AEIAG0109

Written evidence submitted by Education Development Trust

 

About Education Development Trust (EDT)

 

Education Development Trust is a not-for-profit organisation working collaboratively with national and local governments, schools, and other partners from around the world to design and deliver sustainable solutions to improve education and transform lives. Through our programmes, we improve school systems at scale and provide empowering employability and careers services to young people and adults.  As a not-for-profit, we invest annually in our programme of education research that informs policymaking around the world as well as our own work. We work on several government-funded careers contracts, including National Careers’ Service, both as a prime and sub-prime contractor.

 

We have responded to the parts of the inquiry to which we feel we are most qualified to respond. We are happy to be contacted about our submission at any time to answer any questions or provide any further information.

 

  1. Whether the current system of careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) is serving young people, particularly:
    1. those from disadvantaged backgrounds;
    2. those who are known to the care system;
    3. those who are not in mainstream education, including home-educated pupils and those in alternative provision;
    4. those from different ethnic minority backgrounds; and
    5. those who have a special educational need or disability.

 

 

The importance of good careers guidance on outcomes for children is well documented. 

 

Schools with careers quality standards in the UK are associated with more young people achieving good GCSEs and improved attendance.[1]

 

Where careers guidance is not good enough, there can be negative consequences for young people.  For example, those young people who have had limited careers advice prior to university, who then pay £27,000 or more for degrees and leave university with limited knowledge on how to deploy what they’ve learnt. Even worse, some change degree courses, therefore adding more annual charges for subsequent years – or dropping out altogether. This has significant financial consequences on young people for the rest of their lives. Careers guidance and advice can mitigate this, to help young people to make more informed choices both when making the decision to attend and entering university, and in using their skills and degrees post-university.

 

The central focus of this submission is the importance of connectivity in improving outcomes for all young people. In recent years, we have started to see more connectivity within the provision of Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) for youth in England. The Careers Enterprise Company (CEC) is now taking a more holistic approach, working across all Gatsby Benchmarks (the eight nationally recognised standards of excellent careers provision). CEC have also supported Careers Leaders who are raising the profile of careers guidance in schools and colleges, and is working hard to embed careers into the curriculum.  

 

The Careers Hub initiative from the CEC, we believe, is doing even more to join up the fragmented landscape. From our own experience with the West London Careers Hub, we have seen the Careers Hub initiative raise awareness of the different service offerings, provide practical support to enable schools to understand how to achieve the Gatsby benchmarks, and develop a community of practice including a framework for connections with local and national employers. The CEC is also cognisant of the need to join up these Hubs at national level by bringing together Strategic Hub Leads.  

 

However, in line with the progress made within youth provision, we are advocating for increased alignment to adult services, such as linking the CEC with national careers services. More collaboration via a system that takes young people right through their formative years and into adulthood would have myriad benefits to both segments, including respective information sharing, shared resources, joint contacts, and approaches.

 

Even within youth provision, there is room for improvement and investment, particularly around personal careers guidance. The Career Hubs provide advice and frameworks to schools, but it remains down to each school to provide and pay for independent personal careers guidance, resulting in unequal opportunity and access in different areas. 

 

 

  1. Whether and how the Government should bring responsibility for CEIAG under one body, for example a National Skills Service, to take overall responsibility for CEIAG for all ages, and how this might help young people navigate the CEIAG system.

 

Careers support interventions have long been designed and delivered separately for young people and adults, creating a siloed system. In January 2021, the Government’s ‘Skills for jobs: lifelong learning for opportunity and growth’ paper highlighted that the careers landscape in the UK is confusing, fragmented and unclear. Why does England focus services to address particular age groups on their own? What could be the result of a more joined up approach? Our experience and research tell us there is now real opportunity, and need, to streamline provision of services and create a continuum of support.  

 

Unlike the other devolved nations of the UK, England has never had an inclusive, joined-up, all-ages careers service. Instead, some services are aimed at young people (schools are responsible for access to independent careers guidance for students) and other services are aimed at adults. Government creates confusion by not having a cohesive strategy for young people, and then randomly utilising a disparate set of departments to undertake some type of activity – for example Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches operating in schools with no CEIAG qualifications specific to the sector, and with limited cohesive link to a long-term strategy.

