Careers England Policy Commentary 7

Careers England Policy Commentary 28

This is the twenty-eighth in an occasional series of briefing notes on key policy

documents related to the future of career guidance services in England. The note has

been prepared for Careers England by Professor Tony Watts.

Revised Guidance for Colleges

A.G. Watts

1. Context. The Government has published new Guidance on Careers Guidance

and Inspiration for general further education colleges and sixth-form colleges.

This is

designed to sit alongside the Statutory Guidance

and Non-Statutory Departmental

Advice

for schools issued in April 2014.

It replaces the Guidance for colleges published

in June 2013.

2. As with the earlier Guidance for colleges, the new document is not statutory. In

extending the duty to secure access to independent careers guidance to cover students up

to the age of 18, the Government decided to do so not by law, but by making it a

requirement of their funding agreements. Accordingly, the document merely ‘offers

guidance on which colleges may wish to draw’ (para.2).

3. Analysis. There is some confusion about the overlap of coverage between the

documents for schools and for colleges in relation to 14-16-year-olds:

 Para.2 states that the SG and NSDA for schools ‘can be used by colleges to

review support for 14-16 year old students’.

 Para.4 states that the new guidance applies to ‘all students in colleges up to and

including the age of 18’.

Helpful comments from Paul Chubb and Professor Tristram Hooley on an earlier draft of this Policy

Commentary are gratefully acknowledged. The author is however solely responsible for the views

expressed.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Department for Education (2014). Careers Guidance

and Inspiration: Guidance for General Further Education Colleges and Sixth-Form Colleges.

Department for Education (2014). Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools: Statutory Guidance for

Governing Bodies, School Leaders and School Staff.

Department for Education (2014). Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools: Non-Statutory

Departmental Advice for Governing Bodies, School Leaders and School Staff.

For an analysis of these two documents, see Watts, A.G. (2014). Revised Statutory Guidance and Non-

Statutory Departmental Advice on Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools. Careers England Policy

Commentary 27.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Department for Education (2013). Securing

Independent Careers Guidance: Guidance for General Further Education Colleges and Sixth-Form

Colleges. For an analysis of this document, see Watts, A.G. (2013). Statutory Guidance for Further

Education and Sixth-Form Colleges. Careers England Policy Commentary 22.

4. The new revised Guidance reaffirms the recognition in the earlier Guidance of

colleges’ own careers provision:

‘The government recognises that many FE institutions already have successful

student support services – often holding the matrix standard for their careers

information, advice and guidance provision’ (para.13).

Accordingly, it gives a stronger profile to internal specialist careers services than the

revised Statutory Guidance for schools does. But whereas the previous Guidance for

colleges simply commented that ‘this support should continue’

, the new version states

that:

‘Colleges should review existing support and take steps to ensure this meets their

students’ needs. Feedback from students and parents can help to inform future

provision. Feedback from employers can also be useful to evaluate the different

activities they provide’ (para.13).

5. Apart from this reference to internal specialist careers services, the revised

Guidance for colleges adopts a very similar position to the revised Statutory Guidance for

schools. In particular:

 The main emphasis throughout is on links with employers. All the case-studies

are related exclusively to this (which was not the case in the earlier Guidance for

colleges).

 There is a brief and marginal reference to ‘independent careers advisers’ who ‘can

help students to locate ambitious careers options by assessing their abilities,

interests and achievements’. But, as with the schools document, this is at the end

of a long list of ‘external sources’ who are largely employer-based (mentors and

coaches, ‘role models and inspiring individuals from the careers to which young

people aspire’, and college alumni; they also include HE advisers and the

National Careers Service website) (para.27). The use of the term ‘external’ in

relation to the ‘independent careers advisers’ is problematic: it is unclear where

this leaves college-based careers advisers, or their relationship with truly external

careers advisers.

 There is no reference at all to CEIAG quality awards and their validation through

the Quality in Careers Standard, which in the previous Guidance to colleges was

at least mentioned in a footnote.

