Memorandum 22
Submission from CRAC: The Career Development
Organisation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. This submission focuses on the impact
that the responses to the Leitch Review will have on students.
Primarily it is focused on the impact responses will have on the
career decision-making of those considering entry to or already
engaged in higher education, in all contexts.
2. Given the diversity of the student cohort,
CRAC is concerned primarily with the coherence of IAG provision
for 14-19, FE, HE and adult clients.
3. CRAC, through the UK GRAD Programme,
supports the career development of postgraduate and research staff.
This group of highly skilled individuals also requires coherent
as well as "specialist" support; current arrangements
are insecure due to the nature of the relevant funding streams,
and the relationship between advisers working with this cohort
and those working in the broader HE and adult sectors requires
clarification.
4. In order to support the development of
the workforce on local and regional levels, CRAC strongly feels
that access to relevant labour market information is vital, and
is concerned that currently there is no onus on Sector Skills
Councils or Regional Development Agencies to provide this from
a career development perspective.
5. Finally, CRAC believes that all students
should have access to opportunities to actively enhance their
employability, and institutions can support this by developing
closer relationships with industry, embedding employability initiatives
in the curriculum, supporting work experience or work placements
and encouraging engagement in voluntary activities. However, in
order to maximise the potential of these opportunities, students
should also have access to resources or to structured support
for them to reflect upon the learning they have gained through
such participation.
INTRODUCTION
6. CRAC: The Career Development Organisation
is pleased to submit to the committee's inquiry on the implementation
of skills and training policies. CRAC is the independent, charitable
organisation dedicated to career development and active, career-related
learning. We have a passionate belief that individuals have the
ability to achieve their career goals if they are equipped with
the skills to do so.
7. CRAC supports:
— those who help people make career
decisions with up to date knowledge of career pathway options
and resultant decision making
— employers in their understanding
of national education and skills policies and their development
of career-related learning programmes
— career development for specific sectors,
industries, age or educational groups.
8. CRAC believes that a commitment to career
development by individuals and employers alongside the provision
of impartial, good quality information, advice and guidance will
contribute significantly to the success of the proposed Leitch
implementation plan on both regional and national levels.
THE IMPACT
ON STUDENTS
9. This response focuses primarily on students
entering higher education, in either an FE or HE context. Although
the Leitch implementation plan focuses on provision for adults,
there is reinforcement for the raising of the participation age
for those still in compulsory education. As such, this response
will look at both the traditional entrants to higher education
and the target group for participation (adults in the workplace).
10. It is imperative that the opportunities
on offer post-Leitch reflect the diversity of the student cohort.
11. Patterns of study for traditional entrants
to higher education (18-20 year olds) have been shifting over
the last decade. Many studies[64]
have shown that an increasing number of the traditional cohort
choose to study at a local university in order to remain in the
parental home for the duration of a full time undergraduate degree.
The primary reason cited for this is financial. Further, those
students living at home during their undergraduate degree are
more likely to remain and gain employment in the local area after
graduation.
12. For these students, the transition from
secondary education to higher education and from higher education
into employment involves a number of decisions, often taken with
the aid of their parents and peers and utilising information from
the internet and from careers offices. Access to independent advice
and guidance at the required stages becomes ever more important.
13. However, it is also of importance that
those providing careers advice themselves have access to properly
researched labour market information. In particular, this cohort
must be aware of the needs of the local labour market, as well
as have access to the skills, training and degree programmes which
meet these needs and are provided in their locality. The new 14-19
prospectuses, for example, could have some reference to LMI (which
the majority do not), which could then be built on at post-19
level. In its work with employers CRAC has already found that
such information is seen as important and valuable and it is our
belief that employer engagement around the provision of knowledge
about the employment market, both national and local, should be
secured by incentivisation. We would be willing to help structure
such programmes.
14. Understanding the pattern of regional
migration eg that, currently, the biggest "losers" of
graduates are the North East and the East Midlands, with the biggest
gains being in London and the South East must also be addressed
in order to ensure adequate supply of skills to core industry
sectors.
15. In order for this to happen, Sector
Skills Councils and Regional Development Agencies must work together
to ensure there is accurate, regionally-focused LMI which is accessible
from the point of view of the careers or IAG practitioner and
the end user (the student). Currently provision for these groups
is patchy, with the focus being on provision of LMI for business
growth—ie it is written for the business user. From a recent
CRAC survey there is very low awareness amongst practitioners
of reliable tools to support the usage of LMI in careers practice.
16. For the traditional entrant, formal
IAG provision will comprise a tailored local service at 14-19
level, access to a university or college careers advisory service
at HE level but also, presumably, access to the services provided
by the new adult advancement and careers service (nationally led
by the new Skills Funding Agency) from the age of 19 until the
end of their working lives. CRAC believes that the interaction
between these services must be transparent and coherent to the
end user. Beyond this, there is a need for better use to be made
of new technology and for the various agencies and advisory services
to know how technology might be used to aid choice and decision
making by young people and their parents.
