One in three schools has no plan to deliver careers advice
Lauren Higgs
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
A third of schools are yet to decide how to fulfil their new duty to provide careers advice for pupils, a survey by the Institute of Career Guidance (ICG) has found.
From September, schools will have a legal duty to "secure access to independent and impartial" careers guidance for pupils.
Schools will be free to decide how to meet the new duty, but will not receive additional funding to pay for careers guidance, which has until now been funded by local authorities.
The ICG survey questioned 238 schools on how they are preparing for the changes. Asked what provision they plan to put in place from September, eight per cent said they intend to either do nothing, or refer pupils to websites and other online services, while one in three said they were yet to decide.
The survey also found that 98 per cent of respondents believe face-to-face guidance is "very important" or "quite important", but less than half said their school is planning to purchase impartial career guidance services from external careers guidance providers or independent careers advisers.
Meanwhile, the closure of Connexions services has adversely affected four out of five schools, half of which said they now have a "reduced" or "seriously reduced" careers service for pupils. A further 13 per cent said careers guidance services for pupils have ceased completely since the closure of their local Connexions.
Sarah Finnegan-Dehn, president of the ICG, warned that websites and telephone lines should not replace face-to-face guidance for young people.
"A postcode lottery is developing in England with schools free to decide about the scope, extent and quality of the career education, guidance and support their pupils need and how it should be accessed," she said.
"It is baffling to think that funding cannot be made available to ensure that young people who need help to think about their future plans are given the opportunity to access careers guidance from a qualified careers adviser. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the provision of external, independent and impartial career guidance continues to be funded by the public sector."
