maths continue to be a challenge. Some estimates suggest 58 per cent of Londoners have low numeracy skills and are therefore more likely to earn less and face a higher risk of unemployment.

In his recent speech on improving attainment in maths, the prime minister set out an ambition to tackle the national “anti-maths” mindset with a proposal for all learners in England to study maths until the age of 18. This renewed focus on increasing numeracy levels and challenging negative attitudes to maths is welcome, but any real success beyond the rhetoric will only be achieved through a local approach to delivery.

London can lead the way in improving the skills and life chances of Londoners

The success of London Multiply demonstrates the importance of adopting a local approach to maths and numeracy skills provision. London Multiply provides access to nearly 300 free courses for adults aged 19+ who have limited qualifications in maths (below GCSE pass grade). This includes everyday money management courses that help Londoners manage their household budgets, and more employment-focused courses that help those who have been made redundant transition back into work.

The devolution of London’s £320m AEB has proved to be an effective tool in making adult education more accessible, impactful, and relevant to those least likely to participate in further education – especially those who are struggling with the soaring cost of living. The mayor has introduced funding for Londoners in low-paid work to access adult learning, supporting 20,000 people a year to acquire the skills they need to secure higher-paying and more stable employment.

We know that significant negative perceptions of maths and a low awareness of the courses available can prevent Londoners accessing the training that is on their doorsteps. This is why the London Multiply programme builds on the success of the AEB delivery in working closely with community-based organisations, boroughs and colleges to tackle barriers to the uptake of numeracy courses and ensure it reaches as many people as possible.

Through the success of these programmes, we have shown London can lead the way in improving the skills and life chances of Londoners. On this National Numeracy Day, I am calling on the government to devolve all 19+ skills and employment support budgets to the mayor as part of a single pot of multi-year funding so we can continue to build a fairer and more prosperous city for everyone.

Manchester mayor’s ‘MBacc’ to rival EBacc to boost technical education

Andy Burnham has launched proposals for a “Greater Manchester Baccalaureate” to promote technical education courses to the city region’s young people.

Set to be up and running for year 9 options in 2024, the MBacc will be a list of qualifications that steer pupils towards technical training routes leading to in-demand jobs in the local economy.

The MBacc proposals have put the mayor of Greater Manchester on a collision course with Department for Education ministers, who have fiercely resisted calls to expand EBacc subjects to include creative or technical subjects.

But, unlike the EBacc, there are currently no plans to publish league table measures on entries and achievements on the MBacc subjects, raising questions over how the mayor will incentivise schools to offer more technical options to 14- to 16-year-olds.

Ministers are also set on delivering a Conservative party manifesto “ambition” to see 90 per cent of pupils studying EBacc subjects by 2025.

But the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said that only 36 per cent of 16-year-olds in the area leave compulsory education with EBacc subjects, prompting Burnham to create his alternative.

“The question we’ve all got to consider is what about the 64 per cent. Are we doing enough to help those thousands of young people across Greater Manchester to find their way in life and find their way to all the good jobs that are here. I don’t think we are,” Burnham said at the launch event for his plans on Wednesday.

What is the MBacc?

Like the EBacc, the MBacc is not a qualification in itself. Burnham’s baccalaureate would include a core set of GCSEs in English language, maths and a technology subject such as ICT or computer science. 

Alongside those would be options including a GCSE in engineering, creative subjects and the sciences. In addition, the mayor is consulting on including GCSEs in business, economics, humanities, languages and physical education.

With those MBacc GCSEs in the bag, the idea is that 16-year-olds will progress to one of seven “career gateways”, each leading to a T Level or other level 3 qualification, like BTECs, in: manufacturing and engineering, finance and professional, digital and technology, health and social care, creative, cultural and sport, education and early years and construction and green economy.

Then, at 18, MBacc holders would access employment, a degree apprenticeship or a higher technical qualification (HTQ).

The final set of MBacc subjects will be subject to consultation with government and local partners, the mayor’s office said.

No plans for new league tables

Published school performance measures include data on how many pupils are entered for EBacc subjects at GCSE and what grades they achieve. The DfE also incentivises schools towards EBacc subjects by offering heads opportunities to advise on policy and take part in certain government schemes.

FE Week asked the mayor whether he would be introducing similar incentives, like league tables, to encourage schools towards MBacc subjects.

