Less time on Facebook, more time on career advice

Many students hold a nonchalant attitude towards their futures and feel they will walk straight into university then walk straight out into a high paid job, which just isn’t the reality these days.  It has been suggested that school children need to spend less time on Facebook and other social networking sites and instead use their time researching possible career options.  This effort should be a joint exercise between pupils and teachers, with teachers having a responsibility to keep up-to-date with current affairs within education and career paths to ensure they are clued up on what is available and what is relevant.

Careers advice in private schools tend to be more focused and available to pupils than that available within the state sector. According to the Institute of Career Guidance, careers advice in schools in England is “patchy and inconsistent.” And it is thought that this may be the reason why many state pupils are being rejected from university due to the bad advice they receive on A-Level choices.  However, it is argued that teachers cannot be expected to be experts in employment in addition to being excellent teachers in their field.

Over the past 10 years the government has concentrated on aiding those most vulnerable to end up unemployed, or not in education or training but this has affected the level and standard of help available to mainstream pupils.  Teachers, do need to be aware that times are changing and they cannot continue to espouse the same career guidance year after year.  This advice needs to be relevant to where society currently is now, not 20 years ago.

One platform for teachers to keep updated on careers and career guidance for the 21^st century is using CAFE via IMJack.com.  Thousands of job descriptions are uploaded monthly to a careers library for pupils and teachers to gain information on the requirements, regarding qualifications and experience, of various job industries.  Students can also conduct Q&A sessions with business mentors for more information about specific roles and they may also receive eMentoring from business professionals within the sectors pupils may be interested in.

CAFE may well be the solution to all career guidance needs with a wide array of information available at the fingertips, displayed in a simple, fun, comprehensive format.

For more information on CAFE, please contact us via http://www.cafe.imjack.com.

Saphra Bennett, Stewart Boutcher, September, 2010.

Connexions going; IMJack CAFE fills in for careers information

Despite the number of young people leaving schools and colleges with increasing uncertain futures rises, the significant budget cuts in the careers profession and the near decimation of area-based grants from the Department of Education to local authorities, means that the position of the Connexions services looks increasingly fragile.

Connexions logo

Connexions offers advice on a wide-range of subjects for young people aged between 13 and 19.  The service has provided young people with impartial advice, information and guidance on education, careers, housing, money, health and relationships for many years.  Along the way, Connexions has helped to remove barriers to learning and progressions; enabling young people to make a successful transition into adulthood and working life. Without this service, young people that are not in education or employment are likely to be the most badly affected by these budget reductions.

There will be fewer apprenticeships available in public-sector organisations, coupled with a significant decline in job opportunities for school and college leavers, due to the public sector cuts.  What will take the place of Connexions to offer impartial advice to individuals? Who will motivate and inspire individuals to aspire to more than claiming benefits?

There is a concern that schools and academies are to be expected to offer this impartial advice in addition to all other new responsibilities they are expected to undertake.  Many schools, however, do not have the knowledge and experience to adequately fulfil the role of the service offered by Connexions.

Flier for connexions

“Save the Connexions Service” Campaign has been launched by Unison, exploring the option of a legal challenge to local authorities as councils have a legal duty to provide impartial careers advice to all young people in their local areas. (“The Guardian”, Aug 2010).  Despite this, service cuts are looking to begin as early as September, which may affect those young people who fail to get on to higher education courses this year.

What is needed now are strategies to help reassure young people that major changes in public, private, voluntary and community sectors will not restrict access to frontline services.

IMJack CAFE (Career Advice and Further Education) offers access to careers information and real life stories about jobs students may be interested in pursuing.  Thousands of employees, from businesses and organisations in all sectors of industry have made available their career profiles, including details of qualifications or training required, the best and worst aspects of the job and day-to-day tasks they partake in.   Some mentors have furthermore made themselves available for pupils to question directly, using the secure and moderated communications systems within IMJack.

CAFE gives students the chance to browse many different career options at their own leisure; providing them the opportunity to access real information and experiences about various roles within businesses and organisations not be available to them in other formats.  CAFE is no substitute for the comprehensive service provided by Connexions, but we hope that it can at least offer some support to pupils and other young people uncertain about their way forward when considering their career options.

For any more information about IMJack, please contact us via www.imjack.com.

Saphra Bennett, Stewart Boutcher, August 2010

IMJack as an aid to personalised learning

In the last few years, teaching has moved towards a more student-centred teaching and learning experience. Before being allowed to teach, teachers are required to undertake a level of teacher training such as a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) which specialises in Pedagogy- ‘the art of teaching’.  Such training encourages teachers to get to know their pupils, by accessing their individual progress through various assessments.

Pedagogy Personalised Learning

Many schools are now familiar with the vision for personalised teaching and learning, defined by Christine Gilbert in the Teaching and Learning Review, 2010, as “Taking a highly structured and responsive approach to each child’s and young person’s learning, in order that all are able to progress, achieve and participate. It means strengthening the link between learning and teaching by engaging pupils – and their parents – as partners in learning.” (source http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/)

Teachers are taught to support their pupils and provide the necessary tools for independent learning, which reinforces a sense of accomplishment for the pupil. This notion of self-gratification from independent learning is based on the social learning theory, one of the most influential theories in development and learning. This theory is connected to other cognitive theories of learning and is based around the idea that individuals learn better through reinforcement and observation. For observational learning to be successful, it is important for ‘attention, retention, reciprocation and motivation’ to be involved.

