Collective leadership for high-quality careers support

Tag Archives: quality standards


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CSSA Thinkpiece 1

Key issues for career IAG provision in the Education Bill

Thinkpiece1 CoverDuring the debate on the Education Bill in 2011 there was much discussion about the provisions on careers education, IAG and work-related learning. This short Thinkpiece captures some of the issues:

  • assuring the quality of CEAIG provision;
  • securing face-to-face guidance;
  • transitions to employment;
  • accountability for schools;
  • appropriate resourcing for CEIAG

Thinkpiece 1 Education Bill Objectives


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CSSA Briefing Note 8

The Government’s proposed new arrangements for careers education and guidance: what will they mean for employers?

BN8 CoverEmployers have a strong interest in the quality of careers education and guidance in schools. The better-prepared young people are in terms of their career decision-making, the more work-ready they are likely to be. Employers have much to contribute to the quality of careers education and guidance programmes in schools, through providing work experience, talks, mentoring etc. Many employers work with schools and with career guidance professionals to help young people understand the world of work. Much is being done to harness such contributions. But employers recognise that the scope and effectiveness of such contributions is significantly dependent on the existence, accessibility, quality and extent of careers education and guidance programmes in schools. A recent report produced by Deloitte for the Education and Employers Taskforce has emphasised the role that employers play in schools, but that more must be done.

We need to better harness the partnership working between employers,
schools and careers advisers to shape government policy on careers education, information, advice and guidance.

Briefing Note 8 Employer Engagement


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CSSA Briefing Note 5

Design Features for an All-age Careers Service in England

BN5 CoverThis Briefing Note by the UK Careers Sector Strategic Forum (now the Careers Alliance) welcomed the announcement by John Hayes, the then Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, of the Coalition Government’s commitment to establish an all-age careers service in England, subsequently confirmed in its newly launched Skills Strategy. The Forum also welcomed the Minister’s affirmation of the need to strengthen career guidance as a profession, reflected in the report of Dame Ruth Silver’s Task Force on the Careers Profession and in the Browne Review on higher education funding.

This Briefing Note outlined some of the core principles that ought to be incorporated in the design of an all-age national careers service, identified some of the key issues that need to be addressed in developing the service, and offered the help of the UK Careers Sector Strategic Forum in tackling these issues.

Core principles
The Careers Alliance suggested then that the all-age service needed to be viewed as a backbone for a world-class system of careers services in England. Principles that need to be adopted in developing such a system include:

  • Access: that all citizens should have access to careers services when they need them, at any stage through their lives.
  • Quality: that the quality of such services should be assured, both through the professional standards of careers practitioners, and through organisational quality standards.
  • Impartiality: that these quality standards should ensure that there is always access to impartial career guidance, free of institutional interests.
  • Balance between aspiration and realism: that careers services should focus on individual aspiration and potential, but should also ensure that career decisions are well-informed in terms of course progression and the needs of the labour market.
  • Career self-management: that careers services should be designed to help individuals to manage their own careers, knowing how to access support where it is needed.

Briefing Note 5 England All-age IAG Service Nov 2010