“I’m not going to be in a position to change those things. I’m not seeking to. The Ebacc is important,” Burnham said.

“We’ll have to have a conversation with the DfE. None of this is confrontational. This is about making some of their policies work better. 

“So T Levels, for instance… Let’s go on this journey and see if we can help knock T Levels into shape.”

‘New powers’ make MBacc possible

Since becoming the first elected metro mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham has called for more control over post-technical education. He describes the MBacc as “the first step on the journey” for Greater Manchester to become “the UK’s first technical education city-region”.

This week’s announcement comes months after Greater Manchester and the West Midlands gained extra skills powers in the Spring Statement. The mayors from both combined authorities had pushed for more education powers as part of their “trailblazer” devolution deals, but much of what was offered was in the adult skills space.

The pair did win the ability to form “joint governance boards” between their combined authorities and the DfE to “provide oversight of post-16 technical education and skills” and become “central convenors” for careers provision in their regions.

At the MBacc launch, Burnham said it was the new board with DfE help that makes his academic and technical pathway options possible.

“The devolution trailblazer creates a joint board at the Greater Manchester level, a partnership between ourselves and the DFE. And what you are hearing today is our first sort of ‘starter for ten’. To say, look, this is what we would want to get to, through this joint board, those two clear equal paths.”

Finding tech teachers a ‘risk’

The MBacc launch coincided with day three of 12 days of strike action at The Manchester College over pay.

Anna Dawe, principal of Wigan and Leigh College and chair of the Greater Manchester Colleges Group, is working with the mayor on the MBacc. GM Colleges are “co-ordinating their specialisms” to deliver the MBacc, Dawe told FE Week, and national challenges around technical teacher recruitment are a risk.

“It is certainly a risk we are living and breathing,” she said. “We’re working collaboratively within Greater Manchester Colleges around staffing, around how we look at different methods of delivery specialisation which will alleviate some of those issues. 

“But it actually highlights and puts pressure on the investment that is needed in technical education.”

Tributes paid to principal’s thirty-year legacy after sudden death

Tributes have been paid to Cirencester College principal Jim Grant after he died unexpectedly.

Grant spent most of his career at the Gloucestershire-based sixth form college, beginning as a lecturer of history and archaeology in 1991 and progressing to principal in 2017.

The college said Grant passed away suddenly at home on the evening of Friday, May 12.

Peter Holmes, chair of governors, said: “Jim will be missed by a great number of people who have worked with him now and over the many years he has given to Cirencester College and its community. The governors and the management team are united in their wish to ensure his legacy continues to grow and thrive.”

A spokesperson for college said Grant was a “friend, coach and mentor for many people, staff and students alike, and his impact on all of us was profound”, adding that he “will be deeply missed by us all”.

The college said that in his thirty-plus year career, Grant championed social mobility at the college, made appearances in the media and scheduled an upcoming visit to Parliament to speak about the sixth form sector in England.

As principal, he also oversaw significant redevelopments and commitments to ecological sustainability across the campus such as its “award-winning” digital building.

Grant was also a published author of several works, including multiple additions of an archaeology coursebook.

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “We are terribly sorry to hear the very sad news about Jim. Our thoughts are with his friends and family and the close-knit community at Cirencester College.

“We will miss Jim’s great sense of humour and his steely determination to do what he knew was right. He was always ready to help and support the team at SFCA and his colleagues across the sector. It was a privilege to know him. He will be greatly missed by many, many people across the country who have benefitted from his advice, expertise, insights and support over the years.”

How East Anglian colleges have put aside competition to deliver sustainability together

Historically, the further education sector has struggled to achieve true collaboration.  In an intrinsically competitive post-16 education system, and with teaching staff availability off timetable often limited, getting together with colleagues from other colleges to plan and deliver joint activity can be a challenge.  

The five further education (FE) colleges across Norfolk and Suffolk have been bucking that trend, working collaboratively on a number of recent projects such as sharing learning on employer curriculum engagements through the European Social Fund (ESF) technical curriculum project. ESF-funded provision for those facing barriers to accessing education has also seen significant joint working across colleges and the voluntary community and social enterprise sector, and the regional Visitor Economy Network Initiative (VENI) project is a college and private sector partnership promoting careers in this key sector for the east of England.

