Memorandum submitted by the Guidance Council
1. Introduction to the Guidance Council
i) The Guidance Council was established
in 1993 by the CBI and RSA, in order to promote high quality career
guidance services to people of all ages in any setting. The Council
was granted charitable status in 1999 and is an independent UK
based campaigning body. We are convinced of the value of high
quality information, advice and career guidance in helping young
people and adults make decisions wisely about learning and work
in line with their own interests and talents.
ii) It is a membership organisation
with over 80 members from across the UK. Our members include UfI/learndirect;
Connexions Partnerships, Adult Information, Advice and Guidance
Partnerships (IAGPs); NIACE; NICEC; Universities UK; UCAS; Learning
and Skills Councils; careers services in further and higher education,
guidance practitioner organisations, private companies and client
groups. The Council has strong international links and is collaborating
with other countries to establish an International Centre for
Career Development and Public Policy. The Council is also a key
player in the development of the National Guidance Research Forum
which is due to be launched in the summer 2004.
2. Why the Guidance Council is
submitting evidence to the Select Committee
i) We are responding to the invitation
to submit evidence because of our unique focus on the individual,
in this case the young person who is coping with the complex choices
they are making throughout the 14-19 phase of their education
and/or training. These choices will form the foundation for their
lifelong career development, and the career management skills
they learn will equip them well to find sources of information
and guidance in later years.
ii) We are concerned that young
people are going through education and training at a time of rapid
change. Those changes are born of several policy priorities; some
might even argue that the priorities are not entirely well-matched.
For example, there is a need to provide holistic services which
focus resources on those who are most disadvantaged at the same
time as the country is committed to developing a highly skilled
workforce which engages all citizens. It is imperative for the
success of the UK economy that all young people learn career development
skills and can access the services they need to help them progress.
iii) In 21st Century Skills - Realising Our Potential
(July 2003), also known as the Skills Strategy, there is
a recognition of the centrality of career guidance to effective
learning and work. The document makes explicit its intention
to make career guidance more coherent for adults and to give specific
groups more access to career guidance. The Guidance Council believes
that this will be of real benefit to individuals, to society and
to the economy. Career guidance is just as important for young
people as it is for adults.
3. What is Career Guidance
and who provides it?
i) Academics and practitioners have
developed models and broad descriptions of the diverse range of
activities which make up career guidance. In our research with
those aged 16-65, people tell us that they are not sure about
the difference between the words advice and guidance. Indeed,
adults at work are more likely to use the words career development.
ii) For ease of reference, in this
response we are using the OECD definition of career guidance.
This was used in its extensive review of career guidance policies,
the UK Country Note of which was published in 2003. The OECD definition
refers to services intended to assist individuals, of any
age and at any point in their lives, to make educational, training
and occupational choices and to manage their careers.
iii) Young people tell us that they
look to numerous sources for information, advice and guidance
on learning and work. They also look to different sources for
different needs at different times. The sources they use include:
Formal government sources are:
- Careers education in schools and
colleges
- Pastoral and tutor support and learning
mentors in schools, colleges and work-based learning
- Connexions
- Specific provision for groups such
as gifted and talented children, including the National Academy
for Gifted and Talented
- Websites, especially Connexions
Direct, Learndirect
- Jobcentre Plus
Informal sources include:
- Parents, families and friends
- Youth and community groups
- Broadcasters (e.g Channel 4 and
the BBC) and the media in general
- Science and Engineering Ambassadors
(DfES/DTI)
- Creative Partnerships
- Education - Industry programmes
- Science centres, museums, libraries
- Employers and employers' groups
(including sector skills councils)
- Employment agencies and professional
associations
4. Lifelong career development and planning
and the centrality of careers education and guidance for 14-19
year olds
i) Why? The OECD UK Country
Note emphasises the importance of lifelong guidance. There is
an opportunity now to build more coherent career guidance support
to people throughout their lives. We would contend that it is
feasible to build a lifelong guidance policy delivered in England
through the services of Connexions, further and higher education,
the anticipated integrated information, advice and guidance service
for adults, Union Learning Representatives and Jobcentre Plus.
ii) Economists tell us that people
should expect to change jobs 8 times during their working lives.
Recent Canadian research suggests that it might be 25 jobs, across
5 different occupational sectors. Whichever we believe, we can
be confident that the exponential rate of change in technology
and in working practice will mean constant reappraisal of skills,
learning and career paths throughout ever longer working lives.
iii) A lifelong guidance strategy
would provide individuals with access to career development support
so that they can become more autonomous in managing their learning
and work careers - this thinking goes beyond merely filling skills
gaps, which change with the labour market, to a programme of support
for individuals that improves the responsiveness of the whole
system to demand. The Skills Strategy includes many of the component
parts of what might be arrangements for helping people be more
skilled at managing their own careers. The foundations of this
work are laid in the 14-19 phase, and arguably earlier.
iv) How and when? The pathway
a pupil follows between the ages of 14 and 19 needs to be supported
by high quality career education and guidance. At the very least,
this is to help them manage and adjust the learning process and
feel some ownership of it. These disciplines are essential for
all of us throughout our lives so that we can remain employable.
