Outstanding Careers | Careers Education Consultant | Ofsted Inspection Careers

Evidence for the Education Select Committee part 2

Friday 9th January 2015

Sorry for the long delay in the 2nd part of the synopsis of the evidence to the education Select Committee. This is due to:-

a) Working flat on travelling the country delivering training

b) The Christmas rush

c) Putting off the dreaded task of reading the evidence.

However, now I'm going to get on with it... I am, I am, I am... Excuse me whilst I motivate myself (NB Motivating myself took almost 5 weeks in a series of short bursts)

Find a Future
Most of the evidence looks at the efficacy of the Skills show.

The need for a fundamental repositioning of careers guidance within a broader programme of experiential activitis via a local careers education plan, delivered through a partnership of key stakeholders.

Supports AoC proposal for a collective and collaborative approach at a local level.

Highlights the role of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)

Points out that : employers, especially SMEs, find it very difficult to response to individual schools

The Career Development Institute

Poses 3 questions

• Good CEIAG and the Statutory Duty: is there any link at all?
• Funding, yes - and what else is needed?
• Is it really a market place?

In addressing these questions, the main areas that the CDI highlight are:

• The careers and inspiration policy is a narrow interpretation of what good careers guidance is about
• Strong accountability for delivering the Statutory Guidance is not in evidence, and the standards for delivery are ill defined
• The marginalisation of the role of teachers and professional careers advisers in the government's agenda to promote the use of "inspirational" employers fails to recognise the need for balance in career development provision
• The lack of clear curriculum advice and guidance on careers education and work-related learning is undermining innovation and development in schools and colleges.
• The role of the National Careers Service in support for young people

Future First

Most of the evidence looks at the efficacy of an alumni network

• Future First would strongly encourage the committee to promote the role of alumni volunteers as a means of enabling local and national employers to be actively involved in careers provision.
• By building a network of former students, teachers are able to draw on an ever-increasing number of experts about specific jobs and pathways. (Teachers can't be expected to be experts in everything)
• It is critical that there is a dedicated contact with responsibility for co-ordination, integrating the work into the wider life of the school and building a coherent, structured careers plan that meets the needs of every single student.
• The school accountability framework should also be adapted to encourage more schools to emphasise careers education and all work-related learning as part of their students' wider studies.
• Students also benefit from the opportunities to visit and learn from volunteers in their working environments

The Sutton Trust

Key Points

• Good careers guidance is important for young people, and in particular those from less advantaged backgrounds, as it helps them to negotiate a complex educational landscape.
• The evidence suggests that since the new careers guidance policy was introduced, the provision for young people has become patchier.
• Good careers guidance can have positive impacts on attainment, attendance and the destinations of pupils.
• The government should do more both to support and challenge schools to implement their statutory duty effectively.

Recommendations:

• All pupils should receive a guaranteed level of careers advice from professional, impartial advisers.
• The government should also use the NCS to ensure that schools and colleges have access to the support they need to fulfil their statutory duty
• The government should describe clearly in statutory guidance what good careers guidance looks like in practice
• The DfE should continue to extend and enhance the quality of data it collects on student progression to be used to inform provision and to be used as evidence of school efficacy.
• Schools should be held accountable on how well they implement their statutory duty to provide independent careers advice and guidance by Ofsted and through quality awards

Engineering UK

Mainly outlines the work of Engineering Uk and the role of good careers guidance in the task of ensuring that there is a steady stream of young people interested in pursuing engineering careers.

