Unions launch careers advice campaign

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), Unison and National Union of Students have launched a campaign outlining 10 key changes that need to be made to deliver a universal careers service that properly meets the needs of young people.

The recommendations follow a series of critical reports over the past 18 months on the standard of careers advice since responsibility for the provision was transferred from local authorities to schools in 2012.

There has been growing evidence that the quality of careers guidance has fallen over the past two years – at an education select committee hearing on Wednesday, committee members were told that in some schools and colleges teaching assistants and receptionists are expected to deliver advice to pupils. 

The joint union campaign wants the statutory duty for schools to provide careers education to be reinstated, more funding for local authorities to deliver on their duty to provide advice and guidance services for entire communities, and an enhanced role for the government’s online advice and information hub the National Careers Service (NCS).

In addition, it wants services to be staffed by NVQ qualified careers practitioners – research by Unison last year found that 83 per cent of schools no longer employ professional careers advisers.

Launching the campaign at the House of Commons on Wednesday, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said the government’s decision to give schools discretion over the shape of careers advice had created an “ad hoc” system that places too much emphasis on online support.

“Unless we can give our teenagers face-to-face advice rather than on a computer then we will not be able to get [them] into the world of work.

“Careers advice can’t be done from a screen or by a teaching assistant.”

Paul Nowak, assistant general secretary at the TUC, added: “More than half of our schools have reduced careers advice provision and three quarters of young people said they prefer face-to-face guidance but can’t get that from the NCS.”

Speaking at the select committee hearing yesterday, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said she did not think it right to require schools to employ careers advisers, and instead they should have the freedom to find the “right people” to offer advice.

A report last year by Unison and academics at the University of Derby estimated that spending by local authorities on careers support dropped by £228m between April 2010 and March 2013.