AEIGA0059
Written evidence submitted by Teach First
Scope
This submission focuses on whether the provision of CEIAG in English state schools is fit for purpose. We have primarily gathered our evidence by conducting a series of semi-structured, qualitative interviews with careers experts within Teach First and with wider stakeholders in the education sector. Where relevant, we also reference credible secondary sources and cite government statistics.
About Teach First
Teach First is an education charity which is fighting to make our education system work for every child. Backing the schools facing the toughest challenges, we find and train teachers, develop their leadership teams and plug them into networks of diverse expertise and opportunities
to create real change.
We know that teachers and school leaders make a decisive difference to unlock the potential
in all children, which is why we work to support schools so they have everything they need to thrive.
Operating across all regions of England, we have placed over 12,000 teachers and leaders in schools serving disadvantaged communities, have over 100 headteachers in our alumni and have supported over two million pupils over nearly two decades.
Teach First’s activities include:
• Getting great teachers into the schools that need them most through our two-year Training Programme. Our trainee teachers commit to staying in their schools for a minimum of two years, teaching an Early Career Teacher timetable. More than half of teachers who have completed our programme since 2003 are still in teaching today.
• Providing support for entire school leadership teams through our Leading Together programme.
• Developing individuals to become effective leaders through our range of National Professional Qualifications.
• Supporting Early Career Teachers (ECTs) to thrive through the Early Career Framework (ECF).
• Offering free training for Careers Leaders to develop long-term, school-wide careers strategies to improve student opportunities after school.
• Connecting schools through networks to share knowledge and resources on how to tackle inequality in education.
Teach First's work on careers education
When Teach First launched in 2002, our mission was to encourage talented people to become teachers in schools serving disadvantaged communities. Whilst that remains our mission, we have since expanded the breadth of our work and now deliver a range of leadership programmes for teachers and leaders working in eligible schools – with the aim of driving systemic change.
We have been running our Careers Leader Programme since 2015, which is fully funded by the Careers Enterprise Company (CEC) and our generous Teach First supporters. The programme aims to equip teachers and leaders in charge of careers education in school with the expertise they need.
They make progress towards achieving all eight Gatsby Benchmarks and build leadership skills to design a careers strategy with whole-school impact. Our training also plugs careers leaders into local and national networks, which allow them to share their expertise with those in other eligible schools. Many build partnerships with employers, who add real value to the way careers education is taught. Since 2015, we have trained 438 Careers Leaders, who we estimate have supported 328,500 pupils.
We know it’s making a big difference. Our own analysis has found that Careers Leaders on the programme reported increases in confidence, knowledge, and skills – with a positive impact on the way they approach their role. Importantly, non-programme members (other leaders within their schools) indicated a positive impact at both individual and school level as a result of the programme. Compass data analysis from 60 schools in our 2019 cohort shows an increase in the average number of Gatsby Benchmarks achieved per school from 3.1/8 at programme start, to 4.2/8 at completion. Long-term programme evaluation also shows a statistically significant increase in the average percentage of students going on to sustained destinations post Key Stage 4, from 90.8% to 92.2%.
Teach First also works closely with our business partners to connect them with schools serving disadvantaged communities, so that they can provide work experience opportunities for their pupils. The companies give pupils the chance to experience their industry and gain an insight into the workplace, either virtually or in-person. These placements help them to develop their awareness and understanding of the world of work and of different career pathways, whilst also building soft skills.
Lastly, in August 2021, we outlined our position on a range of education and skills policy issues through the publication of ‘A fighting chance for every child’. Our manifesto features 11 proposals that we would like to see adopted by policymakers over the next few years. Recommendations 8 to 11 are related to careers education, work experience and digital access. We are currently refining these proposals and intend to publish a follow-up report that is explicitly focussed on these areas in summer.
Problems with the status quo
‘No child’s future should be hindered because of their postcode, the least we can do is fully prepare them for their next steps in life.’ Jenny Rogers, Careers Leader, the Wey Valley Academy in Weymouth.
Our ambition as a nation must be to ensure that all children, no matter their background or location, have a world-class education and access to opportunities to succeed. Currently, this is not the case. Despite having equal potential, poorer children simply do not have access to the same opportunities, resources, and connections that a brilliant education can provide.
