FUTURE TALENTED Spring Term 2019 - Issue 2 | Page 15

“Many schools and colleges recognise
linking careers to the curriculum as the
gold standard in careers education”
CLAUDIA HARRIS
CEO, THE CAREERS &
ENTERPRISE COMPANY
he Careers &
Enterprise
Company’s State
of the Nation
report is the most comprehensive assessment of careers education
in England to date. The report highlights steady progress in careers
provision in schools and colleges across the country – but, as many
of us acknowledge, we still have a long way to go.
Our research confirms what we know from our day-to-day work
with schools and colleges: the emergence of a more systematic
approach to careers and steady improvement across the country. This
is backed up by recent Ofsted commentary that “the current picture
[of careers education] is much more encouraging than has been the
case in the past”.
In particular, schools and colleges are showing strong progress
around encounters with employers and linking careers to the
wider curriculum. Many recognise the latter as the gold standard in
careers education and one that requires a comprehensive school or
college programme.
Another promising indicator is that performance is correlated with
disadvantage. Schools and colleges serving communities with high
unemployment and a low number of people in ‘professional’ jobs are
providing a higher quality careers education.
This could be down to efforts to target funding and resources at
those most in need. Or it might be that schools and colleges in these
communities are prioritising careers as a way to address social mobility.
Either way, this is leading to progress where it is most needed.
However, our research also reveals what many have felt intuitively
for years – that there is a great deal to be done before all young people
are receiving world-class careers support. Decades of
underperformance will take time to reverse.
It is therefore vital that the schools, colleges and employers,
together with organisations such as ours, continue to work together
to continue and build on this progress.
T
FUTURE TALENT // 15