Proper planning prevents poor prospects

I was not wholly shocked to read last week that when surveying 238 schools, the Institute of Career Guidance (ICG) discovered that one in three has no plans in place for delivering careers advice.  I won't repeat my frustration about how important I believe good careers guidance is, but you can read my previous post on this topic for CYP Now here.  What I would like to supplement my earlier feelings with, is that there has been clearly a woeful attempt from the government to invest in careers advice and guidance for young people and instead they have passed the burden, both responsibility wise and also financially, on to schools to deliver. While some schools will already have good practices in place or the capacity to support careers advice now, moving to this new model will leave, and has already left, a number of schools wondering what to do next.

I was never in favour of schools themselves being the providers to deliver what is a specialised service, but what we need to ensure now is that schools know best how to tender for the advice and guidance that is so clearly needed by our young people who are facing an ever-changing world.

While there has been specifications put in place that it must be an independent service, the danger is how this is going to work in reality. At such a late stage in the planning process for some schools, how will they be able to ensure that quality of service is at the heart of the decision-making process around how best to source delivery of careers guidance.

This government has spoken volumes about its desire to support our young people into the future and to give them the skills they need, however they are refusing to financially support institutions in providing young people with skills and knowledge that is essential for their future. Passing the buck on to schools to ensure this advice reaches the intended audience is not the way to support young people.

We are seeing rising levels of youth unemployment and from the evidence so far it may be a long time before we are clear of the economic crisis. This could result in the very young people who we are ill-equipping for the future being the ones tasked to clear up our current mess.