AEIAG0061

Written evidence submitted by RGG Associates Ltd

Introduction

I trained as a Careers Adviser in 1985 when youth unemployment was high and Government schemes such as YTS were often the main option for young people leaving school particularly in disadvantaged areas.  I have worked in schools, colleges, universities and been a middle manager in a career guidance company. In 1995 the careers service company I worked for gained one of 3 Government pilot training schemes to train Careers Advisers through the NVQ Level 4 in Advice and Guidance with work placements in careers services. I was a trainer and assessor on this first course. I have continued with the training of Careers Advisers through the NVQ route (now level 6 Diploma in Careers Guidance & Development), as well as in HE where Careers Advisers gain the level 7 QCG in Careers Guidance. In 2004 with a business partner, we set up a training company specialising in the training of Careers Guidance and now 18 years on we still train people in the level 6 Diploma in Careers Guidance and Development, and we are also one of 12 training providers nationally offering the accredited level 6 Careers Leader training on behalf of the Careers and Enterprise Company.

I wanted to submit evidence from my experience of over 35 years’ working both as a practitioner and trainer of Careers Advisers as I have witnessed the profession through many highs and lows, and I believe that with the right infrastructure this profession can support the people of the UK to choose fulfilling and satisfying jobs and careers and contribute to a growing and vibrant economy.

The current system of CIEIAG for young people

Seems to be a bit of a lottery. I work with schools and colleges that have excellent careers programmes which incorporate the Gatsby Benchmarks, have support from their SLT and are well resourced. However, there are many others who are paying lip service to careers by giving the job of Careers Leader to a member of admin staff who have little or no authority or to a teacher who has too many other responsibilities to give a proportionate amount of time to the role. The Careers Strategy (2017) recommended many excellent working practices for careers often taken from the Sir John Holman and Gatsby Foundation report ‘Good Careers Guidance’ (2014) but it is only guidance which is easily ignored. The Statutory Guidance and the inclusion of careers in the Ofsted Inspection Framework has done much to give a higher profile and credibility to careers but the results of failure to comply are not clear or widely publicised. These gaps in provision will always affect SEND students, those from different ethnic backgrounds and those not in mainstream education disproportionality as they almost always require a more bespoke approach to supporting their career ambitions.

The situation for Careers Advisers is not dissimilar to that of schools and college career programmes – bit of a lottery! The profession is fragmented due to the historical whittling away of the infrastructure which supports them. There are some talented Careers Advisers working in freelance positions or for careers companies who work hard to support young people to make career decisions, but I still come across schools who expect unqualified staff to give expert and professional advice to students which will affect the rest of their lives, although this clearly contravenes the Statutory Guidance. There is also no support for the professional training of Careers Advisers, although the advent of the apprenticeship route is relieving that situation a little. We have many people approaching our company who would like to train as Careers Advisers and are willing to fund themselves but unless we can match them to a careers company who can give them the necessary work experience, we cannot train them. This is frustrating as the profession is dwindling with many Careers Advisers leaving because of poor pay and low morale due to difficult working conditions. This has been evidenced by the recent survey of the profession by the Career Development Institute. The personal guidance interview is often underrated and sometimes ridiculed (‘my careers adviser told me I couldn’t do….’) but it is important that people (of all ages and situations) can talk to an impartial and unbiased expert who can listen to their ambitions, bolster their confidence and self-esteem and has access to valid and reliable information to support the person’s career decision making. Having a professional to help you to manage your career development whether you are 16 or 60, someone with learning difficulties or unemployed is an essential.

A National Skills Service?

Yes, I think that England should join the other UK home nations by having a national body who takes responsibility for careers programmes in primary, secondary, further and higher education and offers for all young people and adults’ access to the same level of career guidance throughout their working life that is available in the education system. If professional Careers Advisers can support people to manage their life and career choices more will see the point of gaining qualifications and training for jobs and the UK skills set will be enhanced which will go some way to dissipating the national skills shortage we have now. I think there are disadvantages to putting a national service solely in the Department for Education or Department of Work and Pensions. Could it straddle both departments or be an entity apart but with support and influence (and finance) from both?

Careers and Enterprise Company and the National Careers Service

Our company, RGG Associates, have worked closely with both of these organisations training Careers Advisers to work with a prime contractor for the NCS and for the last 4 years working closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company to deliver the national roll out of Careers Leader training.

In 2015 The Careers and Enterprise Company started out with some unrealistic objectives and seemed to be totally oblivious to the situation regarding careers guidance in schools and colleges. However, after its dressing down by the Education Select Committee, it has become an incredibly supportive organisation to schools championing the importance of careers and the engagement of employers. Their research and data driven reports are useful evidence when Careers Leaders are making a case for careers to their senior leaders and their on-going collection of careers resources are widely tapped into by professionals. They have championed the Careers Hub movement which evidence has shown improve hugely the commitment to careers both in local schools and the wider community and are giving long term support to the professional training of Careers Leaders. I personally find them a listening organisation willing to take on board suggestions and criticism and they work with a wide variety of careers organisations to further ‘the cause’.

