CAREERS staff have won high praise for helping to guide students along the best path in life.
Guidance Services at Darlington College have secured the Matrix accreditation, a national standard for quality.
Assessors inspected the service against 23 criteria looking at aims, resources, service and leadership and management.
A Darlington College manager, two advisers and an administrative support worker help more than 3,000 current and prospective students every year advising on courses, finances, higher education and careers options.
The official Matrix report stated: “Careers Guidance Services has a strong commitment to quality assurance and strives for continuous improvement.
“Strong ethical values and high professional integrity are evident throughout the service and are integral to providing good support. Staff are highly proactive in using and developing both internal and external contacts to improve the support available.”
Assessors also highlighted the fact that managers are keen to embrace suggestions and volunteer to undertake activity that will be of benefit.
Leadership and management and the fact that the service reports directly to the college’s top tier were also praised in the report.
“Reviews of network links enable valuable information to be shared and developed creating ongoing service improvement that impacts across the college,” the report added.
The careers and guidance team comprises manager Andrew Calder, careers guidance advisers Emma Mottram and Andrew Brown and admin support worker Jan Needham.
Andrew Calder said: “This is about the learner journey, picking up the students even before they start here and guiding them in the right direction at Darlington College and afterwards.
“Our support underpins everything that the college aims to do to ensure that it is the most useful experience to students. This is a huge achievement for us and something very positive for the college.”
Emma added: “It is a massive responsibility as our advice aims to place students on the right path in life, helping them identify and achieve their goals.”
