Keeping careers advice accessible: Top tips for SEND teachers
Kirstie Mackey, Head of Barclays LifeSkills, on how relating careers advice to real-life school situations can help pupils with SEND to explore their employment potential… Helping young people realise their aspirations and reach their full potential is a universal aim for teachers. Particularly when it comes to careers education and building the life skills that will prepare young people for the world of work, we know that educators are constantly on the look-out for better ways to equip their students for this next phase. And this is no different for educators of young people with special educational needs and disabilities. In the era of a changing world of work where the nature of future job roles is increasingly uncertain, every young person deserves to have access to quality careers education. However, from five years of working alongside educators through our LifeSkills sessions, we know that with already busy teaching staff and a packed core curriculum, it’s increasingly difficult to devote time specifically to this. That is why we were delighted to partner with Talentino, who specialise in developing career development programmes particularly for students with SEND, to develop a suite of high-quality SEND-oriented LifeSkills careers resources. As educators already well know, careers guidance isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, and that’s why it is important to put together flexible, adaptable lesson plans and resources that teachers can easily work into the existing curriculum and apply to both mixed-ability and exclusively-SEND student groups. From our experience of producing SEND content for educators that focuses on building key 21st-century skills, we have put together some top tips for teaching specific transferable skills to students with special needs that will help prepare them for the world of work. 1. Help students to recognise their transferable skills Building employability skills can often seem daunting to SEND students, as they may not see themselves as possessing skills that are relevant to the workplace. It’s important to show students that employability skills can be developed through a variety of experiences, and to help them recognise the value of what they have already learnt at school. Ask your students to list out various activities they’ve done at school recently, from presenting an idea in class, volunteering to help a teacher, or playing a team sport. Then give them examples of common workplace tasks – such as serving a customer or working in a team – and help them connect the skills they’ve used in their school life to the workplace examples. Doing so can make the world of work seem much more relevant and far less daunting. 2. Creative careers advice sessions which foster an entrepreneurial mindset Developing an entrepreneurial mindset isn’t just important for students who might want to set up their own business. It’s also an effective way of building valuable resilience and problem-solving skills. Putting creativity at the heart of teaching enterprise skills can bring these skills to life through exercises like coming up with a need or problem and then working about a way to solve it. Supporting students to work through various problem scenarios in fun and imaginative ways keep them engaged, shows them how to be creative in their approach to solving issues and fosters an entrepreneurial mindset that will help them succeed in any workplace. 3. Boost self-confidence by learning from past experiences Building self-confidence in young people with SEND is particularly important. Here it’s helpful to encourage students not to shy away from situations that make them feel nervous, but instead to see them as opportunities to learn and grow. Try asking students to share a challenge they’ve faced and overcome at school and have other pupils pick out what they did well and the skills they used to succeed in that situation. Not only will this help to boost their self-confidence to be complemented by their peers, but it will also help reinforce to the student that they are capable of overcoming obstacles, and that they have grown as a result. Whether you’re an educator working with mixed ability groups or delivering lessons to groups of young people with additional needs, employing these methods can make teaching life skills easier and more effective. Through tying key life skills to young people’s everyday life experiences and making content simple and easy to understand, quality careers education can be made available and accessible to young people of all abilities and needs. The LifeSkills programme offers careers advice lesson plans and teacher resources for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The lesson plans can be used alongside mainstream LifeSkills content with mixed ability groups or separately with exclusively SEN-focused groups. These resources have been created with experts at Talentino, are supported by the National Development Team for Inclusion, and have been tested with staff and students at several different schools.