It is now becoming commonplace for schools to use computers and interactive white boards whilst teaching different lessons.  Research on the use of technology in classrooms has concluded that there is a noticeable effect on achievement and that such use of technology is highly effective when used alongside traditional classroom instruction by teachers.

IMJack is used as a secure social learning network, to allow users to find and use information and communicate with people within their network.  It also offers schools a space within which to assist learning through interaction, generating attention, helping retention, reciprocation and motivation, as well as enhancing a pupil’s sense of ability and accomplishment.  The use of IMJack can help send confidence building messages, allowing students to observe the success of others in tasks, whilst improving their own success, reinforcing positive social learning experiences.

IMJack aids learning, allowing teachers to creating an interesting, interactive and fun learning environment for their pupils.  IMJack can be personalised by teachers to present information to their class and gives pupils a chance to practise assessing their own level of understanding on various educational topics set by the teachers, as well as aiding them to find relevant information in relation to such topics.

For any more information about IMJack, please contact us via www.imjack.com.

Stewart Boutcher, Aisling Forde, Saphra Bennett, August 2010

In the last few years, teaching has moved towards a more student-centred teaching and learning experience. Before being allowed to teach, teachers are required to undertake a level of teacher training such as a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) which specialises in Pedagogy- ‘the art of teaching’.  Such training encourages teachers to get to know their pupils, by accessing their individual progress through various assessments.

Furthermore, teachers are also taught to support their pupils and provide the necessary tools for independent learning, which reinforces a sense of accomplishment for the pupil. This notion of self-gratification from independent learning is based on the social learning theory, one of the most influential theories in development and learning. This theory is connected to other cognitive theories of learning and is based around the idea that, individuals learn better through reinforcement and observation. For observational learning to be successful, it is important for ‘attention, retention, reciprocation and motivation’ to be involved.

It is now becoming commonplace for schools to use computers and interactive white boards whilst teaching different lessons.  Research on the use of technology in classrooms has concluded that there is a noticeable effect on achievement, and is effective when used alongside traditional classroom instruction by teachers.

IMJack is used as a safe social learning network, to allow users to find and use information and communicate with people within their network.  It also offers schools a space within which to assist learning through interaction, generating attention, helping retention, reciprocation and motivation, and enhancing a pupil’s sense of ability and accomplishment.  These uses of IMJack can be used to send confidence building messages, allowing students to observe the success of others in tasks, whilst improving their own success, reinforcing positive social learning experiences.

IMJack aids learning, allowing teachers to creating an interesting, interactive and fun learning environment for their pupils.  IMJack can be personalised by teachers to present information to their class and gives pupils a chance to practise assessing their own level of understanding on various educational topics set by the teachers, as well as aiding them to find relevant information in relation to such topics.

For any more information about IMJack, please contact us.

Aisling Forde, Saphra Bennett, July 2010

IMJack CAFE is up and running.

CAFE gives young individuals the opportunity to look around in a safe and secure network, developing their knowledge about different careers and prospects in an interactive bright and welcoming environment.

CAFE is made up of hundreds of different mentor profiles, consisting of at least the answers to 8 questions about a mentor’s job, such as “What does your job involve?” and “What is the best thing about your job?”.  Most mentors have taken the time to include information about their normal “Day in the life” and many are also prepared to answer student questions, sent securely through the CAFE, ensuring the students’ safety.  All this has been achieved through the willingness of mentors to share about their jobs and we are very grateful to everyone who has contributed.

I recently logged into this new IMJack application and found it very inviting to look around and explore different careers.  As a young teenager in school I remember being asked to think about what career I would peruse once I left school and completed all my exams.  There was always a lot of pressure to succeed and do well academically, but I had no idea what career or job I would go into or what was even out there.

Children generally only know about the obvious careers such as doctors, nurses, teacher, lawyers, etc.  However with this new launch of the IMJack CAFE it is so much easier to search for a much greater range of options.  There is even a list of company names which can be searched if you have an idea of what kind of company you might want to work for.

I would have loved the opportunity in school to be able to access such different and useful information, inspiring me in an easy, appealing way, with the security of being in a moderated and regulated site.

We are very proud of CAFE and would like to share it with you.  CAFE is now available in beta form on IMJack; please contact us if you would like access to the CAFE in your community.

For any more information about IMJack, please contact us via www.imjack.com.

Aisling Forde, Stewart Boutcher July2010

With exam time looming closer and closer…

With exam time looming closer and closer take a look at our tips to help pupils cope with the stress of revision.

Dont get stressed out as this will just keep you awake and cause you problems revising.

Keep a positive attitude, eat healthy – lots of brain food…. oily fish and whole grains are the best possible ways of sustaining a healthy diet. they aid both digestion and concentration.

Whole-wheat bread, cereals and pasta… a tuna sandwich is one of the best snacks you can have. Fruits such as banana’s and blueberries are full of anti oxidants that boost brainpower.

If you’re really stressed don’t keep it to yourself – share it with a parent or a teacher, explain your feelings and see what they suggest.

Get up and walk about every so often, if its a nice day don’t sit there looking out the window wishing you were outside – take your books out there and revise outside. Get up and jump around – sitting staring at a book will wear you out after too long.

Record your notes and pop in some ear plugs and go for a walk – reading them aloud helps you remember and listening back again and again will mean they sink in eventually!

If you find yourself having a blank moment don’t sit there and beat yourself up – go though the list until you find the ones you can answer, then work your way back to the more difficult ones. That way you are feeling in a more positive position to tackle the more challenging questions.

Believe in yourself – think positive have more of an ‘I will’ attitude ….and in the words of Dr Seuss..

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know
You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.