• We welcome the emphasis on connecting employers to schools, which is at the heart of the government's reform of careers guidance
• Pupil/employer engagements need to be supported by impartial careers information, advice and guidance, showing the different routes and opportunities available in both the selected industry and other industries, to provide the young people with an appropriate careers context for employer engagements.
• With appropriate funding, the National Careers Service is ideally placed to coordinate employer engagement on a national, sector-wide level and to work with the LEPs and EBPs to provide supporting labour market information (LMI) that is up-to-date and easy for teachers, students, parents and carers to understand.
• Since the transfer of duty in September 2012, the reliance on teachers and educators to provide careers advice and guidance in place of qualified careers advisers has been detrimental to students' ability to make well-informed career choices
• The students themselves, when questioned by Ofsted inspectors during their sixty school visits, asked for careers guidance to be "part of the curriculum", with the teacher having a good understanding of job opportunities. This was a particularly true for mathematics and science. (Taken from moving in the right direction)
• In addition to careers guidance being a more prominent part of school inspections, we strongly urge the government to declare that 'good' or 'outstanding' Ofsted ratings may only be given to those schools whose 11-16 careers provision is judged to be at least 'good'.

The UK Forum for Computing Education
N.B only seems to comment on careers guidance for computing and IT roles.

• NCS should be involved in providing teachers with regular professional development to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the work place.
• Teachers cannot be expected to be able to deliver careers advice on their own, employers should get involved in helping schools deliver insights on careers and the world of work
• We do expect teachers to signpost pupils towards appropriate sources of independent careers guidance.
• Points out the "fundamental fallacy" in this government response is the implicit assertion in paragraph 39 that schools have the wherewithal to provide the appropriate CPD for their teachers to enable them to signpost adequately and co-operate effectively with industry.

Prof John W Bull, Head of Civil Engineering at Brunel University
This is the evidence from this source in it's entirity.

• My concern is the need to ensure that adequate careers guidance for the STEM subjects is available for young people.
• This means that young people need to have correct information to choose the appropriate GCSE and A levels or other appropriate qualifications to gain admittance to the STEM degrees.

Association of Teachers & Lecturers

• ATL believes that government policy on careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) has been reckless
• Draws attention to http://www.atl.org.uk/manifesto
• Cites mixed messages about Ofsted being the mechanism to police all of the many initiatives as a reason careers is sometimes neglected.
• ATL believes that face-to-face guidance is vital for improving young people's career choices and chance
• NCS website currently underused by young people, parents and teachers
• There appears to be no way for government to monitor the availability, quality or independence of employer support for schools
• Schools are held accountable for providing CEIAG, and for the destinations of their pupils, but they have no control over employers' willingness or capacity to engage
• ATL believes schools will feel under pressure to focus on what's best for the school's league table position before considering what's best for each individual student.
• Teachers are not experts in the careers/jobs market, but neither are employers necessarily expert in the educational pathways available to young people

CASCAID Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Loughborough University

• Whilst we agree with DfE that interactions with employers are crucial to help young people develop a realistic understanding of the world of work, we have concerns about an over-reliance on employer inspiration activity.
• It is impossible for any school to give access to a broad enough range of employers to satisfy the guidance and aspiration raising needs of every student.
• We whole-heartedly agree with the ambition to make the education system more closely linked to the world of work
• We question, given tight inspection timeframes, to what extent HMI will be able to establish a clear picture of career activity
• In order to help them make informed decisions, young people need access to a range of resources, and technology plays a crucial role in putting this vital information at their finger-tips. But again we would state that young people need to be able to understand the information that they are presented with and analyse it against their own interests and motivations in order to identify whether it is a relevant option for them to consider. They also need to develop the skills to be a 'critical consumer' of the information that they are digesting.
• Careers advisers play an important role in helping young people to make sense of the choices and options that they are faced with.
• This submission goes into a fair amount of detail of why online and computer based tools should be part of a balanced CEIAG programme.

