Background

The Association of Colleges (AoC) represents and promotes the 336 colleges in England including 243 further education colleges (FE) and 93 sixth form colleges incorporated under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Colleges educate and train 834,000 16 to 18-year-olds compared with 438,000 in maintained schools and academy sixth forms. An additional 70,000 16 to 18-year-olds undertake an apprenticeship through their local college[1].

Summary

Despite the statutory duty on schools to source independent careers guidance to their pupils which came into force in 2012 and the raising of the participation age to 18, there has not been an improvement to the careers advice received by young people.

Information about alternative pathways into vocational or academic education or training, whether at a school, academy, university technical college or college, is still not easily accessible[2].

Following widespread agreement fromAoC, CBI, Ofsted and the Education Select Committee about the current system of careers advice being inadequate, we urgently need reform. This will help young people to:

  • Progress to further education or training.
  • Allow them to pursue a career path that falls outside of the knowledge base of their parents or teachers. (Research commissioned by AoC showed that 70% of young people turn to parents and 57% to teachers for careers advice, yet these may not be the best informed groups of people to talk to about potential futures[3].)
  • Meet the emerging skills gap both locally and nationally in science, technology, engineering and maths vacancies.
  • Help reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Policy developments

Since the Education Act 2011, astatutory duty was put on secondary schools, academies and free schools to secure independent, impartial careers advice for their pupils. This took effect in 2012 and was extended in 2013 and now covers pupils from Years 8 to 13 (ages 12-18). Further education and sixth form colleges have an identical duty. Schools received statutory guidance from the Department for Education which makes it clear that the careers advice delivered should be independent and involve external careers providers (not a school employee), employer visits, mentoring and access to website and telephone helplines. Careers provision should include information on the full range of education and training options.

The Coalition Government announced in December the creation of a new Careers and Enterprise Company[4] for schools, funded by an initial £20 million. The company is intended to help broker relationships with employers, schools and colleges.

AoC research on careers advice

Over the last three years we have surveyed colleges about careers advice. We have collated these results[5] to compare how the picture has changed since the statutory duty was introduced in September 2012. The results showed that:

  • Less than half of all colleges responding reported that schools in their area are providing independent careers advice and guidance.
  • Schools without a sixth form continue to provide the best access to college information and those with a sixth form continue to be the worst. This is a consistent issue across the three annual surveys.
  • The top five problems colleges face in getting information into schools that currently provide poor/limited advice remain the same across the three surveys:
  1. Refusing offers from college liaison officers to speak to pupils;
  2. Non participation in taster days;
  3. Not distributing college prospectuses;
  4. Only allowing college liaison officers to speak to selected students; and
  5. Refusing to display college information in careers units or across the school site.

Independent research commissioned by AoC in 2014[6] found that:

  • while 63% of young people were able to name A Levels as a post-GCSE qualification, very few could name any of the other choices available
  • Only 7% of pupils were able to name apprenticeships as a post-GCSE qualification
  • Only 26% of pupils were able to name NVQs
  • Only 19% of pupils were able to name BTECs
  • 38% of respondents felt their parents were the most reliable source of advice on options post-16 and 35% felt they had not had enough advice to make the right decision.

Careers Guidance: Guaranteed

AoC has been campaigning for over 18 months for a guarantee of good careers guidance, relevant to local employment contexts. One of our aims is to secure high quality, job relevant information to inform choice, which is why ourCareers Guidance: Guaranteedcampaign is calling on the Government to ensure that all young people have access to careers advice on post-14 education, training and employment options.

We are asking for this to be achieved by:

  • Improved access in a locality where colleges, schools, universities, Jobcentre Plus and local authorities come together led by the local enterprise partnership to form a clearly signposted careers hub. This would provide a single point of information about the careers advice and options in each area.
  • Alongside explaining the benefits of an academic education and progression to university, these career hubs should provide young people with an opportunity to try their hand at various vocational options. The importance of practical work experience to a young person’s career choice has been further supported by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ recent report, showing that 66% of businesses cite work experience as the most crucial factor they look for in new recruits[7].
  • Together with this, careers education needs to be introduced and embedded into the curriculum. This would give children and young people the right grounding to make informed decisions and the right choice for them. This education should include:

understanding different types of businesses;

how stereotyping affects career decisions;

the qualities needed to enhance employability;

looking systematically at the choices available and what is required for particular jobs; and

should complement visits from local businesses and work experience placements.

The long term financial benefits of investing in careers advice is illustrated by recent research by the Local Government Association (LGA) which shows that dropout rates cost the country £814 million a year[8]. In summary, more must be done to ensure greater collaboration between stakeholders in a locality if we are to improve the current system of careers advice.A one size fits all approach will not resolve this issue and when considering the adoption of any model, the importance of flexibility must be taken into account.

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