Editorial Comment:

Focus

This study was commissioned by the DfEE in order to gain a clearer understanding of the impact that careers education and guidance may have upon the overall effectiveness of schools. Specifically, the research sought to explore the link between effective careers education and guidance and:

• Educational standards, particularly in terms of student achievement;
• The effectiveness of schools in terms of:
• Staff expectations, shared visions and continuing professional development;
• Curriculum enrichment;
• More effective use of external partners;
• Student aspirations and personal development.

Research Design

The project adopted a predominantly qualitative research methodology, although aggregated quantitative data (on GCSE attainment and student attendance, for example) was also collected from a wide range of sources, including material from publicly available performance data, OFSTED and other reports. Such a mixed approach was necessitated by a desire to investigate the quality of careers education and guidance provision; the extent of guidance community practice in selected schools; the degree of schools’ ‘effectiveness,’ and the relationship between these various elements. The qualitative research methodology allowed for detailed, in-depth questioning that could, in the initial stages, be fairly exploratory.

The case-study research was conducted through a series of face-to-face interviews in 30 schools that were identified, by their respective careers services, as having a ‘guidance community’ or ‘partnership’ approach to career education and guidance. The research team used a range of semi-structured interview schedules, to allow scope for detailed exploration of issues pertinent to any one school or individual, whilst adhering to a common core of key topics. There were two phases of fieldwork. One with head teachers, individuals with responsibility for performance data and careers coordinators and one with careers advisers, other members of staff involved in the teaching or planning of careers education and guidance, discussion groups of Year 10 students and external partners.

In total, some 176 detailed interviews were conducted, with a further 169 students involved in discussion groups.

Findings

In examining the factors that led to the distinctive role-played by careers education and guidance in each school, four driving forces became apparent. These include careers education and guidance as:

• An agent of change, leading to a refocusing or re-structuring of significant elements of the school curriculum or organisational strategy;
• A means of enhancing student self-esteem or motivation;
• A means of promoting lifelong learning and of reducing pre- or post-16 or 18 switching or drop out;
• A means of creating curriculum relevance.

Where schools had been able to identify either a specific role for careers education and guidance, or were very clear about its intended outcomes, this could make a significant contribution to a number of aspects of school life. This was most evident in the schools that had adopted a partnership or guidance community approach. Careers education and guidance in these schools:

• Helped staff to take a more skills-focused approach to the curriculum;
• Facilitated curriculum management and development;
• Encouraged stronger and subject links;
• Encouraged more productive links with employers and other local partners.

There was evidence that the partnership approach had most impact on areas such as curriculum management and external links. However, its influence on the ‘hard’ indicators of school performance, such as attainment and attendance, was more difficult to determine. Schools were most able to use careers education effectively where there was:

• A clear and shared vision of the role and purpose of the careers education and guidance programme in the school.
• A series of clear and achievable aims and objectives.
• A firm grounding in ‘information,’ with links being made between target setting performance data and destination data.
• An appropriate monitoring and evaluation system.