Award details
Investor in Careers is based on the Investor in People model and includes in its structure the key features of the quality assurance cycle.
The Award is structured around four key elements relating to the management of CEG:
Commitment
Organisation
Delivery
Evaluation
Each outcome is broken down into a series of performance indicators. Some people prefer to call these ‘success criteria’. Schools have to provide evidence that they meet each of these performance indicators.
Evidence may be provided in a variety of ways, for example minutes, reports and newsletters. It does not have to be paper-based. Much of the evidence that a school/college is meeting the standard comes from observations, presentations and discussions with their staff and students.
The written evidence that a school/college collects to show that they meet the Investor in Careers standard is held in a portfolio.
An independent, external assessor will visit each school/college working towards the Award twice. The first visit, sometimes referred to as ‘the interim assessment’ is for a half day and the final assessment is a full day visit. During these visits the assessor will talk to various people within the school/college. This will include the headteacher, careers coordinator and students and may also include tutors, governors and the careers adviser. A full written report of each assessment visit is sent under confidential cover to the headteacher and careers co-ordinator.
When the assessor is satisfied that the standard has been met
s/he recommends that the school/college go before the
Investor in Careers Panel. There are usually 5/6 people on the
panel which may include the local Connexions Partnership Chief Executive,
Chair of the Connexions Partnership Board, LSC representatives, employers,
Headteacher or Local Authority representative.
The school/college takes a small presentation team to the panel session. This should include a student, a member of senior management and the careers/personal adviser. They are required to do a 15 minute presentation of their careers programme or an aspect of it. They must submit in advance the aims and objectives for their presentation and the panel assess them against these. One or more of the team may make the actual presentation but all of the team remain for a discussion with the panel.
If the panel agree that the school/college have reached the standard for Investor in Careers they will recommend that the Award is made.
The Award is presented at a ceremony at a later date.
The Award is made for a period of three years. During this time the school/college may be monitored by the Investor in Careers support coordinator. Careers/personal advisers may also be involved with maintaining the standard through their involvement in both the Investor in Careers steering group and through partnership agreement reviews. The school/college may select to seek reassessment for the Award once the three year period has finished and will then be required to produce evidence for the re-assessment performance indicators. They will again have a one day visit from the assessor. The assessor's report will be verified by an internal careers/connexions service panel. There is no requirement for a presentation for re-assessment. Successful schools/colleges will then receive the Award for another three year period and the process will be repeated.
Please note, the above documents are currently under revision