ENQUIRIES

Information, Advice and Guidance Principles

Information, advice and guidance (IAG) services should promote the value of learning, be accessible to people and provide them with the help they need to enter and progress in learning and work.

The principles are implicit throughout the eight elements of the matrix quality standard for information advice and guidance services.

The Principles for Coherent Information Advice and Guidance Delivery are:

Accessible and Visible
IAG Services should be recognised and trusted by clients, have convenient entry points from which clients may be signposted or referred to the services they need, and be open at times and in places which suit client’s needs;

Professional and Knowledgeable
IAG frontline staff should have the skills and knowledge to identify quickly and effectively the client’s needs. They should have the skills and knowledge either to address the client’s needs or to signpost or to refer them to suitable alternative provision;

Effective Connections
Links between IAG services should be clear from the client’s perspective. Where necessary, clients should be supported in their transition between services;

Availability, Quality and Delivery
IAG services should be targeted to the needs of clients, and be informed by social and economic priorities at local, regional and national levels;

Diversity
The range of IAG services should reflect the diversity of client’s needs;

Impartial
IAG services should support clients to make informed decisions about learning and work based on the client’s needs and circumstances;

Responsive
IAG services should reflect client’s present and future needs;

Friendly and Welcoming
IAG services encourage clients to engage successfully with the service;

Enabling
IAG services should encourage and support clients to become lifelong learners by enabling them to access and use information to plan their careers, supporting clients to explore the implications for both learning and work in their future career plans;

Awareness
Adults should be aware of the IAG services that are relevant to them, and have well informed expectations of those services.