1. AGCAS Cymru Wales Training & Development
Overview of the training and development
survey results
A chance to consider where we go from here
Getting involved
Introduce myself – deputizing for Jane Goodfellow, Head of Cardiff.
Short session to give you an overview of the results of the training and development survey that Jane circulated by to all the Services.
and ask you to think and talk amongst yourselves about where we go from here
and how you can get involved with AGCAS Cymru Wales.

2. Range of topics Topics Sub-headings Advice & Guidance
Mock assessment centres, Offering interaction in group work, Skype interviewing, Supporting international students, Supporting postgraduate students, Transition of Careers Advisers into HE from other professional areas.
Enterprise
Engaging students, Running grand challenges.
Employability Awards
Managing student engagement, Recruitment.
Employer Engagement
Developing your employer strategy, Hosting panel events.
Employability Modules
Developing and delivering employability modules, Supporting reflection on and assessment of employability skills.
Work Experience
Health & Safety assessment, Supporting students to source their own opportunities, Postgraduate students, Working with Alumni as providers of work experience.
Jane Goodfellow undertook a training and development survey in May and June, so hopefully you all got the opportunity to respond to that.
And if you didn’t there will be other opportunities to have an input into developments, starting today.
There were 66 respondents from all over Wales, coming from a range of roles and specialisms representing different parts of each Service.
This is the spread of topics respondents were asked to gauge their interest in, with subsections for each heading.

3. The Top Subjects of Interest
The top 5 topics being:
Employability Modules: Supporting reflection on and assessment of employability skills
Employability Modules: Developing and delivering employability modules
Work Experience: Working with Alumni as providers of work experience
Enterprise: Engaging students
Employer Engagement: Developing your employer strategy
and in the next tier down:
Employability Awards: Managing student engagement
Work Experience: Supporting students to source their own opportunities
Advice & Guidance: Skype interviewing
So different areas of Services are represented and it’s particularly clear that employability modules are on a lot of people’s minds

4. The Welsh Context
The number of colleagues involved in the national AGCAS Task Groups was very low, at 5% (5 colleagues).
When asked if they’d be interested in joining similar special interest groups with a Welsh focus, the response was very positive: 94% of people said they would be.
You can see on this chart which potential Special Interest Group topics piqued people’s interest.
They are:
Employer engagement
Work Experience
Employability in the Curriculum
Advice & Guidance
On the next tier were Labour Market Information, and then the two slices that haven’t got the titles on are: Employability Awards in yellow and Student Enterprise in navy.

5. Establishing Special Interest Groups
The top 4 Special Interest Group topics were:
Employer engagement
Work Experience
Employability in the Curriculum
Advice & Guidance
Meet 2-3 times a year
95% interest in training events clustering 2-3
institutions, with numerous volunteers to run sessions
The top 4 identified topics for such special interest groups were:
Employer engagement
Work experience
Employability in the Curriculum
Advice & Guidance
Consensus was to meet 2-3 times a year for half-full day, and we had between 1 and 9 people for each category saying they’d be interested in chairing such a group.
So there’s plenty of interest to warrant establishing a few groups in the first instance.
In addition, 95% of respondents would be interested in smaller scale events involving 2-3 institutions, and we had 13 people already happy to suggest and deliver a training session, so we have people that are ready and willing!

6. Short Feedback Exercise
On your tables please consider the top 4 Special Interest Group topics that the survey identified and think about the kinds of things you would appreciate discussion or guidance or training on under each heading. What should the Groups’ priorities be?
Employer engagement (EE)
Work Experience (WE)
Employability in the Curriculum (EC)
Advice & Guidance (AG)
All thoughts welcome!
So to help us plan activities, we want to use the hive mind in the room to capture any immediate thoughts about what these groups might explore.
Could you bunch together in small groups to consider the top 4 topics that the survey identified and think about the kinds of things you would appreciate discussion or guidance or training on under each heading.
Consider what the groups’ priorities should be, make a note of any good practice you’d like to shout about or lead a session on (and give your name or institution), or note any aspects of these 4 topics you think the groups should focus on.
Forgot to pack my brightly-coloured post-it notes but a trip to Tesco led to the discovery of these giant post-its so please use these to capture your thoughts however you see fit.
It’d be great if you could use the initials after each of the four themes to make it clear which one you’re writing about, but if you forget I’m sure we can work it out.
I’ll leave you to chat for 15 minutes. Any ideas and thoughts welcome!

7. What next?
We’ll collate your thoughts and be in touch with a proposal for a way forward.
THANK YOU/DIOLCH!
What next?
We’ll collate all your thoughts and be in touch with proposals for establishing the special interest groups (including finding Chairs for them) and setting up some training events as outlined in the survey results.
We’ll be incorporating as many of the ideas and requests you’ve made today as we can.
Thank you! Diolch!