iCeGS and Career Development Policy Group

Chaired by Lord Knight of Weymouth, the event examined how careers guidance can be an overarching driver of economic and social change, from tackling youth unemployment and economic inactivity to raising productivity, addressing skills shortages, improving social mobility and readying the workforce for the future AI and net-zero economy.

Speakers:

• David Morgan, Chief Executive, Career Development Institute
• Alison Carter, Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Employment Studies
• Dr Elnaz Kashef, Director of Policy, Research & Impact, Speakers For Schools
• Clare Viney, CEO of The Careers Research and Advisory Centre

Panellists

• Professor Tristram Hooley, Professor of Career Education at the University of Derby
• Katharine Horler, Executive Director of Careers England
• Alison Morris, Head of Policy, FISSS
• Rebecca Passingham, Assistant National Officer, UNISON
• Tom Baines, West Yorkshire Combine Authority
• Beth Jones, Head of Careers, Gatsby Education

The Labour Party made a number of important and welcome promises about guidance in their manifesto:

The reform of the public employment service.  The manifesto promises to bring the National Careers Service and Jobcentre Plus together into a national jobs and careers service. This is not without its dangers for careers but is probably the right decision. This has already begun to gather pace and looks like it will be a key policy for the new government. At iCeGS we will be watching closely to see whether the new service mandates the use of career guidance professionals and expands access to careers services. 

Work experience and careers advice in schools.  The manifesto promised two weeks of work experience for every young person and the improvement of careers advice in schools. The manifesto promised that £85 million was put aside for this task, so we can only hope that this survives Rachel Reeves’ newfound enthusiasm for austerity.

Youth Guarantee.  The party are also promising to create a new ‘Youth Guarantee’ which doesn’t explicitly mention career guidance, but presumably would need to include some way for young people to be identified and directed into the training programmes that are proposed. This could be delivered through the proposed new Youth Futures programme, which is an inter-professional hub (including careers advisers) which is designed to tackle youth crime.

These are three very substantial new policies which are likely to keep iCeGS busy for the next few years. It also looks like there is going to be continuity with The Careers & Enterprise Company which is also good news. Alongside these there are likely to be substantial reforms planned in skills and devolution and a bubbling crisis in higher education. All of these policies are likely to intersect with careers in a variety of ways. All of this leaves us with the questions as to whether the careers sector is better off with this government than with the last one? So far we’d have to say that the  signs are looking good. While the proposals are insufficient to create a truly world-class guidance  system, they do look like they will be a big  step forwards. But… none of them have actually happened yet and political manifestos have often proved to be an unreliable guide to what governments actually do.

Policy Connect’s cross-party Skills Commission is pleased to present its latest report, Transition to Ambition: Navigating the careers maze. Co-chaired by Nicola Richards MP (Con), Lord Jim Knight (Lab) and Dr Siobhan Neary (Professor and Head of the International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) at the University of Derby), the report examines the careers information, advice and guidance system in England, and how it supports transitions into employment.

The Skills Commission has called for an ambitious longer-term strategy from the government to ensure that the careers system can support people into work as we face the economic consequences of the pandemic.

Following the economic and labour market instability caused by the pandemic, alongside the effects of Brexit and the fourth industrial revolution, the report concludes that it is crucial that England’s careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG) system works efficiently so that as many people as possible can be properly supported with their transitions into employment. The CIAG delivered to young people and adults inside and outside education is vital to tackle England’s persistent skills gaps and workforce shortages.

Other recommendations include the creation of an employer-led careers strategy advisory board, zero-rating of educational and careers resources on mobile data, and adequate longer-term funding for the CIAG system made available in the Spending Review 2021.  

Dr Siobhan Neary, said: “The report provides a timely reminder of the importance of coherent, accessible and visible career development support for all. Conducted during the pandemic, it shines a light on the role of professional career support in empowering individuals to navigate the complexity of the emerging post Brexit and Covid worlds.

“It calls on the government to take a longer-term perspective, highlights many of the duplications of provision while emphasising the excellent practice and opportunities on which we can establish a world-class service. 

“I would like to congratulate the team at Policy Connect on this excellent report, and I am thrilled to have been able to contribute.”

Nicola Richards MP, inquiry co-chair, added: “To help young people navigate the labour market challenges ahead, they need to be fully informed of the breadth of education and training pathways open to them, and the ones that will give them the best prospects for building their careers.”

Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth, inquiry co-chair, said: “Careers guidance has been neglected by successive governments and as a former Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, and for Schools, I saw first-hand the consequences of not getting this right.

“As the dynamics of the current employment market shift – rising unemployment, self-employment, automation and the 100-year life – we need now, more than ever, to seriously address the crisis in our adult skills system. This needs to work as a through-life system and must be married with a high-quality guidance system plugged into labour market insight and intelligence.”

For further information: 

FE News - Press Release 

tes - Press Release