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Kent Enterprise Adviser Network

Kent County Council’s Skills and Employability Service and the West Kent Partnership were awarded part funding from the Careers and Enterprise Company for Enterprise Coordinators who will broker links between schools/colleges and businesses. The purpose of the Enterprise Adviser Network (EAN) is to create powerful, lasting connections between local businesses and schools and colleges in their area in order to close the gaps in enterprise education, whilst increasing young people’s access to a wide range of employer engagements and activities.

Read more here.

Join The Enterprise Adviser Network
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Help inspire and prepare the young people of Kent for the world of work. As business leaders you will be an Enterprise Adviser (EA) working closely with a school’s senior leadership team to strategically to enhance the school’s enterprise and employer engagement strategy and activities. This is an opportunity for you to use your knowledge of the world of work to make a lasting positive impact on the futures of young people. The network will develop young people’s preparedness for the workplace. Contact Munya or Simon to find out more.

See the map of our coverage in Kent so far…

Kent and Medway EAN Training and Networking Dates 2018-19
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Please take note and hold the dates below for the whole of Kent and Medway Enterprise Adviser Network (EAN) training, sharing practice and networking events for this academic year.

Schools not currently in the EAN are also invited as we continue to work on EAN expansion plans in line with the government’s careers strategy for every English secondary school and FE College accessing an Enterprise Adviser by 2020.

All three events to be held at Oakwood House, Maidstone.

  1. Wednesday 7 November - 9am to 12:30pm - School colleagues ONLY
    • Gatsby Benchmark 4 Workshop as discussed at the July conference, plus general briefing and guidance
  2. Tuesday 13 November - 2pm to 5pm - Enterprise Advisers ONLY
    • Workshop to include Compass and Tracker updates, networking and strategies for developing local partnerships.
  3. Friday 29 March 2019 - 9am to 3pm - Enterprise Advisers and School colleagues

Simon and Munya will send out invitations at least four weeks before each workshop.

Meet our Enterprise Advisers
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See more photos of our Enterprise Advisers in Kent

Meet our Enterprise Advisers

Good Career Guidance Benchmarks
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Good career guidance is critical if young people are to raise their aspirations and capitalise on the opportunities available to them. In 2013 the Gatsby Foundation commissioned Sir John Holman to research what pragmatic actions could improve career guidance in England and subsequently he developed the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks. Here is a summary of the Gatsby Benchmarks (PDF, 254.7 KB).

Compass Careers Benchmark Tool
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The improved and now much simpler to use Compass helps school or colleges evaluate your careers activity against best practice. The evaluation is based on the well-known Gatsby Good Career Guidance Benchmarks.

The free to use tool was created by the Careers and Enterprise Company in partnership with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

Find out about Compass In 70 Seconds and logon to the School Hub to begin evaluating your careers activities. Schools in the Enterprise Adviser Network will also be able to access Tracker, a careers planning tool. Find out about Tracker in 90 Seconds

Gatsby Benchmark Toolkits
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Detailed explanations of the 8 benchmarks, along with practical tips and examples of best practice can be found in our toolkits;
  1. Gatsby Benchmark Toolkit
  2. SEND Gatsby Benchmark Toolkit

Statutory Guidance (for careers) - Updated October 2018
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The DfE’s January 2017 Statutory Guidance has now been updated. The update has focused on embedding the role of the Careers Leader and the Gatsby Benchmarks and includes:

  • New requirement to publish information about the careers programme
  • Role of the Governing Body
  • Targeted support for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people
  • New legal duty: access to providers of technical education and apprenticeships

View a summary of the key changes

Destinations - a good guide for schools
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The newly published guide is useful for school as part of their Careers Strategy. Includes example of:

  • How to publish historic destination data alongside Careers Programme, Provider Access and others
  • GDPR Consent form (not for legal use) for students to sign as part of collecting destinations data

Careers and Enterprise Company Annual Report
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Annual report and accounts makes fascinating reading. We have all contributed to the positive impact highlighted in the report. Thank you.

Amendment to School Information Regulations
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The government has published an amendment to the School Information Regulations which will come into force from 1 September 2018. From this date schools are required to publish the following information about their careers programme:

  • The name, email address and telephone number of the school’s Career Leader
  • A summary of the careers programme, including details of how pupils, parents, teachers and employers may access information about the careers programme
  • How the school measures and assesses the impact of the careers programme on pupils
  • The date of the school’s next review of the information published

Full details of the amendment can be found here

Understanding the role of the Careers Leader
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The government’s new Careers Strategy was published in December 2017 and followed by statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff in January 2018, and Further Education and sixth form colleges in February 2018. The strategy places the Gatsby Benchmarks at the heart of careers provision in schools and colleges, and formalised the expectation that all schools and colleges should have a named Careers Leader in place by September 2018.

This guide is specifically aimed at Secondary schools and explains what a Careers Leader is and provides advice to schools on how best to identify someone to fill the role. The guide includes key principles and suggestions for developing the role, as well as practical case studies of Careers Leaders already working in schools.

