Use Compass+ to keep a record of all the PAL compliant activities that have been delivered in your institution. You can also keep an accurate record of the providers that deliver PAL compliant activities too by adding them to your Careers Partners database in Compass+.
Don't forget if you're eligible to take part in the ASK Programme, the activities they deliver to your learners should comply with PAL - download our handy ASK Programme checklist that walks you through how to add these activities into Compass+ > Aligning Compass+ with ASK Support checklist
Adding PAL compliant activities to Compass+
1. Log in to Compass+ using your email address and password - https://auth.careersandenterprise.co.uk/compassplus
2. From the main navigation bar go to Activities > Create New Activity
3. A pop-up window will ask you to select which Benchmark you wish to create the activity for. Select ‘Benchmark 2-8’, then click on ‘Create Activity’
4. Begin by adding key activity details, pre-fix the name of the activity with 'PAL', then select the specific Gatsby benchmark (main category) that the activity aligns to from the dropdown.
When creating a new Benchmark 5, 6 or 7 activity, we have included a checkbox for you to confirm that the activity is eligible to be recorded as an encounter that meets PAL requirements. The check box will only appear if you allocate GB5, 6 or 7 for the main benchmark:
For an activity to be eligible, and recorded as PAL compliant, the provider must deliver an encounter that includes:
- Information about the provider and the approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships that the provider offers
- Information about the careers to which those technical education qualifications or apprenticeships might lead to
- A description of what learning or training with the provider is like
- Responses to questions from the learners about the provider or approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.
The encounter must also meet all of the other conditions outlined from page 43 in the Provider Access Legislation statutory guidance.
You can read our Provider access legislation Key information to find out more about PAL eligibility.
5. Select any additional Gatsby Benchmark categories that the activity relates to. Please note that this additional category won’t impact the data visualisation you see on the your Dashboard, and is just for your records.
Continue to enter the school lead (name of staff member running the activity), date, start and finish times for the activity.
6. You now need to add learners to your activity. You can use the checkbox filters or start typing the name of the group or the names of individual learners, directly into the search box, then select the one you want:
7. You can also choose to upload learners to an activity by Unique Pupil Number (UPN), which may be useful if you have learners' details in an email or spreadsheet, and need to add them quickly to an activity.
To add learners to an activity by UPN, select 'Bulk enter students by UPN'. A pop-up window will open. Enter your list of learner UPNs, then check that each learner has an individual Compass+ profile by clicking on the 'Check UPNs' button to the bottom-left of the window. Finally, click on 'Confirm' to add the learners to the activity:
8. Now add a provider(s) to your activity. Compass+ can help you do this in a two different ways.
CAREERS PARTNERS
The example below shows you how to add careers partners from your institution’s Careers Partners database. Begin typing the partner’s name and they will appear in the dropdown list. Select the provider(s) you want to add to the activity:
Add any notes in the field at the bottom of the form then click the green ‘Save activity' button. Your activity will now appear in your Activities, as well as in the individual profile for all assigned learners.
To learn more about using Careers Partners, please see How to use the Careers Partners database.
PROVIDER DIRECTORY
When you are creating an activity in Compass+, based on your institution’s post code and the primary benchmark you have selected for an activity, Compass+ can intelligently suggest providers that deliver activities in your area.
Once you have added the key details to your activity and added your learners to the activity, you can then select the 'See potential volunteers to support this activity' link:
A pop-up window will display showing the list of potential providers, with a brief overview about each one and what activities they offer. There is a link to each provider's website under their name so that you can find out more or get in touch with them directly.
To learn more about using Provider Directory please see How to use the Provider Directory.