FE WHITE PAPER ON IAG FOR CAREERS

FE White Paper on IAG for careers (Pages 44 to 47)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-for-jobs-lifelong-learning-for-opportunity-and-growth

Clear and trusted information, advice and guidance for careers and education choices

Clear and outcomes-focused careers information is fundamental to the success of our reforms. We need impartial, lifelong careers advice and guidance available to people when they need it, regardless of age, circumstance, or background.

At the moment, there is no single place you can go to get government-backed, comprehensive careers information. This can make the careers landscape confusing, fragmented, and unclear.

Young people tend to get advice from their family and friends, which is often outdated and varies greatly according to their socio-economic background.61 Parents and carers are less confident in advising their children about non-academic qualifications, such as apprenticeships (28%) and other technical education choices (21%), compared to A Level subject choice (50%).

1. We will address this problem by updating the National Careers Service website to become a single source of government-assured careers information for young people and adults.
2. The revamped website will bring together all the learning and careers routes available to people, along with improved content on work experience, applying for roles, and updated labour market information.
3. It will offer personalisation, with content recommendations for individual users, access to local and regional careers information and advice for specific groups like parents, students and the unemployed.
4. The Careers & Enterprise Company will encourage use of the site as part of careers education in schools and colleges. We will introduce interactive careers maps, which will show the occupations and career options that technical or higher technical education can open the door to.
5. We will improve both local and national alignment between The Careers & Enterprise Company and the National Careers Service to create a clear, all-age careers system.
6. We have appointed Professor Sir John Holman to advise on this alignment, as Independent Strategic Adviser on Careers Guidance, working closely with The Careers & Enterprise Company and the National Careers Service.
7. We have developed four principles for increasing alignment which we will implement over the next 18 months as we work towards a longer-term review of the delivery system.
8. Data is vital in careers information and guidance. We will improve the data available for people when considering different routes. We will start by making wage returns data available for apprenticeships, as recommended by the Augar Report. This will mean that people are informed of the value of their apprenticeship.

Improving the delivery of careers advice in schools and colleges

Over 80% of schools and colleges are now using the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance to develop and improve their careers programmes, resulting in improvements in every dimension of careers support.

1. We will continue with the rollout of the careers infrastructure as recommended by the Augar Report.
2. We will continue to extend coverage of Careers Hubs to local communities across England, supporting more schools and colleges to deliver world-class careers education in their area.
3. Through the Enterprise Adviser Network, we will continue to connect senior business volunteers with secondary schools and colleges, including special schools and alternative provision.
4. The providers will benefit from 1:1 support, including advice on how to make connections with employers and develop a careers programme that will deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks.
5. We will invest in more high-quality training for Careers Leaders, who have proven to be knowledgeable and effective in leading a careers programme.
6. Students need information about apprenticeships. Currently, only 4% of young people start an apprenticeship after their GCSEs, and in Years 9 and 10 far fewer pupils had been spoken to about technical choices in comparison to academic routes.
7.  We commenced the ‘Baker Clause’ in 2018 to address this. It requires schools to provide opportunities for every pupil, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, to meet apprenticeship providers and learn about technical education options.
8. We will introduce a three-point-plan to enforce the Baker Clause: a new minimum requirement about who is to be given access to which pupils and when; tougher formal action against non-compliance; and government-funded careers support for schools to be made conditional on Baker Clause compliance.
9. Alongside this, we will lower the age range of the duty on schools to provide independent careers guidance, requiring schools to offer this support from Year 7, bringing it in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks.
10. We will publish updated guidance setting out what we expect for secondary schools (as statutory guidance) and colleges (as a requirement for funding).
11. We will ask Ofsted to undertake a thematic review to provide an up-to-date assessment of careers guidance in schools and colleges and provide recommendations to improve practice.
12. We want careers education and guidance to be embedded in the life of every school and college. To cement this, we will work with the education sector and business to develop a shared approach to careers education that will support young people to understand the modern workplace and develop the career management skills and attributes they need to compete in today’s labour market.
13. We will equip the teaching profession to support a whole-school or college approach to careers education by building careers awareness into every stage of their professional development, from initial training to education leadership.