ACEG Conference feed-back continued (at long last)

This must be longest-running saga ever. Most of the blogs I read (and I'm well behind on that as well) seem to report on things like this instantaneously. I wait until I get home, mull things over, let domestic and other issues interfere with writing and then ... it's a month or more later and there's no point!

Except that there is since I remember that I stopped having researched information about "Dialogical" and "Career Identities" and there's still three Keynotes to go.

Keynote 4: Careers education in the new curriculum Gary Forrest, QCA
Not really my scene at all and I hesitate to comment on something that I don't really understand.

Keynote 5: Influencing school and college senior managers John Dunford, ASCL (which is, I think, the Association of School and College Leaders)
This session may have presented new information and issues to the delegates but I found that it was, for me, a fairly standard session on influencing techniques with regard to ensuring that careers education and guidance rises higher up the agenda in educational establishments. A "good idea" that has been pursued for some years with some improvement in the position (but by no means enough for some [many?] people).

Keynote 6: Assessing the impact of careers work Deirdre Hughes, CeGS (Centre for Guidance Studies)
Ah, now we're on to something. If guidance practitioners are to influence school and college leaders, if the place of careers education in the curriculum is to be assured, if UK PLC is to ultimately have the workforce that it needs then the impact of the work that is currently taking place has to be assessed. Deirdre emphasised that the "of course it does" answer to "does careers education and guidance make a difference?" must be backed up by evidence; clear evidence that is used by practitioners to make the point. Practitioners must assess and understand more fully the changes that have taken place in education, in learning and in lifestyle. She said that the aim of her talk was to set out four points.

• Create a national shared vision
• Agree common language
• Inspire people to manage their lives, learning and work effectively
• Generate evidence on impact

She achieved her aim -- for me at least.

You'll get part 3 of the saga (what went on outside the main conference -- no, not that sort of "going on") tomorrow and then it's back to the usual miscellany of information.