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Pre-Degree & Sixth Form

The Pre-Degree Progression & Careers plan provides a bespoke, tailored and scaffolded Careers Information Advice and Guidance (CIAG) model embedded within our curriculum.

At Arts University Plymouth we aim to align the learners' experiences, views and ambitions with the academic and vocational skills needed to future-proof learners for the 21st-century industrial landscape.

Discover how we are raising aspirations and connecting young students with meaningful encounters in Higher Education and employment environments.

Arts University Plymouth 2022/23 Pre-Degree Progression & Careers year plan

Gatsby Careers Benchmark (GCB) coverage

September 2022

  • Launch the Skills Project
  • Launch skills project
  • NSSW student life and budgeting workshop
  • Meet the parents event for all ED programs
  • YR2 FT & PPA Royal opera house design challenge
  • HE progression talks and workshops commence.
  • Pre-Degree enrichment programme (Wellbeing) pilot begins, including free breakfast club, and yoga sessions.
  • Launchpad live event at Plymouth Argyle Friday 23rd September, all YR 2 ED students to attend.
  • Meet with the prince's trust to discuss the enterprise program.
GCB: 1


GCB: 4

GCB: 2

GCB: 4+5

GCB: 7

GCB: 3

GCB: 7

GCB: 7


October 2022

  • Launch ARTiculation competition.

  • IB Service Learning groups and activities commence.

  • HE progression talks and workshops continue.

  • NSSW portfolio workshop (run by experienced lecturers and visiting industry professionals)

  • NSSW progression activity refresher ( recap on content covered in first year of study, including target setting for second year)

  • NSSW career pilot skills profile workshop

  • British Art Show (plymouth) commences

  • HE Portfolio review course presentations and Q+A.

  • Pre-Degree enrichment programme (Wellbeing) pilot continues, including free breakfast club, and yoga sessions.

GCB:4

GCB:4

GCB: 7

GCB: 1

GCB: 1

GCB: 1

GCB: 5

GCB: 1

GCB: 3

November 2022
  • YR 2 Design to sell project launches.

  • ARTiculation competition continues.

  • Pre-Degree parents evening with HE marketplace offering early advice and guidance around progression options.

  • HE progression talks and workshops continue.

  • Term 1 Careers Bulletin updates in the social space at palace court including job wall.

  • YR2 FT & PPA Royal opera house design challenge

  • INTO film festival

GCB: 4+6

GCB: 4

GCB: 1

GCB: 7

GCB: 2

GCB: 4+5

GCB: 4

December 2022
  • Design to Sell exhibition and shop - Wednesday 30th November 2022 (opening night)

  • HE progression talks and workshops continue.

  • UCAS application health checks.

  • IB Service Learning activities continue.

  • YR2 FT & PPA Royal opera house design challenge

  • UCAS application deadline.

GCB: 4+6

GCB: 7

GCB: 1

GCB: 1

GCB: 4+5

GCB: 1

January 2023
  • Weekly career interventions open to all years and learners begin. targeting potential NEET students as priority.

  • IB Service Learning activities review.

  • YR2 FT & PPA Royal opera house design challenge submissions.

  • NSSW events continue.

GCB: 8

GCB: 1

GCB: 4+5

GCB: 1

February 2023
  • ASK apprenticeship workshop

  • Weekly career interventions open to all years and learners, targeting potential NEET students as priority.

  • IB Y2 Service Learning activities review.

  • Photo YR2 Commercial enterprise brief term 4 (engaging with live clients as industry professionals)

GCB: 8

GCB: 1

GCB: 5

March 2023
  • Weekly career interventions open to all years and learners.

  • Fashion and Textiles industry week.

  • National Careers Week.

  • Term 2 staff Careers Bulletin

  • IB Service Learning activities continue.

  • ASK Apprenticeships interventions.

  • NSSW events continue.

GCB: 8

GCB: 6

GCB: 1

GCB: 1

GCB: 1

April 2023
  • Weekly career interventions open to all years and learners.

  • NEETS interventions continue.

  • IB Service Learning activities continue.

  • Y2 / FAD GAP year club - Launch

GCB: 8

GCB: 8

GCB: 1

May 2023
  • Weekly career interventions open to all years and learners.

  • NEETS interventions continue.

  • IB Service Learning activities review.

  • Y2 / FAD GAP year club

GCB: 8

GCB: 8

GCB: 1

June 2023
  • End of year showcase and enterprise opportunity.

  • NEETS interventions continue.

  • Y2 / FAD GAP year club

GCB: 5

GCB: 8

July 2023
  • NEETS interventions continue.

  • Y2 / FAD Y2 GAP year club finishes

GCB: 8
Plymouth College of Art student in printing studio
ARTiculation

The ARTiculation competition is a nationally-acclaimed annual event designed to promote the appreciation and discussion of art. The competition seeks to engage all full-time students aged 16-19 - and regardless of background or experience - with art, and to develop their confidence and ability to express their opinions and thoughts through critical thinking and problem solving techniques.

The Skills Project

The Skills Project continues to provide an embedded methodology to develop personal development, British values and progression readiness through the recognition and collective ownership of a set of values required to meet these important demands. The Project allows our teachers and students to track and communicate progress in relation to employability and soft skills via regular progress checks. In terms of impact, we continually assess Pre-Degree learners through progress checks to measure the demonstration of character traits and attributes that mirror expectations of working in higher education or industry.

