Editorial Comment:

Focus of Study

The aim of the study was to provide a rigorous evaluation of the net impacts of guidance on adult employed people, with particular emphasis on economic outcomes. The focus was on publicly available (usually free or subsidised) guidance services being provided to currently employed people, and specifically excluded guidance which was based within – or given by - the individual’s employers. The services considered included a personal interview with a guidance practitioner/counsellor (94% of cases), or talking to an adviser in a group (6%), and in many cases other inputs (e.g. taking skills and interest tests 26%, using a computer to get information/help 45%, and using leaflets/books 55%). In total some 2,700 guidance clients were approached, and, of them 1,612 responded (about a 60% response rate). The research cautions that, like most evaluation studies, the results can not be directly generalised, and that as usual, the study uses volunteers who may have untypical characteristics.

In addition it adds - mainly because of attrition in the in the research group - at some point research findings are reported as significant at a 90% confidence level, less than the 95% ‘gold standard’ in statistical analysis. However, the report added that:

• the sample group constituted a large fraction of all the adult employed people receiving publicly funded careers guidance in 1997;
• the methods of matching (against non-users) provide a robust basis for evaluation;
• overall, these considerations should increase confidence in the research findings.

Key findings

A very wide range of people used guidance services, but the mix in the survey sample was distinctive in a number of respects. Compared to the general working population, people who used services tended to be young, childless and reasonably well-qualified in educational terms. 60% of them were women, with the same proportion in 'white collar' jobs. Fewer of the sample worked part-time or as self-employed, than among the employed population as a whole. The sample was also characterised by a high level of recent job mobility, with 35% changing job in the 18 months before guidance. Two-thirds (67%) said that they used a guidance service because they wanted to change career, and more than half (55%) said they used it because they wanted to change job, with a similar percentage (56%), indicating they wanted to improve skills/qualifications. Guidance clients were appreciative of the help they had received. More than four-fifths (83%) indicated that it had been fairly or very helpful, and only a small proportion (5%) believed it to have been of no help.

In terms of perceived effects - with the average client reporting between three/four of these – just under four in ten (37%) indicated that they were given ideas about how to apply for jobs, and over half (57%) indicated that they felt it had helped them to search more effectively. Two-thirds (66%) of the sample stated that they were made interested in getting more education and training, and over two-thirds (67%) indicated that they had been told about suitable educational and training opportunities. Just under two-thirds (65%) were made 'to feel more hopeful about the future', which is noteworthy granted that just over a third (38%) indicated that they had sought guidance as they, ‘were at a loss to know what to do’.

In terms of substantiating the effects noted, the research showed that taking part in guidance had a positive impact on many aspects of participation in education and training. Over the two-year follow-up period, about 8% of the guidance sample entered full-time education and training, which was four times larger than the comparison group. Additional education and training – not full-time - paid for and organised by the individual, was started by 30% of the guidance group in the first year of follow- up, and by nearly 20% in the second year. This was substantially higher than the comparison sample.

Similarly the guidance sample was more than twice as likely to get a qualification from a course which they had initiated, than the comparison group, and had a higher rate of qualification, even after taking account of employer-provided training in which the comparison sample did better. In terms of other outcomes, the research concluded in regard to job satisfaction, that individuals may get help from a variety of formal/informal sources, and that it is difficult for guidance to do better than these. In regard to earnings progression, there was no indication that the guidance group improved its earnings more than the comparison group. However, it indicated that there may be scope for guidance services to increase their beneficial effects on earnings by providing advice on the potential financial implications of career steps.

Additional comments

The research indicated that conclusive research on issues such as earnings would need research with larger samples than were available for this study. It indicated that there is a ‘chicken and egg’ problem here, for only when there are larger scale guidance services in place, will sample sizes be available to assess the relative economic effectiveness of different models of provision.