Dr Deirdre Hughes, OBE, Associate Fellow, Warwick University Institute for Employment Research (IER) and Chair, National Careers Council

• reiterates in some detail the work with which she has been involved with over the past year or so, including the recommendations of the National Careers Council
• There is compelling evidence that some schools are seriously struggling in the immediate period of transition to meet their new statutory responsibilities for careers guidance.
• Recommendations for action
• The Government should establish an Employer-led Advisory Board reporting directly to relevant ministers
• The Government should provide schools and colleges with free and/or subsidised access to independent and impartial career development
• The National Careers Service should, as a matter of high priority,improve its website to make it attractive and appealing to young people, parents and teachers.
• The Government should support the scaling up of existing and successful initiatives and the piloting of innovative local models. (A careers investment fund)

Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA)
The submission looks at the specifics regarded by the CECA as being vital to their particular sector

• Improving teacher understanding of our sector
• Improving the image of construction to attract new talent
• Highlighting the value of a technical education
• Recording student destinations - linked to sector need projections

Teach First

• While employers have a vital role to play in terms of providing young people with opportunities... we believe that they can only ever be part of the solution.
• Equally, while independent career advice, and career professionals, have a valuable role to play, they are also only a part of the solution
• Too much time wasted on arguing for the role of both of the above.
• There are three key levels on which teachers have a crucial role within this delivery.

1) Tutorial -- young people frequently seek career support from a trusted adult within their immediate social network. Teachers are one of the most commonly sought sources of support, particularly where aspirations are linked to particular subjects.
2) Teaching - making connections between subjects and their real world applications; integrating employer support into a broader learning journey. Without this employer interventions will rarely have significant long-term impact.
3) Leadership - embedding career and employability learning as a core part of a school's overall strategy; building links with employers and other partners.

• By having a strategic school approach, with appropriately trained and supported teachers, we believe that the impact of employers could be dramatically increased.

Hampshire County Council on behalf of Advisers and Inspectors of Careers Education

• Considerable confusion remains as to what constitutes 'secure independent careers guidance' and further clarification is requested.
• Improved sign-posting is needed to enable young people to access up-to-date trustworthy information at key transition points. To transform well-informed 'inspiration' into action, it requires guidance; that is, it needs to be channelled, challenged and evaluated against the needs of employers and the abilities and interests of the young person. This is the role of the career development professional.
• We would encourage Ofsted to consult all involved in the provision of career guidance within the school or college, in particular careers coordinators and careers advisers.
• We would also encourage Ofsted to monitor the use of pupil premium money against career guidance activities.
• We believe that additional measures, to CDI membership & Matrix accreditation, are needed to support schools in evaluating the quality of the provision they have secured.
• AICE wish to express their confusion at government expressing the view that schools find career plans bureaucratic while requiring schools to have in place a strategy for advice and guidance embedded within a clear framework linked to outcomes
• Although the duty sets no expectations for teachers to advise pupils, it is important to recognise that even those who aspire to impartiality can infringe the notion by providing out of date, partial comments based on personal experience that can mislead students and parents.
• The Education Committee may wish to ask the Minister: Where school do not act impartially and opportunity for providers to inform pupils about alternative provision is denied, what further action will be taken?
• We would endorse the government recommendation that an appropriately qualified member of staff within the school takes overall responsibility to work with all those involved to provide the best, most-up-to-date information on careers and pathways into employment.
• AICE welcome the inclusion of specialist support from careers advisers and note that the Ofsted review found that the more effective careers guidance interviews were generally carried out by external, qualified careers guidance professionals or an internal specialist who had had significant experience and training in providing individual careers guidance
• AICE members would like to recommend the CDI publication 'The ACEG framework for careers and work-related education: A PRACTICAL GUIDE'

National Association of Head Teachers

• Increasing employer engagement incurs the risk of failing to achieve its aims unless located within effective CEIAG programmes in schools.
• Careers important as part of the accountability system but performance measures are unlikely to facilitate this
• A lot of people are doing a lot of things, the worry is thus a lack of strategic oversight and direction

NAHT... disagrees with the Committee's position that additional funding should not be provided to school

