We’ve got careers covered
Start’s unique features for students and teachers will help to simplify and improve careers provision at your school or college.
Start’s unique features for students and teachers will help to simplify and improve careers provision at your school or college.
Start is a free and comprehensive digital platform, offering schools and colleges a single starting point to help simplify and improve careers guidance in schools.
By following Start’s structured and progressive activities, the platform caters for all students helping them to make more informed decisions about future study and career options at the right time and in good time.
Register to become a Start school, and deliver effective and consistent careers education, from Year 7 to Year 13.
It’s free because every young person should have access to the best and most comprehensive careers information and advice available so that they can make more informed choices about future study and work. This creates enormous potential for us to improve the life chances of all young people as well as tackle key issues for our economy such as workforce diversity and closing skills gaps.
User activity is driven through schools and colleges as they embed Start as part of their careers provision.
Students – as the key beneficiaries, students between the ages of 11-18 are the significant user group on Start.
Teachers – from senior leaders to heads of year and subject teachers, Start is used by everyone involved in the careers process.
Careers advisers – personal guidance from a professional is an essential part of any careers programme and Start helps these users to stay up to date and engage with students.
Parents – as a key influencer in a young person’s careers advice, Start provides parents with access to the same information so that they can better support their children.
There are many reasons but here are just a couple:
Firstly, Start brings together much of the functionality and content provided by other sites, all in to one place. For example, it includes tools such as job suitability profiling and an online record of achievement; as well as content including job profiles, apprenticeship vacancies and course information for all post-16 and 18 providers.
Secondly, it comes with a structure to guide students (and teachers) through how and when to use the platform. On Start, these are called Modules and students work through them throughout their time at school and college. They’re designed to guide students through all the information on Start and ensure that they’re prepared for their next moment of choice.
Anyone can register for Start at any time.
However, we encourage schools and colleges to sign up with us first so that we can support the process of registering their students, staff and parents. The two options available include user self-registration (codes will be provided) or bulk uploading user details to automatically create their login credentials.
Not only are we committed to Start being free for schools and colleges but we’re also dedicated to the task of sustaining it as the best careers platform available.
To do this – which means paying for our growing team and improving the site – we need to generate revenue. We do this primarily with philanthropic investment from individuals and foundations, as well as a number of employer partners with an aligned vision to improve careers guidance for young people and the longer-term benefits that will have for education providers and the economy.
Does this compromise the site? We don’t believe so. Start will always present comprehensive and impartial information regardless of commercial considerations.
We are absolutely committed to protecting and respecting the privacy of our users.
U-Explore Ltd has been a trusted provider of services to schools and colleges for many years and as such our standards for the protection of personal data are very high. Using the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as our benchmark, we regularly review and update our technical infrastructure as well as all relevant procedures and policies.
You can read our Privacy Policy for details on how we comply with the regulations for protecting your data, however, some of the more commonly asked questions we receive are summarised below.
Will my access to Start be affected as a result of GDPR?
No. Schools and colleges using Start will continue to be able to use the platform with students of all ages and there will be no need for users to re-register.
How do you use personal data?
The information we collect from student users is used to personalise their experience and to help them to make sense of all the careers information and advice available. We also provide authorised teachers and careers guidance professionals in schools and colleges with access to their student data so that they can provide a better service and improve the guidance received by young people. Full details of how we use the personal data we collect is in our Privacy Policy.
Where is your data located?
The data that we collect is stored on systems owned and maintained by U-Explore Limited in secure data centres within the UK with access limited to authorised individuals.
How long is student data retained?
Students can continue to use Start after they have left school or college, but after two years of inactivity beyond Year 13 (age 18) we will remove personal data.
Who can I contact if I have more questions?
All questions, comments and requests are welcomed and should be addressed to data@u-explore.com.
Start has reshaped our entire careers advice programme, and allows us as a school to make sure we are offering students and parents everything they need in terms of careers.
Barry Gray, Assistant Head Teacher, East Yorkshire
As a teacher I would say Start is engaging, highly visual and a fantastic careers education tool – I would highly recommend it to any school thinking of using it.
Anita Chagar, English Teacher, West Midlands
Start provides a basis for a more informed conversation when it comes to a one-on-one careers interview. Putting in place a system like Start, enables our school to achieve our goals.
Carl Fazackerley, Deputy Head of 6th Form, London