 

Beyond this, other providers are doing excellent work, including leading on provision for people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) but under various names and brands – local authorities still provide some services to schools and there are also Government-led services, costed services and private providers, including Education Development Trust, who currently deliver costed services to over 100 schools in England. This concoction of providers makes the current careers landscape perplexing for young people, as well those they traditionally go to for help such as parents – as pointed out in the Government’s policy paper last year.

 

People often receive careers support during key life stages such as in primary school, secondary school, and higher education, but this is not always connected to transition points before or after. This can have a negative impact on people’s career ambitions and journeys. For example, career guidance in schools or colleges often increases students’ understanding of their options and their career management skills, but this is not followed up by the required support to help them secure their desired job once they leave education or training. The lack of an all-ages system is particularly bad for vulnerable people, such as NEETs, as the guidance is isolated from what happens before and after when the support takes place, preventing wrap-around, long-term guidance specific to the individual. Furthermore, the lack of personal guidance available for most age groups, and a continued focus in the latter part of school on traditional higher education options, can lead to young people not being fully informed of their options. 

 

Even more worryingly, research conducted by the charity Education and Employers and the OECD shows that children as young as six or seven start to make choices about what they can and cannot do in the future based on ideas and impressions around gender, race and background. It is therefore important to consider the timing of career guidance – if we do not support children’s options and aspirations in primary school, then by secondary school limiting attitudes will be further ingrained, affecting the pathways young people choose, and making CEIAG harder to deliver. Secondary schools also need to consider joining up with their feeder primary schools to help build a careers journey for pupils that continues to build and support them through key transition points. 

 

As the delivery partner of the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme (ASK), we know that impartial services at the right time can transform how students think about their options, and empower them with knowledge and choice. Transition points are critical, and a more connected system would support individuals to better navigate life changes and receive logical, timely building blocks of guidance. As a leading careers service provider, EDT supports the development of an all-ages careers service, and we hope the recommendations we outline will help others working to build an effective journey of careers support for people in England.  

 

A joined-up approach would strengthen links with employers  

 

Another significant theme that cuts across support for people of all ages is the importance of interaction with employers. Employers are critical to helping both young people and adults understand the labour market requirements, business practices, and trends, and rounding out a young person’s perspective. Interactions with employers are beneficial at all stages – it can dismantle stereotypes for primary school children; support work encounters or curriculum input at secondary school; and lead to useful recruitment events or sector talks for adults. 

 

The more joined-up careers provision can be, the better the experience for the individual and the employer. A child could encounter an employer at primary level, visit them for work experience at secondary school and, as an adult looking for work remember that employer or sector and gain meaningful employment. The Careers Hubs could have a wider remit than schools and colleges, providing a central point to coordinate and streamline all provision from primary to adult within a locality. 

 

The benefit of a continuous career’s guidance journey 

 

Despite some progress in connectivity across the sector, there are currently limited links between young people’s services and higher education institutions or local authorities, and between graduate careers services, jobcentres, and nationally available careers support.  

 

It is time to prioritise high quality, timely, and joined up careers support to provide a continuum of relevant support through each stage of a person’s life – including the transition areas. Individuals need access to different types of careers support at different times and it is critical that the support provided complements rather than duplicates other provision. Support should be mapped against the different needs of an individual over time and between key points – not just for the period that they are in school, at a jobcentre or in training.

 

  1. Whether such a National Skills Service is best placed in the Department for Education or the Department of Work and Pensions to avoid duplication of work.

 

The decision about whether an all-ages careers system should sit in DWP or DfE rests on understanding the ultimate purpose of careers education and guidance. Is it to ensure individuals are best informed and helped to determine relative pros and cons of the options, pathways, and careers that might suit them? The inspiration and magic to empower decisions and manage careers? Or is it about matching individuals to job openings in the labour market, moving people to employment both to meet the economic needs of the country or of those of an individual?