The challenges that children from disadvantaged backgrounds face do not end when they leave school. While an excellent academic education is vital, it does not guarantee a successful transition into the world of work. Education policy cannot fix this issue entirely, but it can help, including by ensuring that disadvantaged young people can access high-quality careers education as early as is appropriate.
There has been some welcome progress in careers education in secondary schools and colleges since the government’s 2017 Careers Strategy. Teach First are proud to have been part of this progress. According to the Sutton Trust, almost all English state schools (95%) now have a Careers Leader in role, and 94% of senior leaders are aware of the Gatsby Benchmarks, something we have called for.
However, other policy developments have pulled the sector in a different direction. Since 2010, there has been a drive to improve school standards by incentivising academisation and embedding metrics like Progress 8 and EBacc in the accountability system. FFT Education Datalab have shown that these policy reforms have led to a narrowing of the curriculum in many English schools. This has led to some schools needing to deprioritise ‘non-core’ subjects and CEIAG related enrichment activities.
The Sutton Trust’s recent paper reports that 51% of state school teachers believe that there isn’t enough staff time to deliver careers information and guidance – compared to 34% in private schools.
While many schools still offer brilliant careers education, the impact of these metrics is that high quality CEIAG provision cannot always be consistently prioritised across the country. Several of those who completed our Careers Leader programme have told us that they initially struggled to embed careers education in their curriculum, because other teaching staff did not necessarily grasp its importance and perceived that it may detract from GCSE attainment. We know that schools that serve disadvantaged communities have to make difficult decisions about how best to allocate their time and resources. They face greater challenges – and often have tighter budgets – than schools in more affluent areas. Regrettably, when time and resources are tight, this can mean that CEIAG can be seen as a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than an ‘essential’.
Yet the evidence suggests that quality careers education can boost both academic and non-academic outcomes. In a comprehensive international literature review conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), 67% of the papers reviewed provided robust evidence that careers education and activities such as work-related learning positively impacted economic outcomes.
62% of the papers also found a positive association with social outcomes, such as pupil confidence.
The EEF review also highlights the specific difficulties that disadvantaged young people face in relation to careers, in comparison to more affluent peers. For disadvantaged young people, a significant barrier to their desired career is having access to the information about what a particular path involves and the best subjects to study in order to access it. Those from poorer backgrounds are also less likely to know about the range of career choices on offer in the first place. Knowledge of particular careers or subject choices can often come from sources both inside and outside of the classroom, such as friends and family, but it is those from the poorest backgrounds who are least likely to receive such insights. As a result, they may have lower aspirations for their future career that do not reflect their potential.
These barriers are compounded by geography. Research from IPPR has shown that the UK is more regionally divided than any comparable economy. The consequence of this stark inequality is that disadvantaged young people that grow up in areas outside of London and the South East often have a harder time transitioning between school and work as there are fewer opportunities in their area. We analysed data on young people aged 16-24 Not in Education, Employment or Training and found that over the past twelve years (2010-2021 inclusive), the average NEET rate in the South East was 10.5%, and 12.3% in London; in contrast, it was 13.7% in the North West and 15.7% in the North East.
The quicker that these issues are fixed, the better it will be for everyone. The Learning and Work Institute estimate that the ‘skills gap’ will cost around £120 billion in lost economic output by 2030. So, this isn’t only a matter of fairness. By helping every child succeed, we will build a skilled and competitive workforce that will help the whole country flourish.
Policy solutions
The government’s 2017 Careers Strategy stated that ‘Many primary schools are already thinking about how best to introduce young children to ideas about the work they might do in future... But there is no consistent approach across primary schools and limited evidence and best practice for schools to use when planning their activities’. Since the strategy’s publication, there have been some positive developments. One such programme is the Career Benchmarks Primary Pilot, which was funded by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the EY Foundation. The Careers and Enterprise Company have also supported a Primary Careers Hub Pilot in East Sussex. We think that programmes such as these should now be scaled up.
Our rationale for scaling careers education in primary schools is outlined in our 2019 report. The evidence we collated shows that CEAIG in primary can break down stereotypes, broaden horizons, and boost attainment by bringing learning to life. We think that this is important,
as research from the Fawcett Society indicates that children as young as four exhibit gendered views on what jobs they think are ‘for boys’ and what jobs they think are ‘for girls’.
Age-appropriate careers education can help to tackle these stereotypes before they take hold. A literature review published by the Education Endowment Foundation also found that
quality careers education can improve pupils’ educational, economic, and social outcomes.
