Careers Advisors as Change Agents & Innovators

Applied Research in Technical Education Dr Chris Coutts & Abdulridha Dismal Careers Advisors as Change Agents & Innovators How school careers advisors approach their roles and utiliseLabour Market Intelligence (LMI)

Bahrain’s 2030 Economic Vision • Reducing Dependency on Oil • Economic Diversification • Making the Private Sector the Engine of Growth • Making Bahraini Employees of choice Bahrain’s Economic Vision & Goals are strategic drivers guiding the direction of its planning and operations, as they do in any successful business.

Emerging Findings Labour Market Intelligence Project in Bahrain In cooperation with LMRA, Tamkeen, Napier University, Scotland • Focus groups • Interviews • Survey • Careers & Industry Forum

Choosing the right career is Hard? A labour market characterised by high levels of uncertainty • Unclear relationship between Higher Education and the Job Market. • “Mismatch between university output & private sector requirements” • “students simply studying the wrong things.” • A multiplicity of Higher Education Providers and Programmes Careers Advisors support students to plan their futures, by building capability & assisting decision making

Labour Market Intelligence • Information – An organized set of data or facts • Intelligence – Information used to enable a decision to be made • Labour Market (LM) – A system that allows both Employees and Employers to satisfy their needs; Some definitions.....

Some demographics By 2020 Bahrain’s population…. • Will reach 1.5 million • 46% will be Bahraini • Will include 80,000 more Bahrainis in the workforce • Growth of working age will be 41% (over 400,000) 19% growth in GDP per capita

Participation by gender (HEC survey data) 16-5-2012

Participation by HEI type (HEC survey data) 16-5-2012

Current HEI Students Students by Programme in 2011-2011 (HEC data) 16-5-2012

Programme Analysis HEIs (HEC survey data) 16-5-2012

Congruency? Comparative Example 1. • RELATIONSHIP OF INDUSTRY LABOUR NEEDS & VOCATIONAL DEGREE QUALIFICATIONS Comparative Example 2. Source: QAA Vocational Review Unit 2008 (from Central Informatics Organization 2005)

Bahraini Comparison Source: QAA Vocational Review Unit 2008 (from Central Informatics Organization 2005)

Other problems? • Fragmentation of the Labour Market part time/ short term contracts • “Jobs not well defined, taken on a temporary basis, not a good pay structure, mostly run by family members, “one man show,” very fragile environment” • “ A lot depends on winning contracts” • High youth unemployment including graduates • Government favoured over private employers • “Good pay structure, stable environment” • Legislative barriers • “Its very difficult to hire/fire Bahraini” • “The formal rules are less transparent”

What the Schools told us? • Labour market needs are a vital component of good advising and planning for the curriculum • We can’t easily access up-to date information in a format that’s useful for us our busy roles • CAs are very resourceful people.... • We spend a great deal of time and energy trying the get the best, most up-to date information for our students • Our information comes from personal contacts, web information and HEIs • The internet and government sources are the most important

Careers Advisors’ approach? • Advice about career opportunities is based on academic achievement & their interests • We have a lack of resources, people and software, to implement career development programmes • We don’t have the processes to assist students in identifying their potential to develop in other areas • No time to give much one-to-one attention. • Some Innovative Models to overcome these problems: Clubs, interest groups, every teacher a CA

Decision making? • Principals rated the most important influences on choosing a career as: • family • students’ interest & ability • job-market. • Many students were looking for “easy options” • Finances played a major part in deciding • So did parents but a disconnect with labour market requirements -strategies to update?

What Principals said? • Information is scattered, very bureaucratic! • It would be great to have a ‘one-stop-shop’...to have information all in one place, easily accessible • As a principal, we don’t know the jobs in the future; this is the kind of information we need access to • We need yearly updates on this type of information.

Conclusions • More training needs to be provided for CAs to do their jobs well • More resources (human and physical) • Regular updates to keep up to date with the Labour Market Changes.

And Industry? • Labour market is a very important consideration • The skill gap for local staff is an issue • There are cultural issues-there was unwillingness to take certain jobs: • “Oh it’s at a warehouse?” • “Can I work at Head Office?” • Decisions about training have to be made in advance of the industry • SMEs need some sense of where market is going and make decisions in line with trends.

SMEs Findings • LMI from many sources: government, friends, customers, competitors, market research, internet, government • Reliance on social media -peculiar to SMEs? • Many wanted to employ Bahraini but.....

Skills University Graduates Lack? Private sector survey results show that University graduates in Bahrain lacked core skills Source: Private Sector Survey 2005, run jointly by the Ministry of Education, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Economic Development Board. Total number of companies surveyed: 400 (as of Nov 25, 2005).

Industry feedback Graduates need to be able to: • Communicate • Participate in a team • Use their initiative • Problem solve • Think critically

What next? A Paradigm Shift..... Challenges for Careers Advisors • What are the most important gaps in skills of school graduates that need to be filled? • How should careers advisors utilise this information? • Knowing all this, what changes need to be made in schools and the role of advisors? • How can careers advisors help parents to get a realistic view of the Labour market? • How can they forge stronger links with industry? • What changes need to be made to the curriculum to integrate Career Development? To ease transition?

Community Engagement What can parents do? Findings from a recent Community Workshop • Encourage and support • Stay involved and interested • Communicate about the importance of education • Help their children understand Higher Education expectations • Discuss differences between teacher/parent perceptions • Keep up to date with changes in the Labour Market

Feedback from Students What is so different? • Following the Rules in High School vs Choosing Responsibly in Higher Education • Going to High School Classes vs Succeeding in Higher Education Classes • High School Teachers vs Higher Education Tutors • Tests in High School vs Assignments and Projects in Higher Education • Grades in High School vs Grades in Higher Education

Connecting Generations Inspiring Innovations

Any Questions? Thank you

Careers Advisors as Change Agents & Innovators