Should BECOME be funded from the careers, wellbeing or student engagement budget?
It's called 'careers education', so traditionally people might assume that it should be funded by the careers budget but because it's impact is far broader than that, it's often not the case!
In most schools and systems that we work with, implementing a whole school approach to careers ed is a strategic decision by the leadership team including the careers team. They understand that 'careers' isn't about a single decision at the end of schooling. Instead, they recognise that students who have the chance to explore broadly and think deeply about their future develop aspirations and agency which supports many aspects of a school's key priorities including student engagement, their motivation to learn and wellbeing.
For that reason, schools fund BECOME from different sources depending on their strategic plan and often this aligns with where schools are rolling out the program. Common examples are:
- Curriculum budget. The leadership team recognise it's positive impact on student's engagement with their learning across subjects and the benefit of having real time data on all student's emerging aspirations and plans.
- The wellbeing budget. Increasingly schools are recognising that careers education is a very practical, engaging and student-centred way of delivering great wellbeing outcomes.
- Careers budget. Many schools have secured additional careers funding and additional time in the curriculum specifically for careers education due to the broader impact and reach of this work compared to the traditional senior secondary focus.
- Shared budget. Split between multiple budgets and often including a PD budget to fund the upskilling of the whole team in having confident career coversations.