• We must challenge, however, the government's assertion (paragraph 11) that 'no school has an excuse not to be engaging with local employers.' Even though NAHT endorses employer engagement.
• We firmly advocate CEIAG having a presence in the curriculum from an early age although not of necessity on a statutory basis
• We welcome the Select Committee's recommendation that there is a role for local authorities in coordination of information
• NAHT is astonished to see that there is no reference to Careers England in the links nor to the Quality in Careers Standard in statutory guidance.
• Concerns re Ofsted inspection conformity
• NAHT does not believe that a school careers plan needs to be an additional bureaucratic burden. >NAHT contends that a careers plan is a sounder and fairer basis for accountability than the current basis upon which Ofsted makes its judgments and the potentially dubious proxy of destination data.

NAHT does not believe that the National Careers Service website is attractive to young people.
NAHT is disappointed that the government's response fails to value face-to face guidance.

• Schools need to develop a CEIAG programme that blends traditional approaches, online services and employer engagement.
• It is reasonable and realistic to expect teachers to teach careers education as part of a school's planned PSHE programme but not that teachers should 'deliver careers guidance' on their own
• NAHT fully supports the need to ensure that learning about the apprenticeship route is vital.

The CBI

The evidence of the CBI comes under 3 headings

The emphasis placed on improving careers guidance in recent months from the government and from Ofsted is welcome, but there is still more to be done to achieve the outcomes we need.

...but there is potential to make careers a more explicit factor when making an overall judgement on the school

There is a clear role for businesses to play in careers provision, but the right structures and frameworks must be in place to enable this. Businesses, however, can only ever be a part of the solution.

A better coordinated system that brings together schools, young people, businesses and qualified careers advisers is needed

We see a role for a nationally mandated, locally run system of brokerage

Improvements in careers guidance should be seen as a wider package of measures needed to ensure that young people are prepared to succeed in whatever route they choose to follow.

Exposure to employers and the world of business through careers guidance can be immensely valuable for young people, but work experience can be even more beneficial

Ofsted measures alone do not provide sufficient incentives to focus on careers guidance

Voice: the Union for Education Professionals

Prior to the school workforce reforms of 2005, most secondary schools had dedicated careers teachers...Whilst that system was not perfect, what replaced it has resulted in a downward spiral ever since in terms of the accessibility and quality of careers guidance available to young people.

The submission then goes on to highlight some detrimental effects of changes in careers provision, before stating "There is a need for more central coordination of careers services to regulate, monitor and advise local networks, and to re-build and resource an infrastructure."

Youth Employment UK CIC

Reports upon their own survey of young people's perceptions of the quality of CEIAG and comments "we are still concerned that many schools and colleges are not clear on their duty to provide careers guidance."

It then makes these recommendations.

1) Youth Employment UK CIC calls on the Education Committee to recommend that all schools and colleges must produce a Careers Education Plan for their school,
2)We ask the Education Committee to call on more evidence from young people and seek their contribution when looking at recommendations for improving the careers experience of all young people.
3)We also recommend that the Education Select Committee recommends that the Department for Education places a statutory duty upon all schools to provide every pupil with the opportunity for work experience.

Unison

The main points of this submission are:

• The adverse impact of the transfer of the statutory duty to deliver careers advice to schools and colleges
• The vital role of face to face guidance
• The role of careers education in the raising of aspirations
• Why early intervention can reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET)
• The role to be played by Local Authorities
• The role of employers
• SEND - Case studies of excellence
• Need for stability and coherence in funding streams for careers education and advice
• How the fragmentation of delivery models will have an adverse impact on the continuing professional development (CPD) of careers professionals

Alison Ahearn (a Principal Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London.)

(a) Identifying the Constructionarium as an exemplar of industry-teacher (academic) co-operation and a model that should be brought to the attention of the schools charged with creating relationships with industry for careers guidance purposes.

Points out that in many of the heralded examples of good practice in employer engagement "The Constructionarium is unique in that it involves members of industry taking roles as teachers, - not as guest or visiting speakers, but as members of a teaching team."

