Careers Excellence Seminar 5

The Careers & Enterprise Company’s fifth Careers Excellence Seminar focused on the importance of driving impact in careers education.

Linking careers strategically to overall school and college improvement planning pushes careers provision up the agenda, and helps everyone see their role in the distributed leadership of careers. Our research shows that when leaders have the opportunity to reflect on their careers provision in this way, they can see how good practice, aligned to improvement plans, leads to better outcomes for young people. 

The event speakers reflected on the journey they are on as their careers provision matures and explored how careers can be a driver for change in their institutions, and across the wider system. 

By attending the seminar attendees:

• Gained a greater understanding of the value of positioning careers within the lens of wider school and college improvement.
• Learned about the benefits of taking a peer review approach to driving impact in careers education.
• Were inspired to strategically review the impact of careers provision in their institution.

Meet the panel

Chairperson - Ryan Gibson

Ryan is Senior Adviser for Careers at the Gatsby Foundation, where he is leading work on the ‘Next Ten Years of Good Career Guidance’. He is seconded to that role from a position of National System Leader for Careers at one of the largest Multi-Academy Trusts in England. An experienced senior leader, in 2015 Ryan successfully led the original national pilot of the Gatsby Benchmarks, working closely with schools, colleges, employers, government officials and supporting national strategy and roll out. Ryan has been recognised previously as UK Career Educator of the Year by the Career Development Institute and for his work connecting education and business. He has supported the development of careers provision internationally and is Chair of Governors at a Primary School in the North East.   

Jo Scott

Jo has worked in education for 20 years. In the last 15 years she has focused on SEND education and has been teaching at The Chiltern School since 2013.  Jo is a qualified teacher, experienced school leader and has qualifications in Careers leadership and Careers advice and guidance. She has held the post of Careers Leader at The Chiltern School since 2019 and works with a range of employers and external providers to enhance delivery of careers education in school and to secure meaningful work experiences. Jo supported the development of the Careers Impact System and participated in the pilot of this work. Jo has written a bespoke, targeted careers curriculum which received a national award for best careers programme from Rate my Apprenticeships in 2020.  This has since evolved linked to continuous overall school improvement. Jo is passionate about social mobility and that all learners receive a personalised approach to careers education, advice and guidance in order to prepare them for adulthood and their future best next step. 

The Chiltern School provides high quality careers delivery for all learners, underpinned by the key drivers of wellbeing, independence and communication and the school received national recognition in The Careers & Enterprise Company’s Careers Excellence celebration in the Widening Opportunity category in March 2024. 

Mark Eccleston

Mark is an Assistant Principal (Student Support Services) at Priestley Sixth Form College in Warrington, Cheshire, where he is responsible for all student related areas within the College, such as Admissions & Marketing, Safeguarding, Progression, Pastoral Support, Student Services, Wellbeing, Careers and SEND to name a few.  Mark has a background in industry as an Industrial Designer, experience in the 11-16 sector and over 20 years’ experience in post 16 Sixth Form Education across a variety of roles. Mark has also supported secondary and primary schools as a Vice Chair and Chair of Local Governing Body committees for the past 18 years. Through his Senior Leadership position and as the Careers Leader for Priestley, he has focused on strategically overseeing and implementing impactful careers education across the College through both pastoral and curriculum areas, whilst engaging stakeholders and driving positive student progression to a wide variety of positive post-18 destinations. 

Sabiha Laher

Sabiha has vast leadership experience across the secondary and Post 16 education sector working for Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT), with her current role as Executive Principal.  Sabiha leads a number of secondary schools in OGAT working closely with Principals as well as other leaders to continuously improve teaching, learning and curriculum being offered and delivered. Alongside this, Sabiha also leads on curriculum and careers provision across the whole Trust. Her drive to improve outcomes for young people, especially for those in disadvantaged communities, led her to discover The Elephant Group with whom she immediately found a shared vision, drive and commitment and became a Board Trustee.

Nicola McLeod

Nicola McLeod enjoyed 13 years teaching and leading in three secondary schools across Greater Manchester with a strong focus on teaching and learning. Nicola went on to spend a short time working in Salford supporting the Local Authority to deliver on 14-19 Diploma implementation and developed the the raising of the participation age strategy continuing her drive to improve outcomes for all young people. Nicola spent time working for New Economy, developing a sub-regional approach to youth participation including a strong focus on levelling up access for young people to high quality careers education, advice, and guidance and leading on innovative practice and delivery. Nicola now works as Assistant Director for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Education, Work and Skills Team supporting the implementation of the Devolution Trailblazer Deal for post-16 and expanding the career work through its new mandate for an all-age careers strategy. In the last year Nicola has been leading on the development and design of the Mayoral ambition for an integrated technical education city-region and the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate. 

Tutvinder Mann 

Tutvinder has an association with the George Dixon Academy that began when he was 11 years old. From a pupil in the 1970s, to a teacher of French in the 1990s. He has been Head of Year, Head of Modern Foreign Languages, Assistant Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and now, Headteacher. A passionate advocate of the school and it's children, Tutvinder has dedicated his professional life to the institution that is George Dixon Academy.

With thanks to contributors from George Dixon Academy:

Ashi Shukla

A former student, now a Teaching Assistant at George Dixon Academy. Graduate from the University of Cambridge in Natural Sciences. Aspiring Teacher.

Joanna Saeed

My name is Joanna Saeed and I'm a sixth former from George Dixon Academy, hoping to do law at LSE in September! Careers education has been so influential in my journey because it taught me that with the correct mindset and motivation, everyone can reach their highest potential, irrespective of their background or starting point.

Ignacio Gonthier

I am a Sixth Form student at George Dixon Academy. I am aiming to pursue a Law Degree at University of Birmingham. Receiving the right careers guidance and opportunities to attend employer engagement encounters has enabled me to discover my inner passion for a career in Law. It has broken down barriers and raised my aspirations.