Our company have worked with several National Careers Service prime contractors for a number of years training staff to become qualified Careers Advisers. Lack of adequate funding and target driven contracts have stifled what in essence had the making of its name: a careers service for all. I have no problem per se about targets for an organisation which is funded by the taxpayer. But the targets imposed over the years for Careers Advisers working with adults have become so constrained that the careers guidance element has been all but lost and many Careers Advisers find themselves offering CV writing and job-hunting advice for certain targeted groups of unemployed adults only. Career guidance is often creatively slipped into the interaction by dedicated Careers Advisers who understand how to ‘work’ the system. An example of the Government’s lack of understanding of the profession is that NCS contracts have traditionally only asked for Careers Advisers to be qualified to Level 4. This level of careers qualification is not recognised as fully professional by the profession itself (The Career Development Institute). So, there has been an anomaly in that to work in schools, colleges and HE a Careers Adviser must be qualified at Levels 6 or 7 but to give careers advice to adults within the National Careers Service they are only qualified at level 4. This is thrown into sharp contrast when the NCS were asked to work with NEET young people, potentially the hardest group to motivate about making career decisions. These young people were not even being supported by fully qualified professionals. (Although I do know from training Careers Advisers to achieve the Level 4 Diploma in Careers Information and Advice that there are many talented and effective Careers Advisers working at this level). But the funding is often not available for prime contractors to pay for level 6 Diploma training.

Therefore, I feel that the NCS is not currently providing value for money and won’t until it truly becomes an all-age career guidance service. That means offering individual careers guidance interventions to any adult regardless of whether they are in work or not. It also means not just offering a website and phone link career guidance to young people but taking the army of school and college Careers Advisers under its wing so that the public will receive the same quality of service whether they are in education, in work, looking for work, being made redundant or considering stepping down from full time work.  

Supporting Schools to provide careers guidance and inform students of ALL the options both technical and academic

This is bread and butter for Careers Advisers. It’s what they do best! But they do need the full support of the school or college for whom they work. The Baker Clause, if robustly enforced by Ofsted or the local authority (?) will enable students to have access to information on all the options at the transition stages of 16 and 18. The responsibility of the Careers Leader in school is to ensure unbiased access to all providers of education and training post 16 and 18. This is backed up by individual discussions with Careers Advisers who can help the student, and their parents/carers, to weigh up the pros and cons of the options, to consider their wider aspirations in relation to option choice and encourage their decision-making strategies. If acknowledgment of the importance of careers guidance and the individual careers interventions of Careers Advisers is understood from Government departments through Ofsted, school and college senior leaders and governors then this provision will happen because in the very best schools and colleges it already does. But this is sometimes overridden by a Head who is fearful of losing potential 6th form students with a consequential loss in revenue for the school. This needs addressing at Government level to replace the competitive nature of post 16 and 18 education and training providers with a more collaborative approach which will benefit young people.

In summary:

• An all-encompassing new Careers Strategy is needed which embeds consistent careers guidance from primary, through secondary, and post 16 and 18 education and training. It should include alternative provision, the juvenile secure estate and SEND and make provision for students who are home educated to tap into this support at strategic intervals during their education. The new Careers Strategy should continue to champion the Gatsby Benchmarks, the CDI Frameworks for planning and evaluation of career programmes and make accessible for all organisations through funding the Quality in Careers Standard as a national kite mark for quality careers education.
• The National Careers Service should become an organisation who employ Careers Advisers trained to level 6 or 7 and offer personal guidance (GBM8), also called individual careers guidance interventions, to all ages. It will be mandatory as per the Statutory Guidance in schools and colleges but should also be available to all adults whether in employment or not. In a nod to the cost of providing this service across England it may be that those in work earning over a certain amount could contribute financially to the service offered. It should also extend to graduates whose support post-graduation from their HE institution can be patchy. As well as educational organisations Careers Advisers would be expected to work in the juvenile and adult secure state, in the Job Centres and within the community wherever support for the pillars of careers guidance is needed: opportunity awareness, self-awareness, transition awareness and careers decision making (Watts and Law 1977).
• The professional roles of the Careers Leader and Careers Adviser to be recognised as two completely different, albeit complimentary roles. Ideally the Careers Leader should be recognised as a whole school support role at senior, or at least middle leader, level. Its status as a full-time commitment with renumeration to match should also be recognised. The role of Careers Adviser as a qualified professional also needs recognition both in status and renumeration. The CDI are also working on chartered status for the profession which is positive. There needs to an understanding at every level that the careers programme in schools and colleges is underpinned by effective individual careers interventions. For adults Careers Advisers enable them to seek out new opportunities, retrain and support a growing economy by providing individual discussion on labour market trends, training and job opportunities as well as supporting the acquisition of soft skills so important for employers. 
• The Careers and Enterprise Company should be encouraged in its research and resources support role for careers in education. Its work as a procurement organisation for projects and training in Careers Leadership should also continue.
• The Career Development Institute Careers Guarantee should be reviewed and endorsed by the Education Select Committee and taken forward to the Departments for Education and Work and Pensions to inform a national careers guarantee that can be used to unite careers provision across England in a way that is joined up and seamless.

March 2022