Design to Sell

This project is designed to enhance your professional practice and our learners maturity as an artist, maker or designer. The skills and knowledge they gain in this project will be transferable in any chosen academic or career path. They will explore elements of a business focused environment, this brief is about creativity, collaboration and commercialism.

IB Service Learning activities

Service learning provides opportunities for students to understand their capacity to make a meaningful contribution to their community and society. The purpose is for students to contribute to society by improving the lives of people or assisting the environment or animals.

NEETs

NEET stands for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training." It refers to a person who is unemployed, not in school or in a meaningful training programme.

Workplace activities

Work shadowing - Generally refers to a specified, often short and at times, where necessary supervised period of time between 1 or 2 hours or 1 or 2 days that a young person spends within the workplace. The young people taking part in work shadowing activities are not intended to be performing work tasks, but rather learning about the world of work and the industrial environment. (GCB 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 + 8)

Work placement - This can also include lengthy internships & usually refer to a longer period of time that a young person spends within the workplace. This is predominantly unsupervised by a member of academic staff and students have an opportunity to learn directly about industrial expectations, working life and the working environment. (GCB 4, 5, 6 + 8)

Volunteering - This experience will usually be an arrangement between the young person and an organisation which will not entitle them to a financial reward or benefit in kind for work they perform under the arrangement. (GCB 4, 5, 6 + 8)

Freelance work - This experience will be aligned closely with creative industrial expectations. The creative industries are one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK, with around 47% of working people self-employed or working as independent freelance creative practitioners. (GCB 4 + 6).

Design To Sell2018 21

Design To Sell, our long-running fair and marketplace where Pre-Degree students sell their work, takes place annually in our dedicated Pre-Degree buildings.

The Arts University Plymouth, Pre-Degree Progression and Careers year plan is achieved via two platforms of engagement within each learners study programme. The first platform of activities are embedded within the enriching and diverse curriculum model delivered in sessions and includes Creative Careers Toolkit interventions, University progression workshops, the Design to Sell project where we turn our whole campus into a shop for three days, national competitions such as ARTiculation and Worldskills and International Baccalaureate Service Learning interventions and activities.

The second platform exists as activities that sit outside the formal curriculum model and includes Work Placement opportunities, the Pre-Degree enrichment programme, our Year 2 GAP year club, and weekly careers interventions that start in January and continue through to June.

In addition to these platforms of engagement, we intricately track and thread the Pre-Degree Skills Project throughout the course of each learners study programme.

The Skills Project continues to provide an embedded methodology to develop personal development, British values and progression readiness through the recognition and collective ownership of a set of values required to meet these important demands. The Project allows our teachers and students to track and communicate progress in relation to employability and soft skills via regular progress checks.

We continually develop and improve on our Pre-Degree progression and careers provision. Our intention is to continually keep working towards the university’s ethos of continual creative learning and social justice via the Pre-Degree Skills Project, whilst also driving toward 100% achievement of the Gatsby Career Benchmarks. The Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework of 8 guidelines that define the best careers provision in schools and colleges.

Our university provides a number of qualifications, we offer a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design course, a suite of 6 UAL Art and Design Extended Diploma courses including Graphics, Illustration and Game Arts, Film, Animation and Media Production, Photography, Fashion and Textiles and Art and Design and a Level 2 Diploma in Art and Design course.

Our students are able to engage with a number of work experiences from across a multitude of industrial sectors including: Construction, Engineering, Design and Technology, Visual Communication, Architectural design, Fashion, Media and Marketing, Radio as well as in the Public and Health sectors. Which helps them to build upon new and existing skills to align these with professional practice and industry expectation.

BBC Spotlight interviews student Ceri Louise Prowse during the first year of the BFI Film Academy

The Gatsby Benchmarks were developed on behalf of the Gatsby Foundation by Sir John Holman, which aimed to highlight what "good careers work" looked like. They provide us with a clear framework for organising our careers provision, and have been accepted as best practice by the Government.

Find out more about the Gatsby benchmarks here.

Gatsby Career BenchmarkBrief description
1. A stable careers programmeEvery school and college should have an embedded programme of career education and guidance that is known and understood by pupils, parents, teachers and employers.
2. Learning from career and labour market informationEvery pupil, and their parents, should have access to good-quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. They will need the support of an informed adviser to make best use of available information.
3. Addressing the needs of each pupilPupils have different career guidance needs at different stages. Opportunities for advice and support needs to be tailored to the needs of each pupil. A school’s careers programme should embed equality and diversity considerations throughout.
4. Linking curriculum learning to careersAll teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. For example, STEM subject teachers should highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of future career paths.
5. Encounters with employers and employeesEvery pupil should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes.
6. Experiences of workplacesEvery pupil should have first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience to help their exploration of career opportunities, and expand their networks.
7. Encounters with further and higher educationAll pupils should understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them. This includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace.
8. Personal guidanceEvery pupil should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a careers adviser, who could be internal (a member of school staff) or external, provided they are trained to an appropriate level. These should be available whenever significant study or career choices are being made. They should be expected for all pupils but should be timed to meet their individual needs.

If you are 11—19 and living in the South of England, Careerpilot has all of the information you need to help you plan your future study and work.

Find out about and look at:

  • Your choices at 14, 16 and 18
  • Different job sectors and what they are looking for
  • Information on routes to different qualifications including apprenticeships and university level study
  • Your skills and how to use them
  • Online careers sessions and stories

Get ALL of the information you need to help you plan your future study and work in one place.

www.careerpilot.org.uk