New in Planit: Foundation Apprenticeship Summaries

Here at Gateway we continually update the content in Planit to ensure that advisers and pupils have access to all relevant information, and with subject choice time upon us again we have added Foundation Apprenticeship details to the school section of Planit.

Foundation Apprenticeships give pupils in S5 and S6 the opportunity to study for industry recognised qualifications such as Scottish Vocation Qualifications (SVQs) and National Certificates (NCs) alongside studying for Highers at school. Practical work experience plays a big part, giving pupils valuable work experience in the world of work.

There are currently 10 wide ranging subjects available to choose from, with another two currently under development.

There are many advantages to studying for an FA. Pupils can learn skills that employers are looking for, such as communication and problem solving, and they can include these on their CV. After completing an FA they have the option to: continue onto completing a Modern Apprenticeship over a shorter period of time; enter a Technical Apprenticeship; or go onto study further at college or university. Some pupils may even go straight into a related job.

Take a look at the new FA course summaries here Planit Foundation Apprenticeships

Planit: Job Profiles Refresh

We are currently conducting our annual review of the job profiles held on Planit. Our aim is to ensure that the job profiles we provide are not only accurate and up-to-date but also reflect the changing world of work and labour market trends. As a result of our research you may find that some of our previous job profiles, for example chimney sweep, are replaced by jobs which are likely to grow in the future, such as Environmental Analyst or Sustainability Consultant!

We are always open to ideas from our readers, so please feel free to get in touch if you would like to suggest specific jobs that would be a valuable addition to our bank of profiles.

Gateway Publications & Resources: Survey Results Released

For over 20 years now, Gateway has been producing its four popular annual publications: Careers in Scotland, Higher Education in Scotland, Further Education in Scotland and Job Seeking Skills. We also produce a series of career-related information leaflets, which provide pupils and parents with information on key issues, and Subjects & Careers posters (in partnership with SQA).

We also provide a wide range of online resources, Including:

• Planit
• Mappit
• CPD Manager.

Gateway prides itself on ensuring that its careers publications, and online resources, are informative, accurate and useful. So, we regularly survey our partners and customers to make sure that we understand, and are meeting, your needs. Basically, if you are happy so are we!

This year’s survey took place during October and November.

Summary of Results

On compiling the results and feedback we were delighted to find that the overall results were so positive and encouraging.

Publications

Although the frequency of use of our printed resources has decreased in recent years, as access to online resources has improved, our four annual publications are still well-used and rated highly in terms of quality of content and usefulness.

• Careers in Scotland was used by 71% of respondents.
• Further Education in Scotland was used by 72% of respondents.
• Higher Education in Scotland was used by 77% of respondents.

Job Seeking Skills was used by 62% of respondents.

Although they were highly rated for quality of content our series of four careers information leaflets fared less well in frequency of use. We will therefore be sending out a further survey early in 2018 to help us determine if they should be continued, discontinued or made available in a different format.

• Making subject choices for S3 and beyond was used by 61%
• Choices at 16+ was used by 39% of respondents.
• Going to College was used by 43% of respondents.
• Going to University was used by 46% of respondents.

The Subjects & Careers posters we develop in partnership with SQA were rated ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ by 78% of respondents and used by 59%.

Online Resources

• Planit was rated ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ by 88% of respondents and useful by 93%.
• CPD Manager was rated as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ by 77% of respondents and useful by 63%.
• WorkIT was rated ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ by 96% of respondents and useful by 100%.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in it and especially those who provided us with their much valued feedback and comments. We will be making several product improvements as a result.

Gateway Commissioned to Design New ADES Website

We are delighted to announce that the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) has commissioned Gateway to develop and design their new website. The new site will use the latest technologies and be mobile friendly, making it easier for ADES members and other site users to share and access information on the go.

We have designed a fresh new look and feel, and the new design was launched at the ADES annual conference 2017.

Our objective is to ensure that ADES members always have easy access to the most up- to-date and relevant information. The features on the site will include:

• News
• Events
• Blogs
• Documents

The site will evolve over the coming months, with the fully functional site ready to go live by the end of January 2018.

You can access the first phase of the site at www.ades.scot

WorkIT: Latest Developments

Work Placement Unit

As previously advertised, pupils using WorkIT can now work towards SQA’s Work Placement Unit at SCQF Levels 3, 4 and 5 using our online version of the Unit worksheets to record and save the evidence required to complete the qualification successfully. As back-up, we have also provided downloadable, blank versions of the worksheets; they are available under ‘Help and Support’ in the coordinators menu. A refreshed ‘Quick Tips and How to’ provides information and a short PowerPoint presentation about the Unit.

Gateway has worked closely with SQA to provide an online Work Placement Unit that is easy to use and mobile friendly. Pupils can easily view their progress and any teacher feedback. Coordinators have a new, simple pupil management system, which allows them to view pupil progress and assess evidence before, during and after the placement. Exports of evidence and assessment can also be downloaded to PDF.