So we are good at planning and delivering activity and engaging employers together, and we share skills and expertise in the management of externally funded projects very readily.

The climate emergency presents a new scale of challenge for us all.  With new job roles and skills requirements emerging all the time and regulation and qualifications not keeping pace with the changes, it is vital that colleges pool knowledge and expertise to deliver the best possible learning opportunities.

The New Anglia Green Skills project – running from August 2022 to spring 2023 and funded by the strategic development fund from the department for education (DfE) – sought to deliver a step change in our green skills work.  Partners, Suffolk New College, City College Norwich, West Suffolk College, East Coast College and The College of West Anglia developed a multi-strand revenue and capital project looking at curriculum, business engagement, facilities and learner involvement in green skills. 

The climate emergency presents a new scale of challenge for us all

The project culminated in the New Anglia Green Skills conference on 15 March at the Hold in Ipswich, organised by Suffolk New College on behalf of the partnership. A key aim of the conference was to bring together teaching staff from all five colleges and give them the opportunity to hear from leading speakers as well as to talk to each other about the curriculum adaptation work they had done. The energy and commitment to collaborate in the workshop sessions was extraordinary, and staff were keen to build on the new cross-college links they had made.

We were really committed to putting on a conference because we are so aware that many FE teaching staff don’t get to go to other colleges or attend conferences. That professional ‘buzz in the room’ that more strategic staff get to experience is so important for professional development, and a really good outcome of this project. Indeed, we hope to work across the colleges to better align our staff development days and make it easier to deliver similar events in future.

All our colleges are at different stages in investing in facilities to teach and train in net-zero technologies like solar, heat pumps, and hybrid and electric vehicles. This is a particularly key area for ongoing collaboration as we develop and evolve training and teaching programmes to meet the huge skills demand and engage with careers leads to enthuse people with new career opportunities. 

The green skills project covered all curriculum areas, not just the ‘obvious’ green skills requirements in construction and engineering. In fact, some of the most dynamic and committed work came from curriculum areas that aren’t front of mind when people talk about ‘greenifying’ business; Hair and beauty teams were especially active, for example, in developing net-zero salons, with work on waste recycling and using greener products.

The project has delivered capital investment in all colleges and many small-scale initiatives to improve and adapt curriculum and facilities. The partnership has carried out extensive curriculum reviews; developed many new resources; sent staff on key training and fact-finding visits; and developed teacher development frameworks and tools to embed sustainability as standard in all teaching. 

And the best thing is that we all agree: This is only the start.

What we really mean when we talk about likeable teachers

It was one of those ridiculously busy days. I was bustling down a corridor with an armful of exercise books when I came face-to-face with a student who had not been in my lesson earlier. Brought up short, I took a second to absorb the fact and felt the frustration of the day rise inside me. I stopped and called their name, drawing them out of the flow of bodies, away from their friends.

My initial annoyance flipped as I remembered that this student was having a really hard time of late due to factors way beyond their control. As I checked they were alright and said how pleased I was to see them in college, I swear their face changed. Those thirty seconds were by far the most important part of my very busy day.

That student was present in my next lesson, chirpy and ready to work. There is nothing unusual in this scene. It is mundane and it is replicated thousands of times every day all across the country. But everything about that exchange is essential.

It brought to mind an educational social media debate that flared recently about whether teachers should be likeable. As is often the case on social media, likeability was in short supply – and in no discernible relationship with the positions held by the contributors.

The heart of the issue is the fact that education is a profoundly relational business. Like all relationships, there is an indecipherably complex mix of factors at play when teaching works well. Teasing out the strands is hard and possibly even counterproductive.

I have been in schools and colleges where teachers have prided themselves on their stern discipline. These stony-faced pseudo-sergeant-majors seem to take to heart Machiavelli’s hoary old chestnut about being feared rather than loved and I sometimes question their motivation to teach.

Seeking the approval of students is a self-evident dead end

Then again, I also question any over-eager, wide-eyed teacher who desperately needs to be liked by their students. Insecure neediness often cries out from behind the façade of the cool teachers, and there is a sneaky manipulation in being likeable in order to bring about some desired result. This is likeability as a transactional tool and that feels dishonest. 

Anyone who teaches must, at some point, consider why they do what they do. Possibly on a Sunday night, right around the time that Antiques Roadshow comes on. After all, there are many reasons not to do this mad job.

