An all-age careers service for England

1. An all-age careers service for England Gerard McAlea Quality, Support and Guidance Division Department for Education

2. An all-age careers service: policy context • John Hayes – Ministerial responsibility • Coalition Government • Schools White Paper • Drive for social mobility • Changing economic circumstances • Vision for young people • Spending Review

3. ‘Coalition values’ “We share a conviction that the days of big government are over; that centralisation and top-down control have proved a failure. We believe that the time has come to disperse power more widely in Britain today; to recognise that we will only make progress HM Government The Coalition: our Programme for Government, May 2010, page 7, para 2 if we help people to come together to make life better. In short, it is our ambition to distribute power and opportunity to people rather than hoarding authority within government. That way, we can build the free, fair and responsible society we want to see.”

4. New ways of working • Replacing bureaucratic accountability with democratic mechanisms; • Building people’s capability; • Transparency and openness; • Giving power away; • Enabling innovative institutions; • Not devising strategies to “even out” local variation if it’s what people have chosen.

5. Schools White Paper: some messages • A world-class education system; • Devolving as much as possible to the frontline; • Freedom for schools to innovate; • Pupil Premium; • “It is only through reforming education that we can allow every child the chance to take their full and equal share in citizenship, shaping their own destiny, and becoming masters of their own fate”; • “Our schools should be engines of social mobility, helping children to overcome the accidents of birth and background to achieve much more than they may ever have imagined”.

6. An all-age careers service: policy context • Coalition Government • Schools White Paper • Drive for social mobility • Changing economic circumstances • Vocational qualifications/ the “glory of craft” • Vision for young people • Spending Review

7. An all-age careers service: principles • Consistency: seamless support from youth to adulthood and on to lifelong learning • High quality: careers guidance as a driver of economic prosperity and social mobility • Independence and impartiality • Professionalism: strengthening the skills of the careers guidance workforce

8. An all-age careers service: vision • from April 2012, interim arrangements from September 2011; • telephone, online and in the community; • intensive support for those with greatest need; • close working with Jobcentre Plus, local authorities and schools: • Support in moving the unemployed and low-skilled towards sustainable employment; • Support for disadvantaged including NEETs and learners with learning difficulties/disabilities, where referred by local authorities; • Schools work in partnership with careers professionals so that pupils can access independent, impartial careers guidance. • strengthening of the careers profession.

9. Challenges • Planning and managing the transition from existing services; • Working with stakeholders; • Involvement of schools, in context of new freedoms; • Funding.