 

Of course, there are elements of both, and you can’t do good CEIAG without understanding what is happening in the labour market. At Education Development Trust we believe a careers system has greater resonance with the first of these – ensuring individuals are best informed and helped to explore their options - and that it is therefore more closely aligned to the purpose of DfE. DWP is more about the second area of focus - supporting individuals back to work - and is more closely aligned to employability which is equally important but something different. Of course, there needs to be a high degree of interdepartmental awareness, cooperation and joined-up working on this.

 

The DfE would also be a more natural fit given the journey starts in primary school and travels through secondary, further education and higher education, so requires that continuous link to education that these key stages revolve around. One of the purposes of education itself is to prepare young people for their future at whatever stage of life. The majority of the CEIAG provision currently sits under DfE (or ESFA as a subdivision of DfE). While providing careers information, advice and guidance to adults is important, DWP’s pure focus on employment, and finding work, makes it less of a natural home for CEIAG which incorporates such a large education and skills element.

 

  1. Whether organisations like the Careers Enterprise Company and National Careers Service provide value for money to the taxpayer.

 

We believe the National Careers Service provides excellent value for money for the relatively small budget it has. While there are priority groups it is universal and open to all, and accessible across multiple platforms. What we believe is key is the progression figures of not just providing careers guidance but actually seeing individuals move into work or learning. The service has a national target to support and convert 45% of its customers into Job or learning outcomes something it does with regular efficiency. Education Development Trust has recorded high satisfaction rates with the NCS, including 98% in the North East and Cumbria, and 97% in Yorkshire and Humber (both 2021).

 

CEC has done really good work in starting to deliver the careers strategy in education but one of the problems is that they are only looking after one segment of what is needed (a focus on secondary education). CEC have been successful in introducing a national framework in schools and colleges (the Gatsby benchmarks) for what “good” looks like, and the progress made towards schools and colleges thinking about a whole school approach as opposed to a bolt-on is positive, as is the investment in Careers Leader Training and Careers Hub rollout.

 

We believe they could do more with their funding, as well as measure how successful the outputs are – i.e., what young people are doing in terms of training and employment, has the programme reduced NEET, are young people in meaningful employment? The need for impact is something the CEC seem to be becoming more aware of and there is evidence that for every benchmark a school achieves, there is a potential 1.4% reduction in the number of young people who are NEET, so approximately a 10% reduction if a school achieves all eight benchmarks.

 

The other significant concern is that CEC is not a delivery service. They are more about supporting schools to deliver. The issue here being a lack of focus on personal careers guidance, the one-to-one support individuals need and, critically, that this is delivered by a truly impartial professionally qualified adviser, rather than school staff member. CEC is also a funder of test and learn pieces, which are positive in trying to find what works, but can mean short term projects that lack continuity, and that are only focussed on particular areas. For example, in 2001 Education Development Trust received some CEC funding via the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to deliver a project called ‘Get on Track’ to support NEET reduction and transition from school and college to work. It was highly successful with 61% of the 155 NEET young people engaged moving into work or training. However, while supporting learning for future practice, this was a one year project which then came to an end.

 

  1. How careers and skills guidance could be better embedded in the curriculum across primary, secondary, further, higher and adult education, to ensure all learners are properly prepared for the world of work

 

Over recent years, a series of US and UK studies have used longitudinal data to explore the relationship between teenage thinking about careers and later educational, economic, or social outcomes.[2] While the studies do not focus on the impact of embedding careers in the curriculum, they do make a compelling point: after controlling for social background and academic achievement, it is clear that the way that teenagers think about their futures in education and employment has a significant impact on their employment outcomes as adults. Any careers system therefore needs to be embedded across the full education lifespan and beyond to ensure teenagers have the best life outcomes possible. We would advocate an infused, or whole-school, approach, to CEIAG where learners are provided with a greater connectivity between what they are learning and the future. This means not just doing CEIAG as part of a bolt-on (either in silo or via PSHE or similar).

