Good quality career guidance is essential to prepare young people for the opportunities and responsibilities of working life, and to enable them to make informed decisions about their future. However, despite being a core statutory responsibility for schools, career guidance has often been criticised for being insubstantial and variable in schools throughout England.
Aligning with several of the Gatsby benchmarks, Belbin GetSet sets schools on their way to delivering a strong and accessible career guidance programme. Here we address several key benchmarks and explain the role Belbin GetSet has to play in supporting effective career guidance in schools.
“Great careers guidance provides the first rung on the ladder of opportunity, helping everyone to achieve their full potential.”
-DfE
A Stable Careers Programme
According to this benchmark, the provision of career guidance should be consistent, accessible and regularly evaluated by students, parents, teachers and employers. Good careers guidance promotes social mobility and enables young people to cope with a challenging labour market. Whilst particular opportunities can change with the market, discovering and learning about one’s own strengths can promote self-confidence and understanding and help steer young people towards a particular path. Belbin GetSet can form one of the building blocks of a school’s programme. It gives students a practical, reflective activity to which they can return throughout their time at school, enabling them to establish how their strengths and skills are developing at various stages of their academic career.
Addressing The Needs Of Each Pupil
Pupils have different career guidance needs at different stages, and schools are required to challenge stereotypical thinking and raise aspirations. This includes strengthening students’ personal agency and self-advocacy skills by encouraging them to take ownership of their own career development. Belbin GetSet focuses exclusively on individual strengths, analysing the behaviours the student shows and explaining how to make the most of these to secure success in the future. As part of the GetSet process, students are encouraged to complete a workbook which allows them to reflect on the findings from the questionnaire, drawing on supporting examples to illustrate their strengths.
Linking Curriculum Learning To Careers
Students are more likely to be engaged in learning if they understand the relevance of their studies to their future career and employability. By building self-confidence in behavioural strengths and helping students articulate these strengths to their own advantage, Belbin GetSet allows students to understand that there are different ways of contributing in the workplace, and that their own attributes can be cultivated for future success.
Encounters with Employers and Employees/Encounters
with Further and Higher Education
Students should be aware of the range of options available to them. Whether they’re considering applying to another educational institution or entering full-time work, Belbin GetSet helps students to understand what they have to offer in any context. The GetSet workbook helps students build towards a strengths-focused personal statement, which is useful for UCAS or job application forms. Since Belbin is a brand respected and used for personal development and teambuilding by thousands of organisations worldwide, being able to articulate contributions in terms of Belbin Team Role behaviours can help students stand out to potential employers.
Personal Guidance
Belbin GetSet focuses on the individual, helping them to explore and cultivate styles and ways of working which suit them best. Using Observer feedback (structured feedback from friends), students are often able to discover strengths of which they were previously unaware, challenging their own assumptions of their capabilities, building self-confidence and opening up new opportunities. With the personalised advice and guidance set in a workbook which documents the students progress to greater self-awareness, Belbin GetSet provides a support to young people from Key Stage 4 through to leaving school, developing alongside the student’s needs.
At Belbin, we’re committed to helping young people to unleash their potential, take control of their self-development and work towards success in their chosen career path. Contact us today to find out how Belbin can be integrated into your school’s career guidance offerings.
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