The authors’ assessment is that ‘There is compelling evidence that career learning should begin in primary school’ (page 3).
In order to realise this change, we think that the sector needs explicit guidance and funding. Our first recommendation is therefore for the government to publish an official framework for careers education in primary schools. This framework should be based on the Gatsby Benchmarks and could be created in partnership with the Career Development Institute, who have published their own version. We also think that the government should launch a fund to train primary Careers Leaders in schools serving disadvantaged communities, where the need is greatest. The Careers and Enterprise Company should continue to act as the administrator of funding, as they do now with Careers Leader funding for secondary schools.
Year 5 teacher and Teach First Ambassador, Aishah Bargit, is supportive of our proposals:
“While we’re doing what we can with the time and resources we have, I know that primary schools based in disadvantaged areas like us would welcome more careers education support.
“If there was a set framework to follow and accessible funding, schools would save time on developing content and could hire or upskill staff to be careers leaders. Regular sessions on how to deliver effective careers education to younger children would be a huge benefit.
“Without the government’s support, careers education will continue to be something that we struggle to prioritise.”
An important part of ensuring that careers education is high-quality is the offer of ongoing professional development. This means that funding needs to continue to be channelled towards this important area. One of the things that we have observed through delivering the Careers Leader Programme is that positioning of the role is also crucial, so that all teachers and leaders in a school understand the importance of it. For the role of careers leaders to fully achieve its potential impact, we need to move towards making it part of the official leadership development structure, to ensure that all schools embed careers education in their curricula and that talented leaders are drawn towards a specialism in Careers Leadership.
There are differing views, held in good faith, about how embedding CEIAG should be achieved. One option would be to integrate careers education into Initial Teacher Training. However, we are aware that there are many competing demands in the ITT space, so need to be cautious. A second would be to create a Careers-specific National Professional Qualification. We therefore think that a sensible way forward would be for the government to allow the sector to submit their views on whether and how to proceed by launching a consultation.
Simon Wareham, Careers Leader and Assistant Headteacher in charge of Student Progression at Southmoor Academy in Sunderland, had this to say:
“To ensure that high quality careers education becomes embedded within the life of every school and that it is regarded as an essential and important part of every school curriculum,
it is necessary that teachers are taught about its importance and how to deliver careers and employability skills either within initial teaching training or other national qualifications.
Careers and employability skills development should be at the heart of learning and therefore it must be delivered confidently and enthusiastically by teachers. CEIAG should be a natural part of the school curriculum, supporting students to understand how everything taught in school is relevant to their future working life. All teachers have a responsibility for this.
I think that this starts with ensuring that teachers are well prepared to deliver CEIAG successfully to allow students to make informed decisions about their futures.”
In a survey conducted in 2021 by the CBI, 37% of businesses across the UK reported that poor quality careers advice was a main driver of the ‘skills gap’. The same proportion also reported a general lack of awareness amongst learners about the different pathways into work.
Whilst schools have work to do to address this issue, we think that the private sector must take on some of the responsibility to help build the future workforce.
We know that the most effective careers guidance includes experience of the workplace.
But, for those who live far from employers in sectors they are interested in, gaining work experience can be challenging. Lessons from a year of lockdown should change this for the future. An increasing proportion of jobs can now be done from any location. Whilst we believe that in-person work experience will continue to be crucial, online options offer employers a great opportunity to increase access and diversify workforces. That is why, going forward, we think that ‘blended’ work experience – which contains both virtual and in-person elements – could help to expand opportunities across the country.
We think that large employers should take an active role and drive this change, as work experience can be transformative. They should conduct outreach activities that target pupils in schools serving disadvantaged communities, where opportunities are harder to come by, as this would make the biggest difference. To ensure that inequalities in digital access do not act as a barrier to access, employers should also lend necessary equipment, such as laptops. In a recent poll we conducted, only 2% of teachers working in schools serving the most disadvantaged communities said that all or their pupils had adequate access to devices and internet to work from home. For in-person work placements, employers should ensure that pupils’ travel costs are covered – or provide residential options – so that money is not a factor.
Baaba recently completed a placement with our partner, Capita, and had this to say: ‘My week with Capita gave me a better perspective of my future and helped me discover my passion for what I want to do. Listening to the different paths of employees made me realise I don’t need a perfect plan. There are multiple routes to achieving your dream – whatever that might be.’
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