Wakefield Girls High School: The right career choices for every student

Over the past 13 years, as Deputy Head with responsibility for careers guidance, David Eggleston has used MyFutureChoice to help each student identify career areas that interest them and to assess whether these align to their strengths. Here he explains how and why our tools make a positive difference to his students.

A critical life skill

Empowering students to understand and realise their goals is a key focus at Wakefield Girls’ High School.

So our ability to offer careers guidance that reflects a rapidly changing careers landscape is central to this mission.

As well as being Deputy Head, I’ve taught A level Economics for almost 35 years. Because of this, I am acutely aware that many of the jobs that our students will apply for don’t exist today.

Our students are going to have a life of jobs, not a job for life.  So it’s critical we equip them with the ability to navigate career decisions as a core life skill.

Our programme exposes students to wide range of employers, experiences, career and study paths.

We have strong links with local employers and businesses.  We make extensive use of our global alumni for assemblies, lectures, live-streams and most recently Careers Insight Week.

Many are pioneers in entering particular sectors, industries and professions. So as well as providing role models they are able to reflect the rapidly changing career landscape to our students.

Personalising careers decisions

The tools we get from MyFutureChoice are at the core of our programme, allowing each student to make the right decisions for their future.

In Year 11, we use the MyCareersChoices assessment tools followed-up with a one-to-one interview to help each student understand their strengths and interests. We then help match these to career areas and study pathways.

Equipped with this insight, students can then take advantage of our rich careers programme in a focused way.

Together with the other elements of our careers programme, these provide students with a rich source of up to date, inside knowledge, opening doors to work experience and employment opportunities.

The key difference that MFC makes is ensuring students have the aspirations as well as confidence to pursue a specific job opportunity or study pathway in the knowledge that it plays to their strengths, something the student will revisit throughout their working lives.

To learn more about how our tools could help students make better careers choices set an appointment with one of our team today by clicking here.