Shine a Light Awards celebrates schools’ communication development work
Comedian Adam Hess hosted the 2018 Shine a Light Awards, a national awards scheme that celebrates innovative work and excellent practice in supporting children and young people’s communication development. Adam struggled with dyslexia and an immense fear of public speaking when he was younger. At the awards, which took place at Pearson’s headquarters in London, 17 individuals and teams across 10 award categories were recognised, as well as children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The Shine a Light Awards are sponsored and organised by Pearson in partnership with The Communication Trust, a coalition of over 50 organisations dedicated to supporting children and young people’s speech, language and communication. Adam said: “The dedication of teams and individuals to improve the communication skills of children and young people is humbling. As a child, I struggled greatly with dyslexia and an immense fear of public speaking, if it wasn’t for the support I received when I was younger I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. It has been a complete honour to host these awards and I would like to congratulate all the winners and commended finalists. They should be very proud of what they have achieved.” Sharon Hague, Senior Vice President, Schools, Pearson, said: “Our warmest congratulations to the winners, highly-commended, and commended finalists of the 2018 Shine a Light Awards. Through our innovative clinical assessments, Pearson is committed to supporting those working to help people overcome challenges in speech and language. “For six years we have run these awards as we believe it is so important to recognise and celebrate the incredible, but often unsung, work being done across the country to change the lives of children and young people by helping them to develop their communication skills.” Octavia Holland, Director of The Communication Trust, said: “Congratulations to everyone who triumphed at the 2018 Shine a Light Awards. These awards highlight the very best practice that is taking place in settings across the country. The winners and highly-commended finalists have shown what can be achieved when expertise, enthusiasm and dedication are given to children and young people who struggle to communicate. We would like to say a huge thank you to Pearson for their long-standing support.” The awards panel included 19 key representatives from across the education and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) sectors, as well as previous Shine a Light Award winners. Representatives included Jonathan Douglas, Director at National Literacy Trust; Kamini Gadhok MBC, Chief Executive at RCSLT; Bob Reitemeier CBE, CEO of I CAN; Lesley Munro, Education and Speech and Language Therapy Manager at Pearson Clinical; John Parrott, Chair of Communication Consortium at NAPLIC and Victoria Roe, Secretary and Deputy Chair, SMIRA. The Shine a Light Awards have grown in popularity since their launch during the National Year of Communication in 2011 (known as the Hello campaign). To date, the awards have celebrated the work of over 140 teams and a wide range of individuals, including young people with severe and complex SLCN. In the UK, over one million children and young people have some form of long-term and persistent speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) that can impact them early, severely and for life. The awards highlight the incredible contributions of teams, settings and individuals across England who support children and young people to achieve their full potential despite the challenges they face. The Awards are designed to promote and celebrate good practice in speech, language and communication for individuals, groups and settings that work with children and young people, particularly those with SLCN. The awards form part of the legacy of the National Year of Communication (Hello campaign) and have become a key event in the speech, language and communication and healthcare calendar. Pearson is the world’s learning company, with expertise in educational courseware and assessment, and a range of teaching and learning services powered by technology. Pearson have sponsored the Shine a Light Awards since their launch in 2011, as part of the Hello campaign (National Year of Communication). The Communication Trust is a coalition of over 50 leading voluntary sector organisations, which raises awareness, influences policy, promotes best practice among the children’s workforce and commissions work from its members. The Trust’s mission is to ensure that every child and young person is supported to communicate to the very best of their ability. For further information about the Shine a Light winners and highly-commended finalists, visit www.shinealightawards.co.uk and follow the hashtag on Twitter #awards_SAL The full list of winners and highly commended finalists is as follows: Award: The Katie Rough Memorial Award Winner: Libby Hill, Uttoxeter Highly Commended: Rachel Peck, Cambridgeshire Child/Young Person of the Year Award: Winner: Jonathan Bryan, Wiltshire Highly Commended: Siena Castellon, London Communication Champion of the Year Award Winner: Pip St John, Lancashire Youth Justice of the Year Award Winner: Manchester Youth Justice, Manchester Early Years Setting of the Year Award Winner: Children’s House Nursery School, London Highly Commended: Juice Nursery Ltd, Altrincham Primary School of the Year Award Winner: Pendle Primary Academy, Lancashire Highly Commended: Longmoor Community Primary, Merseyside Commended: Bridgewater Primary School, Newcastle upon Tyne Secondary School/College of the Year Award Winner: Isaac Newton Academy, London Commended: London South East Colleges, London SEN School/Group of the Year Award Winner: Pontville School, Lancashire Highly Commended: The William Henry Smith School, West Yorkshire SLCN Innovation of the Year Award Winner: Stoke Speaks Out Pearson Outstanding Achievement Award Winner: Stoke Speaks Out The judges involved in the 2018 Shine a Light Awards were: · Bob Reitemeier, CEO of I CAN · Diz Minnitt, Speech and Language Lead, Association of YOT Managers (AYM) · Hilary Berry, Chair of Cheshire West and Chester Primary Heads’ Association · Janet Cooper, Early Language and Communication Strategy Lead at Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Shine a Light Award winner · John Parrott, Chair of Communication Consortium at NAPLIC · Jonathan Douglas, Director of National