Leadership development for careers
The programme attempted to integrate leadership development into the introductory session as well as the final session where we reflected upon our journeys and evaluated the process. We believe the early input around leadership allowed the trainee teachers to engage with deeper levels of maturity and a sense of responsibility. They started to consider themselves not as passive, but as active agents of change in their institutions. We noticed their confidence grow as they questioned their assumptions of hierarchical leadership and stepped into a consideration of themselves as ‘teacher leaders’.
Purpose, Social capital and Social Capital
We then spent time in the first session exploring ‘purpose’, as a means of increasing our own resilience and providing self-regulation and coping strategies to enable us to persist with challenging tasks as leaders (Yeager et al., 2014). Once the trainee teachers had explored the concept of purpose (see slides 8-12), they then completed a ‘purpose measure’ (see ‘Purpose measure worksheet’) adapted from a validated tool used in empirical research (Summers & Falco, 2020). We reflected on how this activity could also be used by teachers with pupils when providing guidance around careers. It highlights any misalignments between goals and aspirations, and where we are spending our time and effort.
The session then introduced the trainee teachers to the concept of ‘social capital’, and the impact our social networks have on all aspects of life (slides 13-16). We were able to provide case studies of pupils whose aspirations were achieved because of the contacts that teachers or other significant others had introduced them to.
Having completed a social capital tracker (see ‘Social capital tracking worksheet’), the trainee teachers reflected on how some of their most valuable connections in terms of their goals, and specifically their careers, were not always close family members with whom we associated ‘strong’ relationships, but ‘weak’ acquaintances that they may have never even met.
During the programme the trainee teachers will inevitably broaden their networks, and these networks could in turn become the networks of all of the pupils they will have contact with in schools. It is well known that careers education can promote equity and social mobility, by helping young people break through glass ceilings of disadvantage. We encouraged the trainee teachers to be intentional about social capital throughout this programme, as this is what helps us build our networks and also students to be more aware of how to build a successful career. Afterall, it’s not ‘what’ you know but ‘who’ you know that accounts for the success of young people (Freeland Fisher, 2018) and the careers agenda is the best place to bring this alive in schools.
Introduction to careers education and policy – See session 1, slides 17-20
The first session of the programme then aimed to introduce the trainee teachers to some of the key documents and policies around careers education in secondary schools. We started by using comparisons between what might have happened in schools when the trainee teachers were pupils, to what should happen in schools today. Throughout these conversations and as the programme progressed, the socio-economic importance of careers education, and the statutory guidance’s recommendations were reinforced.
The trainee teachers felt empowered to think critically about previous, current and future arrangements for careers education, already noticing the difference between what needs to happen, what can happen and what does happen. Their awareness of careers education policy gave them a self-efficacy going into placements and future sessions, equipped with the terminology and vision needed to engage with the up-and-coming opportunities and external speakers.
‘I was inspired to focus my first assignment around social capital, and how we can build this through our curriculums.’