17. For the non-traditional entrant, support
will come from employers, training providers and the adult advancement
and careers service (AACS). CRAC welcomes the recent Higher Level
Skills Strategy consultation paper which asks higher education
and employers to increase their level of interaction in order
to meet the demands of the Leitch implementation plans.
18. CRAC again states the importance of
coherence between providers of information and advice to this
cohort. Given the proposed co-financing arrangements between SSCs
and employers, which will build on the HEFCE Level 4 Train to
Gain pilots, employers will need to be clear about progression
paths open to employees undertaking higher education; at the same
time, the AACS must be able to provide an impartial service.
19. However, the development of the Adult
Advancement and Careers Service and how the existing services
will interact with it will have a significant impact on all students
at all levels of higher education. For example, there is already
some level of employer engagement at doctoral level, through schemes
like the Industrial CASE awards[65],
collaborative and doctoral training accounts (CTA and DTA). Some
employers also support their employees in undertaking "professional"
doctorates, whereby support is provided in terms of time, and
sometimes funding.
20. CRAC, through the UK GRAD Programme,
supports the career development of postgraduate and research staff.
Many of the same issues around coherency of service apply to this
cohort.
21. Research into the career expectations
of doctoral researchers[66]
by the UK GRAD Programme shows that very broadly, the key motivation
for undertaking a PhD was to improve career prospects. 34% of
respondents were undertaking a PhD to enhance their career prospects
inside academia and that 49% wanted to pursue a career in research.
45% indicated that the chance to research their field in greater
depth was a core reason for further study. It is interesting that
40% considered that undertaking a PhD would enhance their career
prospects outside the academic sphere.
22. The Roberts' Review highlighted a need
for careers support for postgraduate researchers and research
staff. Currently, careers support for this cohort comes from national,
regional and local provision, funded through the UK GRAD Programme
by Research Councils UK, through direct funding to universities
provided in response to the Roberts' Review and through institutions'
own careers advisory services. On a local level, many institutions
have acknowledged the need to provide specialist careers advice
for researchers. The Roberts funding stream is not yet embedded.
Many institutions face challenges posed by the insecurity of funding,
often leading to "specialist" careers advisers being
employed on short term contracts. This instability makes it difficult
for institutions to support a long term strategy for flow of highly
skilled individuals into the workforce. Any reduction in the Roberts
funding stream would further compromise the ability of careers
services to provide the required specialist support.
23. The UK GRAD Programme seeks to engage
with Regional Development Agencies, Sector Skills Councils and
employers nationally and through its regional hubs (hosted by
HEIs and funded through the UK GRAD Programme). It is vital that
stronger links are built between these stakeholders in order to
support doctoral researchers' career decision making through access
to relevant labour market intelligence; the UK GRAD Programme
is keen to engage in more in depth discussion around this.
24. CRAC supports the transparency of provision
which the new credit arrangements for higher education should
facilitate, but questions how this will work in practice for the
non-traditional entrant, who has an active Skills Account, recommences
learning at Level 3 and wishes to progress to Level 4 (ideally,
supported by their employer).
25. CRAC supports the aim as stated in the
Higher Level Skills Strategy to create more, and more employable,
graduates. CRAC strongly believes that access to formal work placements,
participation in voluntary activities and engagement in part time
work can all provide excellent opportunities for students at all
levels to become more employable—as well as to enhance the
student experience. This is also a common belief amongst employers.
26. Students must have access to such opportunities,
either through their programme of study or as part of the extra-curricular
offering.
27. CRAC also believes that in order to
realise the full potential of these opportunities, students must
have access to resources or to structured support for them to
reflect upon the learning they have gained through such participation.
Much of CRAC's work with undergraduates and with doctoral researchers
through the UK GRAD Programme is based on such experiential learning.[67]
28. Whether this is achieved through further
HEI/business engagement, through financial support for volunteering
activities or through embedding employability in the curriculum,
it represents a significant culture change.
April 2008
64 What drives graduate regional retention?
Education Research Services on behalf of Coventry Solihull and
Warwickshire Partnership (CSWP) 2007; The choices and experience
of HE students living in the parental home, Jackie Patiniotis
and Clare Holdsworth, Department of Geography, University of Liverpool
2005; NatWest Student Money Matters Survey 2006; Patterns
of Higher Education Institutions in the UK, Universities UK
2006 Back
65
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/PostgraduateTraining/IndustrialCASE/default.htm Back
66
A survey into the career motivations and expectations of doctoral
researchers, UK GRAD Programme 2006, http://www.grad.ac.uk/downloads/documents/Reports/Career%20expectations%20survey%20(pdf).pdf Back
67
The CRAC-led European Framework for Work Experience illustrates
a basic programme of support for all kinds of "work experience":
www.efwe.org Back
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