Download UTC Reading Case Study
Key Benefits:
- Reduction of time spent by the careers team centralising data for employer engagement.
- All key elements in one place to make for easier and more efficient employer engagement tracking.
- Student ownership and responsibility when completing their passports.
- Clear and understandable user interface for all key stakeholders.
About the school
UTC Reading opened in 2013 with some 450 students on role and has been rated Outstanding by Ofsted. As with other UTC’s, the curriculum is highly vocational and pupils are well known for having the skills, attitudes, behaviours, knowledge and experience that the world’s leading employers are looking for. The college has many industry partners; locally based, national and international organisations such as Microsoft, Cisco, Network Rail and the University of Reading. The college is part of the Activate Learning Multi Academy Trust which also includes UTC Oxfordshire and UTC Swindon.
CEIAG Programme
“UTC Reading strongly believes in the importance of employer engagement to enrich and enhance the learning of its students. Over the years, we have built up a wide range of industry partners that support in a multitude of ways; from cross-college project days and workshops to group mentoring and support in delivering the curriculum. To better manage our careers programme, we chose Grofar; a useful and effective platform that can track student engagement, developing skill sets and time volunteered by our partners. It also enabled us to have a better overview of the careers provision across the whole school including work experience, and feedback from events. It allows us to begin to see the impact that our employer engagement has and empowers our students to take ownership of their career development through the student passport.”
Grofar Implementation
“To date, UTC Reading has begun using Grofar to communicate industry partner events with the students, through the use of the calendar and invite abilities. We have also used the platform to track and monitor our students’ work experience. All students at UTC Reading have had an induction session on using the careers management programme and now have regular, scheduled slots as part of their tutor sessions, in which to keep their student passport up to date. Already, we can see the employer engagement events that students are tracking, building up a report that can be used in interviews for work experience or future careers.”
UTC Reading only the second Microsoft Showcase school in the UK
What the school said:
Stephanie Mitchell, Director of Industy relations said:
“As a UTC that has a high turnover of industry partner events, it is important that we find the most effective ways of managing our employer engagement. Grofar has provided us with a single platform allowing us to track and monitor the impact and quality of our events. It provides students with independence and raises their aspirations whilst managing their own career paths.”