Founder & Managing Director – Michelle Taylor RCDP FRSA
Michelle is the vision, passion and driving force behind Ideas4Careers, which she founded in 2012. A Level 7 Registered Career Development Practitioner and CEIAG Consultant, she works with careers leaders and academy trusts to improve careers provision for young people. Managing the contractual delivery of career guidance and employability service to over 50 schools across the East Midlands and beyond, whilst managing a team of dedicated and talented career guidance practitioners.
As a licensed assessor, she provides consultancy and external assessment for schools and colleges undertaking the national Quality in Careers Standard award under licence by Career Mark and Ixion, supporting careers leaders to develop their careers provision to high standards, gaining national accreditation. Michelle is also an Associate of the International Centre for Guidance Studies, an applied research centre specialising in career development and employability. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and advises on employment and skills, having collaborated with OCR on writing employability qualifications which are now widely used.
Senior Guidance Practitioner and Team Leader – Abbie Chambers RCDP
Abbie is a Level 7 Registered Career Development Practitioner with over 18 years of experience in training and development, lecturing and assessing in further education, alongside career guidance. As one of our team leaders, she manages a group of dedicated practitioners covering schools across the Midlands.
Abbie believes in leading by example, bringing out the best in others and ensuring the team delivers to standards of high quality. Working with the Managing Director, Abbie co-ordinates our delivery across many different educational settings and operates in partnership with local Careers Hubs.
Lead Consultant for CEIAG in Primary – Kay Barnard RCDP
Kay is a Level 7 Careers Leader and Level 6 Registered Career Development Practitioner. Having gained experience as a regional representative in the East Midlands for the Career Development Institute, she has a passion for developing CEIAG (Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance) in primary, which has been gathering momentum nationally over the last 2-3 years. She enjoys working in both primary and secondary, and having successfully taken her secondary school through the national Quality in Careers Standard, is now eager to support primary schools in developing a high quality careers education programme for key stages 1 and 2 against a national framework.
Kay has an interest in research which evidences that children begin to form ideas about their futures when they are quite young. By the age of 10, many young people have already made career-limiting decisions, often fixed by the time they reach key stage 4. Kay is working to help primary schools embed a new approach to careers education for younger children that will broaden their horizons, linking what they do in the classroom to future careers and raising ambitions.
Lead Consultant for SEND – Lynn Addison RCDP
Lynn is a Level 7 Registered Career Development Practitioner and lead consultant for SEND (Special Education Needs and Disability). Having spent more than 20 years working in the NHS as an Occupational Therapist and trainer, Lynn retrained as a careers guidance practitioner and now works in a wide range of schools, both mainstream and special. Within her remit as SEND lead she works with a diverse range of students, helping them to prepare for adulthood and future careers. She is able to use symbols and Makaton sign language to allow students with communication difficulties to overcome common barriers and enable them to access career conversations.
Lynn also supports our team of practitioners who work with SEND in non-SEND specific settings, and offers consultancy support to careers leaders and support staff in developing CEIAG for young people with SEND.
Lead Consultant for Careers and Inclusion – Michelle Powell RCDP
As our lead consultant for careers and inclusion, Michelle oversees our contracts with SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) special schools, secure units for young offenders, alternative provision and residential care homes for teenagers across the East Midlands.
An experienced Level 6 Registered Career Development Practitioner, Michelle actively engages with her diverse range of clients using a variety of innovative techniques (eg. have-a-go cookery during an introductory careers lesson in which learners gain useful culinary skills as well as transferable employability skills, whilst building trust for further individual guidance). Working with careers leaders, she has helped create bespoke career development programmes that meet individual learner needs, which has resulted in the upskilling of school staff for supporting their students with career transitions and developing career management skills.