Harder to reflect upon than why we do what we do in the way that we do it. If we do this honestly, we will probably soon find a whole range of wounded motivations driving our interactions with others, including in our teaching. After all, we always bring all we are to all we do.

Among our possible drives, seeking the approval of students is a self-evident dead end. As any therapist will tell you, it is an unhealthy displacement that cannot end well. We are not in the classroom for ourselves or our own gratification, but for the good of our students.

What students really need is to trust their teachers, and in the power-imbalanced, age-discordant relationship of the classroom, trust is most quickly built on a foundation of kindness. I suspect this is what we mean when we talk about likeability, a professional kindness that might involve discipline and might involve care but will certainly involve dignity, respect, empowerment, empathy and compassion.

Like many older teachers, I was schooled in the dark days of flung chalk and flying board rubbers. Violence was endemic to the classroom. Those were not kind days, and a lot of people received deep and long-lasting wounds in those schools. But there were kind teachers, and they stood out like beacons. They are the ones we still remember as we reflect on what motivates us.

Kind teachers still stand out today. The students can tell you who they are. Ask them some time; it’s instructive. Ask who the best teachers are, and then ask who the kind teachers are. I suspect you’ll find the lists overlap, and that likeability has little to do with it.

Student loan changes don’t make apprenticeships more attractive – but they do change the game

The double-whammy of GCSEs and A levels is hitting our house at the moment and, like many parents around the country, we’re navigating our way beyond UCAS and into student finances. With only months to go before our daughter sets off for university, we were taken aback to hear about the changes to the student loan system.

For students starting a new undergraduate programme in September, the new ‘Plan 5’ loans signify three major changes: loan repayments will now stretch from 30 to 40 years; the starting salary for repayments will drop to £25,000 (down almost £2,500), meaning that repayments start earlier for more graduates; and, on a more positive note, the interest rate has dropped from as much as three per cent above the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to RPI only.

For those on middle to low incomes, this will amount to a lifelong ‘graduate tax’ that may stretch all the way to retirement. For many, it may never be worth paying off the loan early.

It’s unlikely these changes will have an impact on students making post-18 choices this year. UCAS applications from students living in England are down, but not noticeably (2.71 per cent), and what little drop there is can be accounted for more by the fall in mature students than any drop in college-leavers progressing straight to undergraduate course. In any case, these changes have been announced quite late in students’ application journey, and if my own experience is anything to go by, awareness of them and their long-term implications are little-known and even less understood.

In the longer term, some may argue that Plan 5 loans, with a prospect of a lifetime of debt and reduced earnings after tax, present apprenticeship providers with an opportunity to offer an alternative to college-leavers. The obvious option is degree apprenticeships. As these are fully ‘paid for’ via the levy or funding, there’s no cost to the apprentice, who earns a salary just like any other employee.

Presenting options as ‘apprenticeships vs university’ is no longer productive

Likewise, it could be argued that any apprenticeship at a level appropriate to the job role can be offered as an ‘alternative’ route to a degree, and the recent move to promote vacancies and opportunities alongside degrees on the UCAS portal is an interesting step toward this. Although they often lack the equivalent opportunities of personal growth (moving to a new city, making new friends, living independently, and so on), apprenticeships offer a range of other benefits, not least the opportunity to gain a ‘hands-on’ education and to pursue a career as part of a structured learning plan.

But in reality, relying on student finance as a lever to nudge more students towards apprenticeships is unlikely to bear results. Instead, we should recognise that presenting options as “apprenticeships versus university” is simply no longer productive. There are plans to build UCAS points into some apprenticeship standards, and the IfATE’s Beta version of the Occupational Maps is intended to simplify “the relationships between education, qualifications, apprenticeships and occupations”.

Providers should take this as a strong hint that developing career-supporting learner journeys is the way forward. Clearly mapped progression routes from Level 2 to Level 7 that may or may not include degree apprenticeships will draw young people keen to avoid debt and who have a career in mind. Presenting employers with long-term CPD solutions will also encourage stronger buy-in from managers and decision makers.

