High-quality Career Guidance for Enhancing Social Mobility:
a submission to the Milburn Review of Social Mobility and Child Poverty

The Coalition Government’s strategy on social mobility recognises the value and contribution of careers education and guidance. Aside from a role for government, it states that “we can all make a difference to raising aspirations and helping people to make informed choices about jobs and careers”.

This submission sets out our concerns about the role of careers education, information, advice and guidance in improving social mobility. It summarises the key issues facing the careers sector in England, the role of careers professionals in helping people make informed choices, and the impact this has on the pathways and routes that are open to them. Social mobility needs to translate into opportunities for young people and adults, and resonates with the need to invest in technical and higher-level skills and to ensure pathways for lifelong learning and enhanced career adaptability8. For the purposes of brevity, however, the note focuses mainly on interventions for young people.

Thinkpiece 2 Social Mobility and CEIAG