2020 & Beyond Where next for career guidance in England Tristram Hooley, Professor of Career Education, University of Derby
Something is happening… There’s something happening here What it is aint exactly clear There’s a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware We better stop, hey, what’s that sound Everybody look what’s going down Stephen Stills
OECD definition Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers… The activities may take place on an individual or group basis, and may be face-to-face or at a distance (including help lines and web-based services). (OECD, 2004)
The politics of career guidance Careers education and guidance is a profoundly political process. It operates at the interface between the individual and society, between self and opportunity, between aspiration and realism. It facilitates the allocation of life chances. Within a society in which such life chances are unequally distributed, it faces the issue of whether it serves to reinforce such inequalities or to reduce them. Tony Watts
Overview Where have we been? Where are we now? Where next? A vision for 2020
Overview Where have we been? Where are we now? Where next? A vision for 2020
Careers work in schools
Key features information provision career assessments and tests career counselling careers advice delivered by a non-careers professional curricular interventions further study/work-related learning other extra-curricular interventions frameworks for reflection. Development of careers education and associated theory as an integrative framework for these activities
Delivery infrastructure School Other partnership bodies e.g. EBP, Aimhigher Careers service/ Connexions
Policy rationale
Overview Where have we been? Where are we now? Where next? A vision for 2020
Number of apprenticeship starts over the last decade First year undergraduate HE enrolments in England in 2014/2015
The current infrastructure for careers School based provision (underpinned by the statutory guidance) Local authority targeted services NCS (Inspiration agenda) Careers & Enterprise Company Jobcentre Plus in schools HEFCE & Offa Information sources e.g. UCAS & NAS LEPs Charities Careers & Enterprise Company
Good career guidance (Gatsby) A stable careers programme Learning from career and labour market information Addressing the needs of each pupil Linking curriculum learning to careers Encounters with employers and employees Experienced of workplaces Encounters with further and higher education Personal guidance
From careers co-ordination to careers leadership
Overview Where have we been? Where are we now? Where next? A vision for 2020
Brexit slide
What’s afoot in the careers world? New ministers – new thinking The importance of ‘a country that works for everyone’ and a focus on ‘just about managing’ (JAM) Opportunity areas New statutory guidance? New strategy?
Where are trends taking us? Brexit continues to make prediction impossible. But… Embedding of Gatsby in schools and the reworking of our careers system around schools. The continued ‘growth’ of apprenticeships? Continued development of The Careers & Enterprise Company. Growing policy interest?
Overview Where have we been? Where are we now? Where next? A vision for 2020
The need for new theories
The need for new policies Careers has always been a minor policy theme. Squeezed in at the edge of education and employment policies. Careers has the potential to be a major policy theme which speaks to issues about alienation and social disintegration and which can also help people to manage and respond to change. This will require more radical thinking from policymakers and practitioners alike.
The future of practice Learning paradigm Development of new pedagogies Focus on career management skills Curriculum integration Social orientation Balancing policy needs with individual needs Recognition of community components e.g. career guidance in communities Professional transformation The broadening of the role of the careers professional The strengthening of teachers’ engagement in careers work The creation of the hybrid professional role of the careers leader.
A lesson from history “Frank Parsons was a consistent opponent of that individualism which pits men against each other in the struggle for existence, and an earnest advocate of that individuality that fits men for useful membership in the social body, and so draws them together in mutual fellowship and service.” (Kent, 1908: 636 from Plant and Kjærgård, 2016)
References Gatsby Charitable Foundation (2014). Good Career Guidance. London: Gatsby. Hooley, T. (2014). The Evidence Base on Lifelong Guidance. Jyväskylä, Finland: European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network (ELGPN). Hooley, T. (2015). Emancipate Yourselves from Mental Slavery: Self-Actualisation, Social Justice and the Politics of Career Guidance. Derby: International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby. Hooley, T. and Dodd, V. (2015). The Economic Benefits of Career Guidance. Careers England. Hooley, T., Marriott, J., Watts, A.G. and Coiffait, L. (2012). Careers 2020: Options for Future Careers Work in English Schools. London: Pearson. Law, B. (2012). The uses of narrative: Three scene storyboarding – learning for living, http://www.hihohiho.com/storyboarding/sbL4L.pdf. Mirza-Davies, J. (2016). Apprenticeship Statistics: England. London: House of Common Library. Plant, P. and Kjærgård, R. (2016). From mutualism to individual competitiveness: Implications and challenges for social justice within career guidance in neoliberal times. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 36, 12-19. Thomsen, R. (2012). Career Guidance in Communities. Aarhus, Denmar: Aarhus University Press.
Summary We have been cursed to live in ‘interesting times’. In such times careers work has a powerful role to play. We need to think radically and build our schools up to offer young people comprehensive opportunities for career learning. This career learning needs to move away from championing individualism and recognise the interconnectedness of our careers. Recent events suggest that the link with citizenship/ democratic education is essential.
Tristram Hooley Professor of Career Education International Centre for Guidance Studies University of Derby http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs t.hooley@derby.ac.uk @pigironjoe Blog at http://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com