Education Select Committee publishes CEIAG report
The Education Select Committee has published the results of its inquiry into the effectiveness of the current system for careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG).
The report concluded that the right framework is broadly in place but there is a need for new Careers Strategy which includes clear, measurable outcomes, including targets to increase the number of schools achieving the Gatsby benchmarks in full.
It was noted that there has been significant change in recent years including the introduction of Gatsby benchmarks and the 2017 Careers Strategy. The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) was described as providing useful support for schools and colleges and there has been a positive impact of career hubs and career leaders, however, they often don’t have adequate time to dedicate to the role.
The committee suggested that the Department for Education (DfE) should define an appropriate proportion of time that career leaders should be given to fulfil their role.
The report stated that DfE expenditure on CEIAG “falls far short of what is needed” and includes a recommendation to make one-off developmental funding to support schools improve their careers provision and include support for schools in education investment areas.
The committee recommended that CEIAG should be a core part of the Ofsted framework; and that Compass should be compulsory for schools/colleges.
The report’s findings focus on four areas:
Primary schools:
Starting careers provision at an early age is essential and DfE’s recently announced pilot is a positive step forward. There is a need to move to a universal approach – with the DfE encouraged to work with the Gatsby Foundation on an adapted set of benchmarks for primary schools.
Careers in the curriculum:
Embedding links to careers within curriculum is an important way of exposing young people to a range of jobs and demonstrating the relevance of their subject.
Notable improvements in recent years include evidence from young people. There is a clear need to upskill teachers as 88% of teachers feel that their training did not prepare them and many do not have experience of the world of work outside teaching.
The curriculum itself does not contain explicit links to relevant careers and this has not been included in DfE’s recent work to develop model curricula.
The report stated DfE must ensure that careers is incorporated into teacher training at every level and provide teachers with opportunities to experience workplaces outside of teaching.
Employer links with schools:
Particular concern was expressed about gaps in access to high quality work experience, especially for pupils living outside of major cities and the South East of England.
Pupils are frequently left to arrange their own placements with little or no support.
Virtual placements can help close the gap but this should not be the only option. Equally, work experience must be high quality and tailored to pupils’ needs and aspirations.
The DfE is encouraged to work with partners to develop a toolkit setting out what constitutes meaningful work experience.
While safeguarding pupils is essential, and their safety and wellbeing should not be compromised, DfE should consider whether administration requirements linked to work experience can be removed or lightened.
There is a bias towards academic over vocational and technical routes, although the updated Provider Access Legislation (PAL) should go some way to addressing this.
The report stated DfE must ensure compliance of PAL and noted “some progress” with Ofsted not awarding “outstanding” grades to schools not complying with PAL. They suggested that this needs to be done consistently and that Ofsted must also ensure that appropriate weight is given to vocational routes when looking at destinations data.
Supporting specific groups:
The report expressed concerns that groups of pupils with the greatest need for high quality CEIAG might be those least likely to receive it, including disadvantaged pupils; pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds; those known to the care system; and young carers. However, CEC data shows that schools with higher numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) achieve a slightly higher number of Gatsby benchmarks on average.
DfE/CEC’s approach has been to pilot approaches to address this issue. DfE must evaluate the impact of these programmes and set out a timeline for them to be rolled out nationally.
SEND pupils face additional barriers to entering the workplace. They need tailored IAG to support them however there is a lack of specialist SEND careers advisers, low expertise amongst SENDCOs and a lack of flexible and accessible work placements.
The DfE’s plan to extend its Supported Internships pilot was welcomed and the urgent need to support pupils who are home educated was highlighted.
The Government will need to respond by 29 August 2023.