Read the Understanding the role of the Careers Leader guidance here (PDF, 312.4 KB)

Careers Strategy - Ofsted School Inspection Update (March 2018)
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Following publication of the the Careers Strategy (Dec 2017) and Statutory Guidance (Jan 2018), pages 8-9 of the March 2018 Ofsted School Inspection Update refers to careers statutory guidance.

Revised criteria for the Quality in Careers Standard
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The DfE, the Gatsby Foundation and the Careers & Enterprise Company have agreed the revised national criteria for the Quality in Careers Standard. From September 2018 the QiCS will incorporate the ‘Compass’ self-assessment tool into procedures, culminating in the external assessment and accreditation of careers provision provided by schools, colleges and work-based learning providers. More information is on the Quality in Careers Standard website

"Closing the Gap” Research - What have we learned?
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The Closing the Gap report quantifies the ambitions set out in the Careers Strategy for employer activity, contrasting it with the current levels of activity in English Secondary schools. It then sets out key principles for closing the gap between the two. Read the report on the CEC website

South East LEP Skills Strategy 2018 - 2023
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Skills development remains at the very heart of our South East LEP strategy for growth which will see 200,000 new jobs created by 2021 and 100,000 additional homes built across East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock.

The vision for skills in the South East is to help deliver a flourishing and inclusive economy across the biggest LEP in the country by equipping employers, adults and young people with the skills, conditions and aptitudes required for significant growth today and tomorrow.

Read the South East LEP Skills Strategy 2018 - 2023

UK Skills Shortage and Demand by Region
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A new infographic from Small Business Prices looks at the shortages of skills for certain professions around the UK. Further information available at the Small Business Prices website

CEC’s 'State of the Nation 2017’ Report
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This report on careers and enterprise gives the most comprehensive picture to date of schools’ provision. Nearly 600 schools in England took part in the research by using our ‘Compass’ tool which enables schools to anonymously evaluate how well they are doing against the Gatsby benchmarks, the internationally recognised eight good practice benchmarks of careers provision. These include providing students with first-hand experience of the workplace, linking curriculum learning with the world of work and the use of local labour market information to tailor careers strategy and planning. Read the State of the Nation 2017 report.

Apprenticeships: resources for teachers and advisers
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New resources to help teachers and careers advisers offer information, advice and guidance to young people, about apprenticeships are now available on this government website

Apprenticeships Live Broadcasts
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The ‘Apprenticeships Live’ schedule of upcoming broadcasts has now been made available, with the likes of the BBC, Capgemini, TUI, IBM, Specsavers, Gatwick Airport and various other employers participating and discussing their apprenticeship schemes in the coming months. Join in live with your students or watch the recording at a more convenient time. Register and join Apprenticeships Live Broadcasts now.

The WOW Show - first live stream 2 May 2018 at 11:45am
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The WOW Show have team up with CTN, major producer of online and streamed broadcasting, and consulted with colleagues from Careers and Enterprise Company to produce this first live stream of inspiring content. It aims to help encounter the world of work through the medium of television using a fast-paced format with various jobs taking two minutes “bite sized media snacks”.

Each stream will last half an hour and can be streamed to large or small groups of students. Video will be available on-demand after the live stream.

Contact Simon Harris Simon.Harris@sevenoaks.gov.uk for additional information.

New Apprenticeships recruitment film
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Are you having trouble explaining some of the new methods of apprenticeship recruitment to your students?

Check out a brand-new film to hear what some of the new styles might entail and how best to prepare your students.

Apprenticeship Recruitment Methods from Amazing Apprenticeships on Vimeo.

Engineering Hub wins £6m government funding
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A vision to create a new engineering, science and technology centre for Kent and Medway, boosting regional business and economic growth, has been given the seal of approval by the Government. The announcement enables Canterbury Christ Church University to move forward with its plans to work with local businesses to develop a new curriculum that will attract a broader range of applicants to engineering and technology, which will help to address the recruitment and innovation challenges that are holding back regional economic growth and investment.

Read the full article here.

West Kent EAN Bulletin
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The West Kent EAN bulletin for April 2018 (PDF, 333.4 KB) is now available.

Previous editions of the West Kent EAN Bulletin:

Kent EAN Conference - 23 March 2018
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Our first Kent Enterprise Adviser Network was attended by over 60 Enterprise Advisers and their school partners. The action conference day focused on networking and sharing good practice with additional emphasis on:

  • Building whole school careers strategy
  • Embedding Compass and Tracker toolkits
  • Embedding careers and labour market information (LMI) in curriculum - Gatsby Benchmark 4.

Delegates were kept hydrated and fed by a team of The Towers School students. Soon to be available are a collage of photos taken by four students from the same school.

Below are some of the notes from the day:

  1. Day’s purpose (PDF, 374.8 KB)
  2. Themes for the day (PDF, 287.7 KB)
  3. Actions to take away (PDF, 124.8 KB)

Kent EAN Conference - 12 July 2018
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The conference theme for our second conference was ‘Sharing strategies. Celebrating success’. Key points we focused on included:

The highlight saw a presentation from Hartsdown Academy students showcasing the journey through the ‘Ours for Dinner’ recipe book project soon to be available on Amazon.

Contact Details
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Munya Badze
Email: Munya.Badze@kent.gov.uk

Simon Harris
Email: Simon.Harris@sevenoaks.gov.uk