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.
Cost of Investor in Careers
Please contact your local Investor in Careers licence holder
for information on costs.