Steve Stewart Executive Director, Connexions Coventry & Warwickshire Practical Aspects of E-Guidance OR Is it Worth the Hassle?

Content What do we do? Why bother with the electronic world? Challenges Good Practice Coventry & Warwickshire’s next heroic phase

What do we do? Information Advice Guidance Support Placement

Why bother with the Electronic World? We need to work SMART: Limited resources – need to do more with existing resources; Capacity = work plus waste; We need to motivate, empower and enable our most precious resource – our staff; It enables us to give our clients what they want in the ways they want it, eg. Connexions Direct.

Challenges  Implementation – staff training and time, and costs of potential further refinement;  Demonstrating added value – not just doing it for effect.

Good Practice: Coventry & Warwickshire Experience  INFORMATION - websites encourage young people to explore and research;  ADVICE – young people like and use communications and phone line contacts;

Good Practice - continued  GUIDANCE:  What would we do without Computer Aided Packages?  Great potential for on-line assessment of clients, ie. Decision Making Readiness Tool  SUPPORT:  Text messaging is a key element of support to young people and tracking;  On-line assessment of risk factors.

Our Next Heroic Phase Electronic Clearing House of all post-16 opportunities for Year 11 and 12 leavers for academic year 2004/05

What is it? Simply, it’s an electronic applications service to year 11 and 12 young people covering all opportunities for them to progress onto, ie:  Training  Apprenticeships  Further Education  Post-16 learning at school It builds on the principles and processes of the UCAS system.

How Does it Work?  Young people have access to the full range of information on what’s on offer at the end of Year 11 and 12 (ideally a WHICH GUIDE);  The guidance community, ie. tutors, teachers, Connexions PAs, work-based learning providers, lectures etc provide impartial advice and guidance to young people to help them to decide their career plan;

How Does it Work? continued  With an agreed time period, ALL year 11 and some year 12 will make their applications;  The application is centrally cleared to the learning provider listed by the applicant.

How Does it Work? continued  The provider makes offers to the applicants ;  After exam results time, the provider and applicant confirm the placement;  Those applicants who don’t achieve any required qualifications follow a process similar to UCAS clearing.

What is the added-value?  To the client – one simple, user-friendly application process to a complicated education and training market;  To Connexions – we can simply track progress of all our clients.

What is the added value? continued  To learning providers – they receive applications to agreed timescales with the information they need to make offers;  To Local LSCs – they have hard, up-to-date, factual data on the demand for provision which shapes planning and gives time to plugging shortages / gaps in provision.