This despite the fact that the development of the

QiCS was part-funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Department for Education (2013). Securing

Independent Careers Guidance: Guidance for General Further Education Colleges and Sixth-Form

Colleges, para.6.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Department for Education (2013). Securing

Independent Careers Guidance: Guidance for General Further Education Colleges and Sixth-Form

Colleges, footnote 3.

6. Moreover, whereas the Non-Statutory Departmental Advice for schools

mentioned the CDI register of careers professionals

, there is no reference to this in the

new document for colleges. Alongside the failure to refer to the QiCS (see para.5 above),

this omission means that the Government’s abandonment of its earlier promise to

implement the recommendations of the Careers Profession Task Force

appears

complete. Far from making the professional and organisational standards compulsory, as

recommended by the House of Commons Education Select Committee

, it has now

decided to ignore them altogether.

7. The roles the document proposes for colleges are largely confined to ‘helping

students access information… about the routes into different careers’ (paras.22-23), to

‘training in preparing CVs, job hunting and interview techniques’ and help ‘in

completing UCAS applications’ (para.28), but most of all to establishing links with

employers (paras.17-20). There are no references to more broadly-based careers

education programmes.

8. The section on the National Careers Service focuses sharply the inconsistency

between the government policies relating to young people and adults respectively, which

is particularly evident in relation to colleges that span both groups. It mentions that the

NCS is currently co-located in over 125 colleges (para.30), and states that ‘the

government is keen to see more extensive partnership working between colleges and the

NCS’ (para.31). But it also reiterates that only those aged 19 or over can book a face-to-

face appointment with an NCS adviser (para.29).

9. The same section refers intriguingly to the government being keen to extending

the ‘more extensive partnership working’ to ‘working with schools, Jobcentres and

employers to provide a more integrated careers guidance infrastructure underpinned by

informed labour market intelligence’ (para.31). There is no indication of who is to take

the lead here (National Careers Service? Local Enterprise Partnerships? Local

Authorities?).

10. Other features of the revised document include:

 A welcome new section (paras.24-25) on support for young people with special

education needs or disabilities (some of whom are covered up to the age of 25).

These received only a single sentence in the previous version.

 A new sub-section (paras.14-16) on destination measures, mentioning the

importance of collaborating with Local Authorities on this, and how such

measures can be used by colleges ‘to assess their success in supporting students to

Department for Education (2014). Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools: Non-Statutory

Departmental Advice for Governing Bodies, School Leaders and School Staff, p.21.

See Watts, A.G. (2012). The Coalition’s Emerging Policies on Career Guidance, para.7. Careers

England Policy Commentary 15B.

House of Commons Education Committee (2013). Careers Guidance for Young People: the Impact of

the New Duty on Schools, para.105. HC 632-1. London: Stationery Office.

take up education, employment or training which offers good long term prospects’

(para.15).

11. Conclusion. In general, the new Guidance for colleges is open to the same

criticisms as the Statutory Guidance for schools. While there are a few welcome features,

it reinforces the Government’s betrayal of the promises it made in its early days to

establish a genuinely all-age careers service and to revitalise the professional status of

careers guidance.

12. The ‘inspiration’ agenda, involving employers much more actively, would have

been widely welcomed by the careers sector had it been added to the implementation of

these original promises and embedded in professionally-managed careers programmes.

But it appears now to be viewed largely as a substitute for the role of careers

professionals. The recent endorsement by many employers of a Careers Sector

Stakeholders Alliance Briefing Note affirming the complementary roles of employers and

of careers professionals in providing career support to young people

demonstrates that

there is little employer support for such a position.

Published by the Careers England Board of Directors on 4 September 2014

Careers Sector Stakeholders Alliance (2014). Securing Our Future Talent: the Roles of Employers and

Career Professionals in Providing Career Support to Young People in Schools and Colleges.