CEIAG & Careers Leaders
They way we want (need) careers education to be. A roundup of current reports & thinking
Wednesday 27th August 2014
In the first 2 blogs in this series, I've looked at what we mean by careers education in 2014 and what careers education currently is in schools in the UK. This, the final part of my 3 part blog, looks at where the careers in schools wagon train is going. Hence a roundup of current reports and thinking.
I've sat looking at the bare bones of this blog for days on end. each time so many thoughts flooded my mind that I was unable to make much coherant headway with the post. So many organisations are making public their disquiet with the current situation, a fact that the National Careers Council report Taking Action - A culture change for careers education conveniently makes clear with a table (see right).
The major complaints seem to fall into these main areas:-
- Provision is extremely variable between schools and local areas. There are some excellent examples of good practice around the country.
- Employers citing lack of employability skills in young people
- Lack of access to impartial guidance for young people.
- The dichotomy between the needs of employers and schools in the arena of employer engagement (The new performance measures for school focus on retention &/or progression to HE)
- Lack of skills within schools to be able to facilitate and manage the brave new world of careers ed as the Government sees it.
The fact is that a lot of people have been telling the Government for a long time that leaving all the responsibility to schools without funding or support was a car crash waiting to happen.
The NCC report makes 4 main recomendations
1) Employer Advisory Board which Nick Boles says is already on the way
2) Improved NCS website - Useage of the website has been falling in recent months
3) Support examples of current good practice with a view to rolling them out more widely. No news on this so far...
4) The Government should provide schools and colleges with free and/or subsidised access to independent and impartial career development professionals' expertise. They offer forth 3 options but categorically say that option 1 is preferable
- They cite added-value returns the 4th recomendation would include:
more career guidance interviews and groupwork with young people from Years 8-13;
- closer working links with parents/carers;
- in-house staff training for teaching and ancillary staff;
- an audit of current provision against the Ofsted framework;
- a careers strategy involving local key stakeholders;
- advice on impartial high quality careers provision in the marketplace;
- collation and analysis of destination data;
- co-ordination of stronger working links with employers, local providers; and the National Careers Service; and
- better use of Labour Market Intelligence and Information.
Tristran Hunt MP
In his speech to the CBI yesterday he spoke about schools collecting destinations data on its pupils for 3 years after leaving. Which of course raises issues on methodology and cost of doing so. He also confirmed a Labour government would reintroduce the requirement for KS4 work experience. One stand out quote for me was
"Long-term youth unemployment has left deep cultural scars upon our national psyche and I think it is highly likely that parents will soon begin to drive demand for information about how schools are making sure their children are university-ready, career-ready, life-ready."
Is parent power coming into play?
He is also on record as supporting a dedicated member of staff in each school to champion careers.
Ofsted
In it's new inspection handbook, there was a good deal more mention of careers provision as being important to Ofsted, a fact that I reported in my blog. However, there is still wide ranging reports on just how interested Ofsted are.
Though today they issued a press release critiscising colleges of poor tracking of NEETS (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and then went on to say
In addition, too much of the careers guidance available to 16- to 19-years-old is weak. As Ofsted has consistently championed, young people must have access to effective careers advice if they are to have a clear idea of all the paths available to them.
The Education Select Committee
Currently there is a call for evidence re careers education, this closes on 19th September 2014 - So watch this space for a renewed push from careers supporter Graham Stuart MP
The National Careers Service
For some time it has been mooted that the National Careers Service should be involved in supporting schools, nobody has yet identified what form that involvement will take. Though @SecondaryCEIAG reported some interesting stirrings in his recent blog Only time can tell what, if anything, will happen.
The Way Forward
Not much can be said for sure - I'd suggest
Tracking systems need to emerge and be formalised
Money needs to be found to support school development of careers support systems
Good practice needs to be recognised, and not just the corporate stuff either. Many schools have excellent systems, as illustrated by the case study section of the Careers England Webwsite. These green shoots need to be nurtured and encouraged
In fact we're now in the forming part of the storming, forming and norming process. Careers education provision has been chucked up in the air and schools are trying to work out what it is that they need to do and what they can do.
If you want to get a head start in your school, call or email me I'm happy to schedule free information discussions with schools either via Skype, phone or in person.
