A new Ofsted report on the parlous state of careers guidance
Ofsted has recently published a report entitled Going in the right direction? Careers guidance in schools from September 2012.
The report covers a sample of 60 schools to assess how they were addressing their legal responsibility, in place since September 2012, for securing access to independent and impartial careers guidance for all their students in Years 9 to 11 in order to enable them to make informed decisions about their future.. It doesn’t look pretty.
The overall conclusion is that careers guidance in schools really isn’t working and three quarters of schools are not meeting their statutory duty. The survey also finds that guidance for schools on careers advice is not explicit, the National Careers Service is not promoted well enough and there is a lack of employer engagement in schools.
The report recommends:
- The Government provide more explicit guidance to schools on careers advice.
- The Government monitor students’ progress and achievement when they leave school through accurate collection of ‘destination data’ to give a better understanding of a young person’s journey to employment.
- The National Careers Service markets its services more effectively to all young people aged 13-18 and does more to disseminate information on national skills shortages so that young people gain a greater understanding of where there are likely to be greater employment opportunities.
- Ofsted also recommends that its own inspectors take greater account of careers guidance and students’ destinations when conducting future school inspections.
This strikes me as insufficient. It is all very well to place these responsibilities on schools and asking them to do more but more marketing of the National Careers Service really is not enough to deliver the quality and quantity of careers advice and guidance required. Schools do need to look to make better provision but they do need the resources to enable them to do so.
This is the challenge which Inspiring Futures (declaration of interest – I am a member of the board of trustees) and others are working hard to address. This report confirms the scale of the effort required.
