The results season is a critical time in every educational institution’s calendar, when a lens is focused both on performance and on what students will do next.
For young people – and parents and teachers – it is an intense period when it also becomes clear how much is understood about what happens after education and the opportunities ahead.
When asked about her future, Ellie, aged 14, said she wants to be a nursery worker: “I decided I wanted to do it because I’ve always been told how great I am with my little sister and brother. They’re four and three and I love them to bits.
“I’m just great with children. I’ve got patience and people always tell me I want to be a nursery worker. I’m learning all these new things at school, I think I should share that with children. Share my opinion of what life can be when they grow up.”
This is an example that I am sure will feel familiar to many parents and teachers. A motivated young person who from an early age has set their heart on a particular job in the future.
Of course for many, this early focus can be powerful motivation to study hard and gain relevant experiences. But, it is also vital that a young person is empowered to test his or her decision through information and experiences during school.
They need to understand what jobs will be available in the workplace, what they are good at and enjoy, and the skills they have that could be relevant.
Our Moments of Choice report looks at this decision-making process. Commissioned with the Behavioural Insights Team, the report considers how information on careers is presented and how young people react to that information.
The report has been used to inform recommendations on how to improve the situation.
Overwhelmed by choice
One of the key findings from Moments of Choice is that when it comes to making decisions about the future, young people are overwhelmed by choice.
The modern workplace is complex but the careers information currently available makes it even more so, causing young people either to disengage or revert to rules of thumb based on outdated ideas of the jobs available.
While the overwhelming majority of young people think the world of work will be different from that of their parents, when asked to list possible jobs, one trend is to list those their parents would consider.
Another trend is to focus on jobs seen on television in programmes such as the Great British Bake Off or One Born Every Minute. These programmes have prompted spikes in applications to catering school and to midwifery respectively.
The reason young people are either disengaging or relying on outdated but easily accessible rules of thumb is that they are overwhelmed by the complexity of information facing them. This complexity creates “choice overload” and disengaging or relying on these rules is a rational response.
Information overload
According to Moments of Choice, there are 49 different websites providing data to help young people make career decisions.
Many are very good and there is plenty of innovation but the sheer quantity and variety of resources adds difficulty to the challenging task of thinking about careers.
Each site frames the decision-making process differently, or suggests a different criteria against which to evaluate decisions. Few offer a personalised journey in contrast to many of the experiences young people are used to on Twitter or Amazon.
Careers information is also typically provided in a “pull” format that relies on young people having to seek it out. This contrasts with many initiatives designed to tackle social and health issues.
In public health campaigns, such as those trying to stop people smoking or increase the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten, information is “pushed” out at important moments to prompt a behaviour change.
We argue that we should apply such an approach to careers decision-making so that young people and those with influence on their decisions are supported throughout education.
The modern workplace
As well as framing careers decisions more clearly for young people, we also need to help them build judgement. Even with more streamlined information, young people will still need to build and test hypotheses about what they like and how that relates to the world of work.
Key to building this judgement are encounters with employers. Encounters bring the world of work to life, and help young people to develop an understanding of what they do and do not like. They also equip them with tools to navigate decisions, and provide them with the cues and connections to be informed decision-makers.
Young people I have spoken with who have had the opportunity to work with employers say they are left encouraged to seize opportunities and consider goals that, beforehand, might have seemed out of reach.
Today, only in 40 per cent of schools do young people meet an employer even once a year. This is why we launched the Enterprise Adviser Network last year to create a nationwide network of coordination that links schools, colleges and employers.
Governed and co-funded by the Local Enterprise Partnerships, we have already employed 70 full-time coordinators to work with clusters of schools and colleges to support development of their employer engagement plans.
As a result, more than 1,000 business volunteers are already signed up to help schools and colleges nationwide.
The opportunity ahead
There can be no doubt that tackling the skills gap and bringing lasting improvement in careers provision is challenging.
As Moments of Choice shows, finding answers relies on improved framing of information as well as collaboration between schools, colleges, employers, young people and families.
Only by working together can we help bring the world of work to life for young people and support them to take control of their futures.
- Claudia Harris is CEO of the Careers & Enterprise Company.
Further information
The Careers & Enterprise Company was set up by the government to identify and tackle gaps in careers advice and guidance across England. Among its initiatives is an Enterprise Adviser Network to connect local businesses and schools, and the £5 million Careers and Enterprise Fund, created to increase the number of encounters young people have with employers. The CEC is also co-ordinating the government’s national mentoring campaign to connect a new generation of mentors to pre-GCSE teens at risk of disengaging and under-performing.Visit www.careersandenterprise.co.uk
Moments of Choice
The full Moments of Choice report is available online along with proposals from the CEC published for consultation. The CEC is calling for those in the careers and education sector to review and provide their views by September 30. Visit http://bit.ly/2bVKJyV and email views to careerchoices@careersandenterprise.co.uk