Speaking at a national conference on the future of information, advice and guidance (IAG) services for young people, Brian Lightman urged the government not to turn away from offering face-to-face careers advice for young people.
"There is so much uncertainty. At the moment the all-age careers service is looking like an all-age website and telephone service, and at best an all-age franchise," he said. "That is not the way to structure this really important area of activity."
Lightman warned that schools and colleges are in the dark about the future of IAG.
"Schools and colleges desperately need more information from the government," he explained. "We have persuaded skills minister John Hayes to write to schools about what is actually happening but I’m afraid a lot of it hasn’t been decided yet."
He called on government to set out a coherent plan for careers advice in schools, rather than leaving everything to local determination.
"It is quite clear from what we’re hearing from government that it’s going to be down to institutions to decide what they want to do," he said.
"There is a danger that autonomy can go too far and lead to fragmentation. We think this needs some co-ordination."
On the government decision to make careers education optional, Lightman warned that the effectiveness of careers advice would suffer.
"We think careers education is really important and you can only provide careers guidance in the context of a careers education programme," he said. "Our advice to members is to continue those programmes."
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