 

We need to provide teachers and educators with some wider awareness of options, pathways, and labour market information, so they can also continue the journey with students - a careers adviser will only ever have limited interactions - but also materials/ resources/ lesson plans to help teachers weave careers learning into their subjects. For example, so that science students understand not just the scientific concepts they are taught but what STEM careers there are, or English students understanding the transferable skills beyond careers directly using English. We believe every teacher is a teacher of careers. There are also very limited link ups to ensure a national curriculum for careers from primary to higher education so that students don’t start again but build on their learning. This curriculum learning is stronger still where it is backed up by experimental learning through workplace visits, employer input and extracurricular activity. For example, geography students working with the environment agency to see our the concepts they are learning translate into real careers and jobs and the skills needed

 

 

  1. How schools could be supported to better fulfil their duties to provide careers advice and inform students of technical, as well as academic, pathways.
    1. How the Baker Clause could be more effectively enforced
    2. How the Government can ensure more young people have access to a professional and independent careers advisor and increase the take-up of the Lifetime Skills initiative.

 

Schools need to be encouraged or given the ability to ringfence money for CEIAG, or there needs to be central funds for 1:1 personal guidance in schools, so it is less of a postcode lottery and not based on which schools and colleges choose to invest.

 

An alternative option is to fund schools to undertake the Quality in Careers Standard (highly recommended by the DfE) which ensures schools and colleges commit to, work towards and achieve a gold standard of CEIAG, including ensuring they are aware of, and have access to, all pathways. The Quality in Careers Consortium demonstrated the value for money. The Quality in Careers Standard fully encompasses the Gatsby benchmarks but is independently assessed and verified. Additionally the ASK service (Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge), which is free to education providers to engage with, fully promotes technical and vocational pathways to schools, students, parents, and teachers, helping myth bust and open individuals eyes to the range of opportunities available. Funding is likely to be confirmed for the 2022-23 academic year, but there is as of yet no confirmation for funding beyond this.

 

Take up by schools could be strengthened by both monitoring compliance more closely, and by adding it as a requirement to the Baker Clause. It could also be a part of a school’s statutory duty in relation to CEIAG. We would suggest that the Baker Clause itself could be more effectively enforced through Ofsted school inspections.

 

The way the Government can ensure more young people have access to a professional and independent careers advisor is to fund access to personal careers guidance rather than give the responsibility to schools (unless they provide money which is ringfenced for this activity). The danger here being that while some schools invest and buy in or employ qualified Careers Advisors, not all do, or they only make it available to a limited number of students.

 

An alternative to giving the money directly to schools would be to provide the funding to one of the national bodies (such as CEC / NCS) with additional funding and resources to enable a more universal service to be delivered. EDT would strongly support one of these options with an emphasis on one-to-one support and, while virtual sessions can be implemented, a strong element of face-to-face service is needed and should be stipulated.

 

  1. Whether the proposals for CEIAG in the Government’s Skills for Jobs White Paper will effectively address current challenges in the CEIAG system
    1. Whether greater investment to create a robust system of CEIAG is needed, and how could this be targeted, to create a stronger CEIAG

 

The biggest issue with the current CEIAG system is fragmentation, a lack of connectivity between different services and ages range providers. The Skills for Jobs White Paper seems to acknowledge and reference this.

 

The two weaker areas are firstly not enough recognition of the need for personal one-to-one careers guidance, and secondly that NEET young people and those outside the system are not strongly referenced.

 

It is hard to clarify this further as the proposals don’t have enough detail as yet to make a fully informed decision. We would add that there are many positives about the White Paper such as requiring schools to provide guidance from year 7, supporting and strengthening the Baker Clause, continuing the rollout of the Careers Hubs and investing in training for Careers Leaders.

 

March 2022

 

 

 


[1] Deirdre Hughes and Graeme Smith, ‘Youth Transitions: creating pathways to success’, Education Development Trust (2020), p. 43

[2] Deirdre Hughes and Graeme Smith, ‘Youth Transitions: creating pathways to success’, Education Development Trust (2020), p. 28.