CEIAG & Careers Leaders
How to save time - Triage for Gatsby 5 & 6
Monday 29th January 2024
Janet Colledge
This post has been triggered by my chancing upon a request for help on one of the Facebook career leader pages. They asked if anyone had a copy of my triage questionnaire. This is something I developed way back in the dark ages when I was still a working careers leader. That was more than 10 years ago when Gatsby was still in nappies but it still holds good today and in fact is even more important given the Provider Access Legislation.
What is a triage document?
In short it was a way of ensuring that I offered the right opportunities to the student rather than having to collate names of those that want to attend each time.
How does it work?
Pupils are given a worksheet with all the types of work listed and asked to choose the top three that they are interested in. There is also a box for I've no idea which is useful for identifying those that need support in exploring possibilities.
Of course you can do this by turning the triage sheet into a document that will collate the answers electronically such as Google docs (other systems are available)
Then what?
The information is then transferred to an excel sheet which then allows you to identify which pupils are interested in which types of career. Or of course you can do this on other systems such as SIMs or Bromcom etc but just don't ask me how, I'm no expert in those.
So what do I do then?
When you have a speaker coming in you identify which areas they cover and then you have lists of who would be most interested. You can then ensure those pupils attend the activity. Of course, you can also publicise it to the whole year group in case others have a passing interest or have changed their minds.
Yes what about when they change their minds?
Ah shucks, sorry but the fickle mind of youth may well play its part and pupils possibly will change their minds so I'd recommend at least once a year reminding them of their previous choices and asking them to reconfirm or change them.
The triage document
The Excel sheet
How to use the Excel sheet
IMPORTANT NOTE All resources shared in this post are shared under creative commons licences. That means that you may use and alter these resources to suit your circumstances but you must cite Outstanding Careers & Janet Colledge as the originator