It has always been the case that providers should aim to attend career fairs at local schools and colleges to promote apprenticeships and meet potential candidates face-to-face. However, this is a resource-heavy activity. In my experience, few providers utilise their best advocates – local employers and apprentices – to support these activities. Providers who can coordinate visits and workshops from ‘near-peer’ apprentices and their employers will quickly build partnerships with schools and colleges to promote apprenticeships directly to students. Some of this activity could even be mapped to outcomes for apprentices currently on-programme.

The revised student loans are closer to a ‘learner contribution’ system and should probably be labelled as such; ‘learn now, pay later’ versus ‘earn as you learn’. They won’t put students off going to university, but they may cause more to re-think the route they take to get there.

What Building Better Opportunities teaches us about stimulating labour market participation

Plugging the participation gap in the labour market is one of the highest priorities for government and the number one issue on the list for many employers struggling to fill vacancies. Whether it’s ‘the great resignation’, the effects of a post-pandemic health backlog, the impact of Brexit restrictions or a combination of all three, it’s in all of our interests to ensure those who want to work are able to and that the work on offer is fulfilling and financially viable.

Most commentary on the issue, as reflected in the major announcements in the Chancellor’s spring budget, has focused on how people who have left the labour market can be supported or enticed to return, for example by better integrating work and health support in Workwell Partnerships or through ‘returnerships’ for the over 50s.

What this overlooks is that, for years before the current crisis, we were failing adequately to support tens of thousands of people who were already struggling to find work, and that those people are now likely to be further back in the queue for support. This will have a particular impact on young people who have the added disadvantage of a lack of work experience on their CV.

The fact that 1.7 million people who are currently not working say they would like to while government programmes designed to address that gap (including traineeships, apprenticeships and the Restart scheme) are underspending suggests that we may be looking in the wrong place for the answer.

Unpalatable though it may be for some policymakers and politicians, one place we could look is Europe – or at least to the programmes that until recently were supported by the European Social Fund.  One of these is Building Better Opportunities (BBO), a national programme of LEP-level interventions co-financed by the National Lottery Community Fund. 

There are important lessons for commissioning employability programmes

The programme was specifically designed to target those with most barriers to employment and placed as much emphasis on building resilience as it did on acquiring qualifications and finding work.  The programme began in 2016 and will wind up this year having engaged more than 150,000 people of all ages and abilities, often through partnerships led by voluntary-sector organisations.

Groundwork has been involved in BBO as a programme lead and a delivery organisation. We have with more than 12,000 people across in 11 areas of England – from young people leaving care to refugees and those with long-term health conditions.  A recent analysis drawing the lessons from these programmes points to a number of common ingredients that have contributed to successful outcomes.

What connects them all is the centrality of coaching to the delivery model – a trusted keyworker able to provide support and to listen when that’s what’s needed, but also prepared to push and challenge when the time is right. This is nothing unusual, but what made BBO so effective was the ability to deploy this resource in the context of a (relatively) long-term, (relatively) well-resourced programme, meaning coaches could afford to be patient and properly tailor their approach.  

Moreover, in each area coaches were connected into a partnership of locally-based organisations. This means they were able to draw on a wider infrastructure to help with barriers such as homelessness but also identify opportunities. For example, one programme helped young people find their voice by securing time in a local music studio.

Few will lament the bureaucracy and stifling audit regimes that accompanied this and other ESF-funded programmes. However, there are important lessons to be learned about what works that should be applied to the way our sector prepares young people for adult life and the way in which skills and employability programmes are designed and commissioned.

The government recently announced a relaxation of the rules around the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in an attempt to bring forward more proposals to support skills and employability. This was too late in the day to make an appreciable difference to plans in development, but it does mean that these bids should be prioritised next time around.

Local authorities should engage meaningfully with colleges and training providers in preparing their proposals, which can only be strengthened by the lessons learned from programmes such as BBO.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 425

Michelle Dowse

Principal & CEO, Heart of Worcestershire College

Start date: April 2023

Previous job: Deputy Principal, Cambridge Regional College

Interesting fact: Michelle is a former national sailing champion whose love of the water and exploring new places is well-documented in her travel blog. When she’s not off exploring, Michelle enjoys spending time relaxing with her family.

Simon Jordan

Principal & Chief Executive, Oldham College

Start date: Summer 2023

Previous job: Deputy Principal, Burnley College

Interesting fact: Simon is a keen runner who has completed several marathons and ultra marathons. The furthest of these was a 100-mile run which he achieved in under 24 hours.