New careers guidance published

Good information, advice and guidance (IAG) helps young people make the right learning and career choices and enables them to find answers to the questions and issues which can arise in their personal lives. The government has thus set out new plans for improving information, advice and guidance for young people so that they are ready for the challenges of the modern jobs market. The IAG Strategy includes an outline of support available to help schools, colleges, local authorities and others to improve their provision. Further information is available from the DCSF website.

Further research into the factors affecting young people's careers choices will be informed by a recent study by the University of Westminster for DCSF, How young peole formulate their views about the future, which explored Year 7 pupils' decisions about education and career issues. The study consisted of focus group workshops with 610 pupils in 27 different schools in three different areas of the country. The workshops consisted of group discussions with pupils and a series of written questionnaires or tasks for the young people to complete.

Key findings from the report are:

  • Over 85% of the Year 7 pupils feel they know the job they want to do in the future and 65% of these pupils have held these views for over 2 years. These jobs are drawn from narrow parts of the occupational structure and over 80% are 'higher status positions' from NS-SEC 1-3.
  • A high percentage of Year 7 want to go to university: 75%. The majority believe it will help them reach their preferred employment destination or give them a better chance of employment.
  • Aspirations for higher education differ by geography with considerably less pupils wishing to go from the rural area in this study.
  • Pupils from lower socio-economic groups are as likely to want to go to HE and pursue high status jobs, as their counterparts from higher socio-economic groups at this stage.
  • The pupils' level of knowledge regarding post 14 educational routes and how to achieve their employment/educational aspirations is low, which is not surprising at this age.
  • Young people are developing 'career choice identities' or value systems which inform what they count as 'success' and which rank the academic over the vocational.
  • Young people see the need for some form of IAG at this stage of their school life. Not necessarily careers advice but guidance and experiences to help them think through their options and help them develop their decision making skills and broaden their career choice identities.


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