Re-skilling for recovery: After Leitch, implementing skills and training policies - Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee Contents


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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