This project is an attempt to seed new practice that invites educators to place careers education more centrally in school development, curriculum and lesson planning. By working with new entrants and encouraging them to see the potential of the careers agenda we are also enabling them to think in a bigger, more integrated way recognising that from the moment they step into the profession they have a stake in it and can make their unique contribution.
It is hard to capture the impact of the work we do as teacher educators. In this instance, the known impact of the Careers Education Enhancement Activity ranges from individual trainee teachers taking an interest in careers education while on placement, to colleagues on the PGCE Secondary team creating time in their already over-stretched programmes to discuss careers education with their wider cohorts. Below, we outline two of the unique elements of our approach that contributed to the trainee teachers' experience.
Establishing a Collaborative Innovation Group
A critical success factor of this project, which could have been easily overlooked, was the convening of a collaborative innovation network around this project that worked to build a field to underpin its success.
We met three times from March to July 2023 to connect, align our common strategic interests and collaboratively plan the programme. We used an appreciative inquiry 5-D process across these three meeting to shape our approach:
In later meetings, we established a network of support, commitment and shared ownership, continually asking: What might this look like in Primary/Secondary? What else would be useful to you at this stage? What support and hep might be useful from the group as you move forward?
The collaborative innovation group provided a stable base of support as it allowed relationships to develop and co-creation and shared ownership to evolve. While responsibility for design and delivery lay with the University, there was a shared commitment to make it work that was supported by the strategic priorities in all organisations.
The time spent establishing these relationships meant it was relatively easy to give the trainee teachers access to the best external speakers e.g. Worcestershire LEP, CEC, the counties ‘cornerstone’ employers, careers leads from school (See session 2 & 3 of the Master slide deck).
The equality in the group fostered innovation. The idea that students could do a teacher externship emerged from the group, and this was comprehensively supported by the Worcestershire LEP and CEC (See session 4).
Engagement of the CEC who shared their national level strategy helped us align our approach with future practice.
Initially we engaged both Primary and Secondary colleagues. While there was an appetite in Primary ITE it proved challenging to carve out capacity to integrate it into the programme; though the aspiration remains and there is continued interest.
Integrating leadership development for careers leaders
The project was framed around purpose because we wanted to use leadership development as a way of encouraging the trainee teachers to think more deeply about their own role and contribution as educators. This imperative stems from the School Effectiveness Team within the University of Worcester, who work with school leaders to build conditions and capabilities for innovation and system improvement.
We wanted to encourage teacher leadership: ‘educators enacting influence through relationships beyond the scope of their own classroom that result in changes in pupil learning, professional practices and/or organisational outcomes (Mackay et al 2022). From this perspective all teachers are leaders and well placed to innovate in their classrooms and beyond. This is evident in their contributions to UW Source magazine which is available to teachers in UW partner schools across the region.