We are very encouraged with the takeup of the Unit so far with over 800 pupils having commenced the process.

We plan to develop and release SQCF Level 6 material in session 2018/2019. Learning resources to support the delivery of the Unit are currently under development.

Workplace Learning Plan

For those pupils not working towards the SQA Work Placement Unit, we have added a simple Workplace Learning Plan to WorkIT as an alternative resource. It is available as both an online and printable resource, which can be used to help pupils get the most out of their placement. It is designed to meet the requirements of the DYW Work Placements Standard and allows pupils to identify a learning goal and plan their learning while on placement. They can also complete daily learning logs, record their progress and reflect on what they have learned during their placement. Coordinators can view and download pupils’ Workplace Learning Plans; no assessment is required.

Workplace Learning Log

Pupils with booked placements can also complete an online or downloadable Learning Log. This is a daily log or diary that can be completed on placement to help pupils remember what they have done and learned. The Work Placement Unit and Workplace Learning Plan also enable pupils to easily access and view their learning log. You can access blank versions of the Learning Plan and Learning Log templates under ‘Help and Support’ in the coordinators menu.

Remember all of these resources are mobile friendly which means they are readily accessible for your pupils.

Founders4Schools

Founders4Schools is a free platform that allows schools and colleges to quickly connect with business leaders for employability related activities. WorkIT coordinators can now quickly access a link to this service from their home page.

WorkIT User Groups Take Place

At Gateway continual improvement of our products and services is a priority and we value customer feedback which provides us with information to ensure that we are meeting your future needs.

So, as we were about to consider our WorKIT development plan for 2018-2020, we felt it was important to consult as many WorkIT users as possible.

We therefore held two user groups last month. In addition to obtaining customer feedback, we wanted to ensure that we brought users up to date with the range of enhancements that have been applied to WorkIT during the past year, and those we have already identified for the future. These include:

• developing and releasing materials for the SQA Work Placement Unit at SCQF Level 6
• improving data quality by removing duplicate provider and location information
• improving the reporting features
• adding an Employer view
• developing WorkIT to manage Foundation Apprenticeship work placement.

We would like to thank everyone who attended for their input. The sessions proved to be immensely valuable and have helped us to identify several future development opportunities.

We would like to invite any of our users who are interested in the development of the additional support resources for the Work Placement Unit and would like to be involved in reviewing and providing feedback on the draft materials please email Linda Wilkie, Assistant Service Manager.

Glasgow City Centre Mural Trail Website Partnership

We have really enjoyed working on a collaborative website project with Glasgow City Council’s Development and Regeneration Services Team, and the graphic designers from the PR & Marketing Team. The Glasgow City Centre Mural Trail showcases unique pieces of art by local artists, which add splashes of colour on streets and buildings within walking distance of the city centre.

Glasgow’s Graphics Team designed the site layout and entered all the information and images used for the murals using the content management system designed by Gateway.

Gateway’s software developers’ challenging role was to make the site mobile responsive, develop interactive street murals maps with active geolocation tracking and combine information on the street murals of the city centre. Anonymous visit information is recorded by the interactive map, triggered by close proximity to a mural.

Link: On your smartphone go to www.citycentremuraltrail.co.uk

Planit - www.planitplus.net

Used by 22 local authorities across Scotland, Planit provides invaluable career and learning information for young people aged 13 to 19 and is a useful tool for staff and parents in supporting their pupils and children in making important decisions about their future. Young people can create CVs and cover letters, and explore careers and courses that match their interests.

The popularity of Planit remains extremely healthy with just under 505,000 visitors to the site during the last school session. This is an increase of 40% since last school session.

We have completed a number of developments in the past year.

• Incorporated apprenticeship information from Mappit into Planit.
• Completed the annual update of job profile information (over 700 job profiles are available).
• Completed the annual update of detailed course information for Further and Higher Education (approximately 12,000 courses).
• Added labour market information to job profiles.
• Added video clips to some job profiles (approximately 108).
• Successfully achieved our initial target of 250 followers to our Planit Twitter feed @planitcareers. This is still proving to be a great way to keep staff and pupils informed about key dates, interesting news and developments linked to post school learning and career choice.
• Updated the Planit User Guide.
• Produced the Exploring Senior Phase Options pdf. This will be useful at the start of the academic year, in particular to your S5/S6 students. Please email lwilkie@ceg.org.uk with any comments or feedback you may have.
• Updated the subject posters with new QR codes for both Planit and Mappit. These can be downloaded for printing from here on Planit.

