Schools & colleges

See how GMACS and Xello can benefit your school or college and students.

GMCA has been working to improve the standing of the careers agenda across Greater Manchester. Together with the Mayor, we believe improving the line of sight to less well known occupations and pathways is critical.

In today’s complex, fast-paced and rapidly changing labour market, we need to ensure young people know about the many and varied opportunities for their futures.

The Greater Manchester Baccalaureate Summit

Find out more about our recent MBacc Summit on the GMACS event page. Watch the videos we showed at the event, read policy papers and discover what’s included in the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate, and see how you can get involved.

Two young people walking out of school smiling.

The benefits of using GMACS

GMACS provides a trusted and balanced source of careers information in one place and can be used alongside Xello or as a standalone resource.

GMACS can help you deliver your careers programme and show students how to:

  • Access and use labour market information
  • Explore how subjects link to the world of work
  • Meet and interact with a range of businesses, organisations and providers
  • Explore workplaces through workplace visits, work shadowing and work experience placements
  • Access impartial information, advice and guidance about future pathways, study options and careers

The benefits of using Xello

Xello personalises learning at scale and helps create future-ready students who can thrive in the world of work.

Educator benefits include:

  • Ready-made reports at the student, school, and multi-site level
  • Comprehensive student profiles providing a snapshot of each student’s skills, interests, and progress within Xello
  • Turnkey curriculum in the form of integrated lessons, easily woven into the existing curriculum or assigned as independent activities

Student benefits include:

  • Interactive assessments to help students understand their strengths, skills, and unique interests
  • A shareable, online portfolio to showcase student interests, skills, and abilities
  • Access to hundreds of career and education profiles, written to a year 7 level
  • Immersive, personalised lessons that encourage students to reflect, reassess and build real-world skills
Get in touch with us to sign your school or college up to Xello

FAQs for schools

How can my school get further support delivering its careers programme?

Contact the GMCA Careers Hub team. This team works with schools and colleges across Greater Manchester to develop their careers and employer engagement programmes, aligned to school/college improvement plans and the Gatsby Benchmarks.

What resources are available to help me use Labour Market Information (LMI) with students?

LMI includes information such as job roles and descriptions, average salary ranges and whether demand for job types is expected to grow or decline. LMI can help bring lessons to life, enhance the curriculum, career sessions and employer visits, and provide real-world examples of how specific subjects and skills relate to jobs.

You can learn more about Greater Manchester’s labour market on the area pages on GMACS. The careers website icould.com explains how you can use LMI to help shape career decisions.

What local providers and organisations can support the delivery of my school’s careers programmes?

You can find details of local providers and organisations in our education and training section.

How can schools help students find enrichment activities?

See the opportunities section on GMACS for ways in which young people can boost their skills and experience outside of school and college.

Which other websites can support careers education programmes?
How can my school provide work experience?

Are you a school/college teacher or careers lead?

If you’re looking to support your students aged 14-19 to access meaningful work experiences, in line with Gatsby Benchmark 5 and 6, Speakers for Schools can help.

State funded schools can register for free to the Speakers for Schools Experience portal to start accessing a variety of employer-led virtual work experiences for students, all year round.

To ensure you are in the best possible position to access opportunities for your learners this summer term (and beyond) it is recommended that you follow the below steps:

  1. Register your school/college for free
  2. Register to attend a free webinar on how to best use the portal here
  3. Add additional staff members such as heads of department or heads of year who can approve student applications
  4. Support students to register and browse opportunities for themselves here, this is a quick process that can be completed during tutor time for example and the attached guide can be shared to assist
  5. Proactively encourage students to make applications for opportunities relevant to their interests and aspirations on a regular basis (you can do this via the portal). For example, spend 15-30 mins each week signposting
  6. Make sure to approve student applications and add cover note asap so they don’t miss out
  7. Support learners to prepare for their experiences beforehand and reflect on learning afterwards to ensure they gain maximum benefit for the experience