Learning how to start to build and manage careers is particularly
effective at this stage of a young person's life, as they learn
who they really are and how they are going to connect with society
and the economy.
v) In terms of careers and vocational
awareness, many young people at the age of 14 are often still
in the 'fantasy' stage, just beginning to develop a realistic
understanding of themselves in relation to the world of work.
Others may already have fixed ideas about a career and may need
to be encouraged not to exclude the possibility of other routes.
14-19 is a significant time for the development of these ideas,
and young people develop at their own individual pace over these
years. The curriculum needs to be sufficiently flexible and responsive
to support (not force) that development.
5. Context of decisions being made at 14 -19
i) It is important to emphasise
that decisions are not just about 'their chosen destination' but
constitute the start of a lifelong process. Pupils should be encouraged
to view their decisions as the first steps in what will be inevitably
an unpredictable career path. We have recommended to the 14-19
Reform Group that there is a chance now to reflect this reality
as they draft the first report.
6. Careers education and impartial
guidance for 14-19 year olds
i) Careers education. The
general core must include a career education programme, supported
by impartial expert career guidance. This needs to complement
the tutorial system (or other support provided through initiatives
such as Excellence in Cities). There are models in the UK and
around the world, of programmes which help pupils learn career
building skills. These complement the excellent careers education
framework which has been published this year (March 2003) in England.
ii) As part of portfolio building,
pupils should be assisted to identify and develop career building
skills for themselves. These skills will enhance their chances
of maintaining their employability, sometimes on their own or
simply by accessing appropriate information, and sometimes by
seeking professional career guidance, and knowing how those facilities
can benefit them.
iii) NB. Impartiality is an often
misunderstood concept. The Guidance Council's Code of Principles
explains it as follows:
Information, advice and guidance should be impartial.
Providers should be able to demonstrate any claim that they offer
an impartial service, or declare any factors which might limit
the impartiality of the service offered to the individual. This
includes provision reflecting the vested interests of the provider
and/or the provision of incomplete information on opportunities
for learning and work.
iv) Careers teachers/ lecturers
and coordinators in schools and colleges need sufficient time,
training and management support to enable them to provide curriculum
and tutorial support. Even now, most careers teachers in schools
do not hold specialist qualifications and yet have responsibility
for ensuring that the services of Connexions (beyond and including
careers) are used effectively. They also need to ensure that the
needs of year tutors can be met, at a time when they are likely
to be working with pupils on Individual Learning Plans which have
career implications.
v) Some schools and colleges have
achieved a career education and guidance quality accreditation.
There are several in the market place and there is arguably a
role for government in regulating these quality standards by ensuring
that they are benchmarked against a national framework.
vi) Connexions. The provision
of an holistic service for young people at this vulnerable time
of their lives was long overdue. The former careers services were
used to dealing with a multitude of agencies to try to meet the
needs of all young people, whether at risk or just in need of
specialist advice. The Guidance Council is supportive of Connexions
and careers specialists working in Connexions do not want to see
it disbanded, not least because of the inevitable disruption to
services to young people.
vii) However, it will come as no
surprise to the Select Committee that we are not yet convinced
that Connexions has articulated the role of career guidance sufficiently
clearly. While young people who have used the service say they
wanted guidance about learning and work (CSNU Customer Satisfaction
Survey 2003) the staff within the service are not identified to
tell the young person that they are careers specialists. The result
is that they can receive advice from people with insufficient
training in what is becoming an increasingly complex discipline.
This is rather like saying that history teachers could teach physics
because they have a foundation of teaching skills and know where
to find the reference books.
viii) The surveys conducted so far
have largely been focused on users' views and we will be interested
to see the outcomes of the National Audit Office's review. We
would welcome a review of the arrangements for career guidance
within Connexions, as has been called for by one of our members
(The Institute of Career Guidance). We are ready to work with
providers and government to address any improvements which might
be the consequence of any review.
7. Recommendations
7.1 Education for 14-19 year olds
should include a statutory career education programme, supported
by impartial expert career guidance. Careers education and guidance
must be an explicit and well-articulated part of learning during
this phase.
7.2 The Guidance Council recommends
that the government undertake a review of the current arrangements
for career guidance within Connexions, as has been called for
by one of our members (The Institute of Career Guidance).
7.3 It is essential to involve career
guidance bodies at the design stage of learning so that frameworks
are fit for purpose. In the past, careers advisers have simply
been expected to explain the arrangements for learning long after
they have been designed. Involving them early helps to identify
areas where there may be problems for the 'consumer', and to work
on solutions.
7.4 Careers teachers, lecturers,
coordinators and year tutors in schools, colleges and in work
based learning, need sufficient time, training and management
support to enable them to provide curriculum and tutorial support
to young people.
7.5 We suggest that government drafts
a lifelong career guidance and development policy delivered in
England through the services of bodies such as Connexions, further
and higher education, the anticipated integrated information,
advice and guidance services for adults, Union Learning Representatives,
employers and Jobcentre Plus.
December 2003
| 
