Careers and Destinations Strategies for Schools Digital Conference

After qualifying as a teacher in 1992 Jo was appointed Assistant Headteacher at a secondary school in Bradford in 2012 and became the school’s first Career Leader. In this role Jo introduced an Aspire2B program across all 3 key stages and was delighted to receive ‘Outstanding School in the North’ from the Careers and Enterprise Company for developing a meaningful and progressive CEIAG program.

In 2020 she was appointed as Director of CEIAG for Co-op Academies Trust. Jo is passionate about ensuring all of her academies provide the very best enrichment opportunities for the students to enable them to make informed and incisive decisions throughout, and beyond, their school life. By using the Gatsby benchmarks as a framework for best practice the academies have CEIAG programs that meet the need for an ever changing cohort and an ever changing economic landscape. The programs are designed to inspire, raise aspirations and give the students an optimistic outlook on life and their place in the world of work. All of their secondary academies, and the majority of their primaries, have secured the Quality in Careers standard which formally acknowledges the exemplary work that is taking place and the high profile that CEIAG has. Indeed the Trust is one of the highest performing MATs in regards to meeting the Gatsby benchmarks.

Isabel Smith joined The Piggott School, part of the Agape Multi Academy Trust, in September 2025. Bringing a mix of corporate and freelance experience to the role she is able to inspire students with a wealth of interesting personal experiences, as well as bringing an innovative approach to continuous improvement of the school’s already excellent careers provision.

Tariq Sadiq is Careers, Employability, and Skills Lead at Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge and a member of the Career Development Institute Board of Directors.  He is responsible for developing and delivering a comprehensive programme of employer engagement, including employer-led challenges.  Previously, he worked for Form the Future, an education business partnership, where he supported several schools providing career development workshops and personal guidance and worked with STEM employers to deliver workplace-based project days.  Before moving into careers, he had a long career in university administration, fundraising, and development.  He is writing The Employer Engagement Handbook: Strategies for success in schools and colleges due to be published by Trotman Publishing in autumn 2026.

Gill is a senior strategic leader with over 20 years’ experience delivering national and local programmes across education, business, and the public sector.

As Strategic Careers Hub Lead, Gill manages the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Careers Hub, delivered in partnership with The Careers & Enterprise Company, the national body for careers education in England. The role provides strategic coordination of a region‑wide partnership bringing together schools, colleges, and employers across a broad range of sectors, ensuring careers education is aligned with both national policy priorities and local labour‑market needs.

Working with employers via a coordinated Employer Network, Gill strengthens employer engagement to support meaningful encounters, high‑quality work experience, and clear progression pathways. This approach enables businesses to address skills gaps, develop future talent, and contribute to inclusive growth, while supporting education providers and careers leaders to embed the Gatsby Benchmarks and deliver consistent, high‑quality careers provision.

Gill provides strategic oversight of high‑quality, inclusive work experience, embedding learning from national and regional pilots into scalable delivery, including Liverpool City Region’s participation as one of four Combined Authority areas selected to develop modern work experience through The Careers & Enterprise Company’s equalex framework. This work ensures equity of access, consistency of quality, and measurable impact, so that every young person is supported to understand their options, build confidence, and take their next best step.

Michelle Stanley is Education Lead Advisor at Kent County Council and the strategic lead for the Pathways for All programme, focused on strengthening inclusive Post-16 education and curriculum pathways.

She brings extensive experience across the education system, having worked as a teacher, literacy specialist, school improvement adviser, local authority officer and senior leader. Michelle has led multi-disciplinary teams including Curriculum and Standards, and School Improvement teams, and has contributed at a national level through a secondment to the Department for Education as Academy School Improvement Expert to the Regional Schools Commissioner.

Michelle is committed to improving life chances for all young people through high-quality, inclusive education. Her work is underpinned by an understanding of the value of literacy, child development, and evidence-informed practice.  She is passionate about supporting the system and strengthening pathways that enable all learners to progress and succeed.

Chris is Headteacher and Northfleet School for Girls in Gravesend, a non-selective secondary school within a grammar school area.  He has 22 years experience in senior leadership and 12 years as Headteacher at Northfleet School for Girls (NSfG).  NSfG has a very clear vision which supports students to ‘Dream Big and Achieve’ which includes developing aspirational careers.  Neet’s are significantly below national average, Russell Group applications are rising and students have attained places at Oxbridge despite PPG levels being around 40%.  There has been strong use of Alumni to inspire students into exciting careers, such as Law, Medicine and Architecture.

In addition to this, Chris is Chair of the LCPA groups for Pathways for All in Kent.  These groups work to engage local schools in ensuring all students have appropriate pathways post 16, effective transition and valued careers support.  A highly ‘moral purpose’ focused approach has helped to ensure positive collaboration amongst leaders and a sense of urgency to address the issue of rising NEETs.   These groups particularly focus on the ‘forgotten third’ who have not achieved level 4 English and Math’s, yet are just as deserving of an aspirational qualification and career pathway.