Future careers: time to overcome the ‘guidance gap’

Jo Faragher

Without doubt, one of the victims of successive government cuts in recent years has been careers guidance.

The decision to take responsibility away from local authorities and hand it to schools meant that there was a deterioration in the advice on offer, a select committee found in 2013.

And now a survey by YouGov for consulting firm EY has found that, more likely, the biggest influence on young people’s career decisions is in fact parents.

More than half of parents questioned in the survey felt they had the strongest influence over their children’s education and career decisions, followed by teachers (cited by 23%) and friends (23%).

But one of the issues with parents’ involvement in career decisions upon leaving school is that the landscape has changed, massively.

Where once there was a clear path for young people to university after A-level, there are a multitude of other potential routes to take to qualify in their chosen vacation. And parents don’t always know about these options because they’re often marketed elsewhere or through schools, so the message doesn’t always get through.

EY rightly calls this a ‘guidance gap’ – parents desperately want to help but don’t have all the information at their disposal. Almost two-thirds said they would like to know more about the options available. For example, just 6% were aware of vocational further education courses and awareness of higher apprenticeships – a valid alternative to a degree – was miniscule.

As EY points out, the danger here is that university can become the default option because ‘that’s what everyone else is doing’ or because parents got a degree and think their offspring should follow suit. Schools, too, tend to promote the university route first and foremost because having a large cohort of alumni as undergraduates reflects positively on them.

In a world where getting a graduate job can be as gruelling as an army assault course, simply having a degree may not be enough of a differentiator anymore. What’s more, it simply doesn’t suit everyone.

If funding ever returns to careers advice, they need to consider a two-pronged attack to broaden their service and reach. Firstly to ensure schools are aware and promote all of the career options available (both vocational and academic), and second, that brochures, websites and other materials consider parents’ influence, too. Their role in building tomorrow’s skilled employees should not be underestimated.