Role of STAR coordinator
Approaches to the coordinator role
The role of coordinator works in different ways in different schools. It may be:
- carried out by a designated staff member who also has a number of other roles in the school (for example, a member of the careers and transition staff or of the senior management team)
- carried out by a designated part-time staff member who is employed specifically for STAR
- shared by a team of people that includes senior management, careers staff, deans and/or form teachers, a curriculum coordinator, and an administrator.
Role of the coordinator
The coordinator’s role is to understand STAR’s:
- purpose
- place in the school's overall careers and transition strategy
- fit into the wider operation of the school
- wider pathways operation
- school vision, cultures, values and direction
- supporting the rest of the curriculum
- role in supporting students in relation to its objectives
- role in supporting students gain qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
There are four parts to the coordinator's role – management, coordination, communication and administration.
Management
- ensuring that student needs are met and decisions about courses are based on evidence; for example, student needs surveys and course evaluations
- ensuring STAR funding is spent and accounted for appropriately
- establishing, implementing and reviewing the school’s STAR policy
- prioritising funding allocation in line with the school's STAR policy.
Coordination
- providing positive leadership for the STAR programme within the school
- working with senior leadership team to ensure STAR activity complements the wider aims of the education within the school
- developing the school's programme for STAR
- building internal and external networks to discover employment opportunities or relevant industries in the local area
- working with internal staff and external providers to establish and organise STAR-funded learning experiences
- identifying students' individual needs and matching them to learning opportunities
- monitoring the quality of STAR-funded learning
- using data (such as course evaluations) to make decisions about retaining existing courses or adding new courses
- undertaking professional development by attending cluster meetings and working with STAR advisors/facilitators from School Support Services
- acting as an advocate for students, especially those whose needs are not being met by conventional subjects
- using the STAR Funding Report Form to make decisions.
Communication
- ensuring students are aware of how STAR can support their move to the workforce or further education
- generating student interest in the STAR funded courses
- providing advice and guidance to students looking to enrol in the courses
- advocating for the STAR programme within the school community
- ensuring staff know the school's STAR policy and how to refer students for courses and how to access funding under this policy
- liaising with external providers and internal staff
- informing parents about the STAR courses that their children are interested in and get their support
- reporting to the board of trustees in accordance with the school's STAR policy, building relationships with local employers and tertiary institutions
- communicating with other pathways-related areas of the school; for example, Gateway, careers, administration, deputy principal and so on.
Administration
- collecting information about career aspirations and individual student needs or abilities from students, form teachers, careers and transition teachers, and the guidance counsellor
- advertising courses to students
- making arrangements with providers about upcoming courses
- making transport arrangements
- making sure that all the paperwork associated with each upcoming course is complete, including:
- informing staff and attendance officers of a student's attendance on a course
- ensuring that it is clearly identified as a school-based activity
- following up any absences from courses and informing appropriate personnel
- maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of STAR-funded courses for review and audit purposes, including records of attendance and results
- summarising and analysing evaluation forms
- ensuring that results are passed on to be entered into the school's results database and double checking that these have been entered on the students' records
- completing the annual STAR Funding Report form for the Ministry of Education.
Resource A is a draft STAR coordinator draft position description
Resourcing the coordinator role
To perform effectively, coordinators need:
- time to carry out what can be complex responsibilities
- recognition for what they do and the size of the resource they administer.
Schools can draw on both their STAR funding and their operational funding to give coordinators a time allowance:
- some of the STAR funding can be used (up to 10% is recommended) to employ an administrator to carry out some of the administrative tasks. This frees the coordinators to focus on the ‘bigger picture’ of providing an effective programme that best meets the students' needs
- operational funding to provide coordinators with management units, thus reflecting the value that they place on the role.
The number of hours coordinators need and the way they work depend on the size of the school, the nature of the programme and the experience of the staff.
Exemplar: Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource coordinators role