Careers by design: Ensuring the needs of care experienced learners are at the heart of Scotland's career services

For this CELCIS Education Forum, we were delighted to welcome  Pauline Stratford from Skills Development Scotland (SDS), to speak about its recent Career Review, which aims to ensure that career services in Scotland are fit for purpose and future proofed to meet the demands of a changing world of work.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, and as part of the Young Person's Guarantee, SDS have recently worked with partners across Scotland on the most comprehensive review of Scotland's career services in a generation. Careers services in Scotland are provided by a wide range of organisations and institutions, and the following were in scope for the review:

• Skills Development Scotland
• Developing the Young Workforce
• Schools
• Colleges
• Universities

Over 250 young people were involved, including those with care experience, and their thoughts and ideas informed the 10 recommendations within the Career Review. Enquiry is the core of the approach, and each recommendation seeks to address inequality, informed by a comprehensive Career Review Equality Impact Assessment. Care experience has been treated as an equality characteristic in the review.

As the next phase begins, focused on implementation, the Forum meeting provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to be part of the conversation and ensure the needs of our care experienced community are reflected in the detailed service design stage.

Download the webinar transcript

Download the Notes from the break-out groups

About the Education Forum

At CELCIS, we are privileged to convene and coordinate a free, open-access network of practitioners and leaders who are involved or interested in the education of children with experience of care, and their families. We encourage and facilitate opportunities for practitioners to come together in a reflective, challenging and enabling space.

Membership is free and open to anyone with an interest in this area of education. We have members who are students, foster carers, health visitors, teachers and academics - so many different roles are represented.

To find out more about the Forum, visit the Education Forum webpage