(b) Notes on points relating to "inspiration"; "government guidance to schools", an alternative to "destination measures"; the function of the "national careers service as a broker of industry relationships"; the need for longitudinal relationships for "work related learning";

I would advocate that, in addition to talking-heads in classrooms, careers guidance teachers (and their students) should have access to hands-on experiences which are inspirational.

...where evidence of impact is difficult to collect, evidence of enhanced action seems warranted: the correlation of sophistication of experience to sophistication of impact holds true in the case of Constructionarium.

(c) Identifying elements of concern as regards the imbalance in advice to female school students as regards opportunities in engineering sectors, given the stereotypes that persist about female-friendly careers, the access by girls to STEM studies, and lack of awareness of teachers of the impact of computing/digital revolution on the performance of work in the engineering sectors.

Professor Tony Watts, OBE

• The report of the Select Committee's Inquiry provided an excellent analysis of the dire state of careers guidance for young people and clear recommendations on how it might be addressed.
• The Government has rejected or ignored most of these recommendations.

Instead, by casuistically redefining the statutory duty on schools, by marginalising the role of careers professionals, and by largely abandoning any concern for quality standards, the Government has now significantly exacerbated the problem.

• The Committee should reaffirm its recommendations, as a basis for the political parties to consider in preparing their manifestos.
• The Committee might also reconsider the possibility of providing Government funding for direct student access to full-time qualified careers professionals.

Careers Alliance

States that the Careers Alliance have called for collaborative action between professional careers advisers, employers and schools and colleges in providing careers education and guidance to young people by:

• Highlighting the importance of careers education and guidance in schools and colleges.
• Framing employer contributions as part of professionally managed careers programmes and not as ad hoc initiatives.
• Affirming that, working together within a planned careers programme, employers and career professionals can provide far more effective help to young people than either could do on their own.

Points out "There are a number of immediate and longer term strategic issues which need to be addressed in order for it to be a truly national careers service"

• Extending NCS co-location could be achieved by building publicly accessible local careers hubs
• NCS taking on a stronger capacity building and brokerage role.

Then comments on the damage done by the 'patchy' provision caused by inequality of provision.

The Local Government Association

This submission concludes that:

• High quality impartial Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG) has never been more important in helping young people navigate complex learning options and prepare for an ever more challenging youth jobs market.

Points out the reasons for this statement

• Government reforms since 2012 have continued a long-term collapse of effective advice and guidance for all young people and recent reforms to statutory guidance have not sufficiently resolved complex issues.

continues to cite their report Hidden Talents, examples of transition of careers guidance from local authorities to schools for examples of good practice to ameliorate this problem.

• We must take a number of immediate steps to guarantee every young person the support they need to make positive choices. In addition to this, longer term reform of all services supporting youth transitions to work will be increasingly unavoidable.

NUS

• We believe that supporting the development and promotion of vocational learning is integral to the future of education and skills, and that this should be developed so as to be well-integrated into the rest of our tertiary education system.
• There is concern that teachers, as one of the main points of contact for IAG, can often be influenced by their own personal biases.
• There is also a lack of incentive, and even a disincentive, for schools to deliver IAG which might direct some students away from the traditional academic route, due to the outcomes upon which league tables are based
• The proposed 'decoupling' of A-Levels and AS levels in September 2015 will reduce the opportunity for students to receive second chances.
• Often the (employer) engagement isn't meaningful or it's happening too late when decisions about further study or training have already been made.
• Although views on Connexions as a service were mixed, students still strongly prefer an element of IAG to be delivered face to face.

Recommendations

• The next government should invest in and deliver a universal careers service which focuses on delivering tailored careers IAG at key intervention points during a person's education and working life.

• This should be coupled with substantive careers education linked to the National Curriculum and the focus of all new provision should address skills, not just careers.

Phew, remind me not to try and do this again!