CYP Now - How well is the careers advice system meeting children’s needs?

Robin Walker MP, chair of the education select committee, speaks to Derren Hayes about the inquiry into careers education and the need to improve support for disadvantaged learners.

Robin Walker: 'I’ve seen some fantastic work going on in primary schools, including specialist primary schools, but it’s the exception rather than the rule'

You inherited this inquiry from previous committee chair Robert Halfon who stepped down in late 2022. Why is careers education such an important issue?

Speaking to young people, including in my own constituency, I think they often feel that they don’t get enough of it, or they don’t get the right kind of careers education advice. So I was very pleased to continue the inquiry that Robert had started.

One of the concerns that he had which I share is that not enough young people are told about the opportunities in vocational education, in apprenticeships and things other than university.

What we heard from a lot of [young people we engaged with] is that at school, they were getting no exposure whatsoever to those vocational opportunities, but actually at college they were. So what became clear is that there was this difference between what the schools were doing to open up the world of careers and what was being done in colleges.

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