Future Development Areas

• Work to add Foundation Apprenticeships into the school section of Planit is at the development stage. Completion for this is scheduled for the beginning of 2018.
• Continue sourcing video content to add to job profiles.
• Integrate labour market information sourced from the contract we have established with EMSI to further enhance the information currently available in the job profiles.

Career Guides

Partner and other local authorities who sign up for a Planit licence will begin receiving their allocation of publications week commencing 12th September 2017.

For more information or to place an order, click the relevant links below.

Publications Information

Publication Order Form

Workit - www.workit.info

WorkIT is a web application used to manage your work placement programmes. It provides pupils, school co-ordinators, local authority administrators and health and safety officers with a single point of reference to plan, prepare and manage work placements and activities to support Developing the Young Workforce. It ensures that everyone is kept up to date and pupils and your schools can track and manage their involvement with the programme.

We are pleased to announce that Gateway has launched its new online Work Placement Unit, just in time for the start of the new school session.

The new Unit is embedded in WorkIT and replaces the ‘eQuip for Work Experience’ interactive workbook.

Quick Tips (Login required)

Placement Unit Overview PowerPoint Presentation

During the past year we have completed a number of developments.

• Added a Quick Tips section in the Co-ordinator, Admin and Health and Safety Views making it easy to find the relevant section. To see the link to Quick Tips, you need a valid WorkIT login. Contact the Work Placement Team to arrange one.
• Implemented a way to manage flexible placements and advertise them to individual schools.
• Developed an Apprenticeship and Taster Week option so employers offering taster weeks or pre-apprenticeship opportunities can advertise their offers to schools all year round.
• Launched a mobile friendly version of WorkIT for pupils. This increases accessibility and makes it easier to find opportunities and record information during their placements using their smartphone.
• Developed a way for administrators and school co-ordinators to record and report on employer school support for Developing the Young Workforce (DYW).
• Developed a pupil pre and post placement evaluation and one for school DYW activities.
• Created a Workit Promo Page aimed at employers.

Future Development Areas

• Work Place Learning Plan to be developed.
• We will be organising user groups with our partners during session 2017/18 to identify future development opportunities for WorkIT.

CPD Manager - www.cpdservice.net

Gateway’s CPD Manager is used in 12 Scottish local authorities, and provides the option for inter authority co-operation and joint expansion. It meets the requirements of different sectors: Education, APT&C and Social Work.

CPD booking system enables your staff to manage courses as follows:

• store relevant documents against a course
• customise document templates used in the site, for example, attendance list
• access a range of standard reports
• present staff with a library of distance learning materials (if available within their council) and record what has been completed
• view and book courses online, share them with neighbouring councils and tag them for different sectors and quality indicators, for example, HGIOS or PDP/PRD competencies
• view a map of the venue for a course
• add delegates to a waiting list if the course is full.

Plan and Record facility within CPD

Eight Scottish local authorities are currently using CPD to record and manage their professional update.

This facility enables your teaching staff to complete their reflective record in their Professional Update year. Once this has been signed off by their manager this is recorded, GTCS then receives automatic notification that the teacher has met their Professional Update requirements.

A new feature has been recently added which allows staff to request a deferral to their Professional Update in exceptional circumstances. Once this has been approved, confirmation is sent to GTCS to update their records.

We have completed a number of developments in the past year.

• Made further changes and additions relating to Professional Update including Evaluation of PRD process.
• Enabled staff to be marked as having GTCS Associate Status which means they are excluded from Professional Update Reports.
• Created functionality to allow co-ordinator to share Record Templates. (This is currently only available to Glasgow and Falkirk but can be made available to other authorities.)
• Created additional reports and email alerts.

Mappit - www.mappit.org.uk

Mappit is our Modern Apprenticeship website that enables employers to advertise their vacancies and young people to search and apply online, whether that’s from their PC or smart phone.

We created the Mappit Promo Page to encourage employers to sign up and advertise.

An added bonus for young people is that Mappit fully integrates with Planit, meaning that if they have created a CV and cover letter in their e-portfolio, they can upload this for a Modern Apprenticeship vacancy. They can also save vacancies that they are interested in, to go back to later, and any applications they make are saved in the e-portfolio.

Vacancies also appear in the Apprenticeships section of Planit and are advertised through the Planit Twitter account @planitcareers.

Gateway Engage - www.engagecms.info

Engage is a content management system which provides schools with a simple solution to developing a website.

We have completed a number of developments in the past year.

• Added templates for Facebook and Twitter to make it easier for schools to add these to their site.
• Added a new version of the rich textbox which is more user friendly.
• Created a mobile responsive version of the template that will work on phones and tablets. Separate banner and logo images can be added using this template.
• Made Google Translate available in the responsive template.

Contact Details

Gateway Shared Services
c/o Castlemilk High School
223 Castlemilk Drive
Glasgow
G45 9JY

Tel: 0141 270 6110
Email: ceg@ceg.org.uk