CEIAG & Careers Leaders
Careers Education as a method of introducing selective education by the back door?
Saturday 13th April 2013
Working in careers education for 11-19 year old's has its exasperating moments. One of these came whilst looking through the proposed NC.
Search for the word career in the entire 221 page document and you find the word only mentioned once. On page 155 you find Key Stage 4 Computing "All pupils must have the opportunity to study aspects of information technology and computer science at sufficient depth to allow them to progress to higher levels of study or to a professional career." Hmm really important then!career choice
Desperate to find something, anything, that would indicate interest in preparing pupils for their working life, I found in Citizenship aims
- develop an interest in, and commitment to, volunteering that they will take with them into adulthood
- are equipped with the financial skills to enable them to manage their money on a day-to-day basis as well as to plan for future financial needs
Now one could link these 2 aims to careers education, but looking further we find this "Pupils should be taught about...
- the different ways in which a citizen can contribute to the improvement of their community, to include the opportunity to participate actively in community volunteering
- wages, taxes, credit, debt, financial risk and a range of more sophisticated financial products and services.
So teach them about volunteering and how to check and handle their wages, but don't teach them about how to identify and find a fulfilling and interesting job/career where you can worry about that your hard earned cash is invested well.
So, pondering this I wonder if Government is intending to introduce a very narrow and prescriptive NC to the 'ordinary' state schools. The Academies, UTCs and Studio Schools won't be hobbled by this imposition. They will be free to teach what and how they wish. Thus paving the way for vocational, career driven education, so does this mean that the 'academic' 'university bound' pupils head one way and the 'practical' 'career minded' pupils head the other?
I'm not necessarily saying this will be a bad thing, what I am wondering is the effect that such a division would engender. Will we have lots of 'airy fairy' academics heading for the halls of academe? Will we get lots of industry driven professionals from our UTCs and what used to be called 'journeymen' years ago - skilled carpenters, photographers, plumbers and toolmakers from our studio schools?
My worry is that those choices will be made at the age of 11. What child or indeed, parent of an 11 year old, know where they are aiming for in adult life. What would be in place to ensure that informed choices would be made?
All this might just be a product of my 'grammar school educated' suspicious mind. Or it may not. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
