When plans for an “all-age” careers service were unveiled in 2010, the government pledged that it would meet the needs of young people as well as adults.
Two years on and the careers landscape has changed significantly.
Since September, schools have been responsible for securing careers advice for pupils.
Connexions services have been decimated, while the National Careers Service has got off to a quiet start, seven months on from its launch.
Research published last week by trade association Careers England, whose members deliver careers advice in more than 1,500 secondary schools, attempts to identify how schools are coping with their new duties.
It reveals that there has been a 28 per cent drop in the number of schools contracting careers advice provision direct from Careers England members.
Among the Careers England members who said schools were still commissioning their provision, just 17 per cent were delivering services at the same level as during 2011/12.
Lack of guidance
Steve Stewart, chair of Careers England, says that many schools are simply directing pupils to the National Careers Service website.
“There is far less careers information, advice and guidance support for students in schools now than this time last year,” he says. “Where it is happening, it’s happening in a variety of ways – some advisers are not as qualified as they need to be, and we have serious concerns about the quality of service being delivered.”
Though not a requirement, guidance issued by the Department for Education recommends that schools offer face-to-face careers advice to the most disadvantaged young people.
But David Milton, president of the Institute of Career Guidance, says he has spoken to “a number” of head teachers who are not even aware of the guidance.
“The guidance says schools ‘could’ commission careers advice from qualified advisers. We’d like to see that they ‘should have’, not ‘could have’ qualified careers advisers,” says Milton. “Schools may use that as a loophole to buy in advice on the cheap.
“I would also like to see more recognition that young people who are simply confused or unsure about what to do, or how to do it, should be included in those that need face-to-face advice.”
Milton suggests that parents could play a part in holding schools to account over their careers provision. “There’s a role here for parent governors to lobby schools where they’re not securing the support and guidance that students need,” he says.
Outside of school, the government is encouraging young people aged 13 and above to make the most of online and telephone advice through the National Careers Service. But, crucially, the service only offers face-to-face advice to people aged 19 and over.
“We’ve called on the government to extend the National Careers Service’s remit to pre-19s to provide face-to-face guidance,” says Brian Lightman, general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders. “But there is no support for that from the DfE. We’re doing what we can to make the policy work because this is so important for young people, but we need some support from government.”
At a time of high youth unemployment, Lightman says the government’s stance on the issue is economically unwise. “We need impartial guidance by careers professionals,” he says. “We can ill afford not to invest in such an important area.”
According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, advisers at the National Careers Service handled 48,599 communications from young people, including telephone calls, webchats, emails, text messages, chat room exchanges, message board posting and call-backs, between April and September this year. The service meanwhile held 561,456 face-to-face sessions with adults.
Irrelevant advice
Alan Vincent, general secretary at the Association for Careers Education and Guidance, says the statistics are unsurprising.
“The National Careers Service is not relevant for young people,” he says. “The website is a disappointment and essentially targeted at adults. My guess is that young people will be logging on or phoning in and finding there’s virtually nothing there for them. The website does not cover all the available opportunities for young people, nor does it provide accurate up-to-date information.”
Vincent backs the call for more face-to-face services. “Some heads are ensuring there is still provision, but it’s not happening sufficiently in the majority of schools,” he says. “The situation is patchy. We already had a patchy service from Connexions and now there’s a lack of clarity of purpose from the National Careers Service.”
Joe Billington, director of the National Careers Service, argues that the website does provide “relevant labour market information” and that its links with social media reflects young people’s preferences.
“It is still early days for the National Careers Service, but I believe it has a crucial role to play in helping young people and adults make informed choices about their qualifications, skills and careers,” he says. “It will have a real impact, not only on their personal development but the economic growth of this country.”
