Career services of the future will work for all
There has never been a more important time for Scotland’s career services to support young people to reach their potential, writes Chair of the Career Review Programme Board Grahame Smith
THE Covid-19 pandemic has impacted everyone, but few have faced more disruption than our young people.
The restrictions had a profound effect on their education, their employment prospects and their everyday lives – and that effect is multiplied further for those already facing disadvantage.
Young people considering their future don’t just face uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Brexit, the climate crisis and increasing automation and digitalisation means the workplace is changing more rapidly than at any point in living memory.
That’s why, through the Young Person’s Guarantee, the Scottish Government has committed to connecting every 16-24-year-old in Scotland with the opportunity of a job, placement, training or volunteering.
As part of this commitment, the national skills agency, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), is leading a review of the support our young people receive in making career choices.
The review recognises that a wide range of organisations offer career support to young people.
These include schools, colleges, universities and a range of other national and local bodies.
This Career Review will make recommendations to Ministers around the future of career support across this ‘careers system’ later this year.
As the Chair of the Review
Programme Board, there are key principles I believe to be critical in considering our future support to young people.
Firstly, we must listen to the views, needs and experience of the young people, parents and employers that use our services.
Furthermore, we must co-design services with these and other stakeholders to ensure they meet expectations and deliver a world-class experience.
Secondly, we must capture and learn from other nations. Scotland is not alone in the challenges faced and we must learn from the diverse range of responses other countries take in supporting citizens’ career choices.
Finally, we must adopt an evidenceled approach to truly understand what’s working about the current system, and where we need to improve.
The evidence tells us there is much to celebrate in how we currently support career choices for young people.
Unlike many other countries, Scotland has prioritised support for careers through a dedicated all-age career service.
Our young people have access to careers advisers in every school in Scotland, and post-school through a network of career centres.
The careers advisers that work in our schools, career centres and universities are professionals.
Becoming a careers adviser requires a postgraduate qualification and there is a proven link between their proficiency and the quality and impact of services they provide.
Since its launch in 2010, Scotland’s My World of Work careers web service has also become embedded within our education system.
The service provides high-quality career information and advice to more than 1.5million people each year.
Almost 200,000 registered users access personalised My World of Work accounts every year to support their career decisions.
Another important factor in the way career services are delivered is the local partnerships between schools, local authorities and other public and third sector agencies.
This includes the Community Planning and Local Employability Partnerships which provide the framework for joint projects, networking and information-sharing that enhances the services many users rely on.
While there are many aspects of the current careers system in which Scotland should take pride we must always strive for improvements.
While many young people say the current system has served them well, this view is not universal.
Others say services can be hard to access and do not always meet their needs, meaning they don’t feel equipped for the world of work.
We also know that despite the quality of what is currently offered, it hasn’t made a sufficient contribution to the wider effort to reduce persistent inequalities and won’t be enough to meet the requirements and uncertainties of the future.
As a Programme Board, our aim is to offer recommendations for the future of careers services that will make a real difference to Scotland and its people.
Our aspiration is that our recommendations, when published later this year, will command the widespread support and commitment necessary to make this a reality.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the review of career services in Scotland, including details of how to get involved, visit sds.co.uk
Our aim is to offer recommendations that will make a real difference to Scotland