Are Careers Advisers to Blame for Stifling Aspirations?
25-July-2006
permalink email this- Transcript of You and Yours interview
- BBC Radio 4 You and Yours Website
- Are Careers Advisers to blame for gender stereotypical career choices in young people?
On yesterday's (Monday 24th July) BBC Radio 4 'You and Yours' broadcast, one feature concerned 'How good is Careers Advice in Schools?' On the BBC website it states:
BBC site, 'How good is careers advice in schools ?'Schools careers advice has attracted criticism from organisations like the CBI who say the guidance given to pupils is inadequate. Professor Kiran Trehan, head of the business school at the University of Central England in Birmingham tells us about the poor help she got as a school girl.
Kiran's account of her experience of Careers Advice is pretty damning - you can listen to the whole interview on the BBC website link above, but the following is an extract:
My first experience of a Careers Service was very much to stifle me and my aspirations, particularly living in the cultural context that I came from, so I guess my first experience wasn't a very positive one.
interviewer: What did they actually say to you?
Pretty much that going to University wasn't really an option and had I considered working in other areas which were very much centred around retail or general admin jobs. My aspirations were to go to university but I think a lot of their advice had to do with the area I was brought up in around Forest gate. Had I listened to that and not had my own single minded determination I guess it would not have happened [going to university]
. ... I think it was just them having low expectations of children that came from working class backgrounds and in addition to that were from ethnic minority communities. .... I wouldn't want to leave the impression that Careers Advisers or the service as a whole was completely inadequate, I think they were doing a role and they had a purpose, but I think it is really important for Careers Advisers to think about the knowledge and information they portray because it does have long-term implications.
You and Yours are planning a further interview today Tuesday 25th July 2006, with a Space Scientist who apparantly was told she should become a nurse, but then there is a debate on Careers Advice on Wednesday 26th July at approximately 12.20 with Anthony Thompson (CBI), Kath Wright (ACEG) and another from industry.
It seems recently that Careers Advisers have been blamed for all sorts of aspects of inequality. Whilst clearly the experiences highlighted in the BBC programme are shocking a more pertinent question might be are they representative of what is going on in careers guidance today, and how can the Careers Guidance as a profession defend itself from these attacks? Please use this discussion forum to give the case for the defence. It seems to me that the perspective of the careers guidance community has sometimes been missing from the discussions - for instance, the recent attribution of blame to careers advisers for perpetuating gender inequality - if only careers advisers were on their own powerful enough to challenge inequality I'd be delighted!
This space is your opportunity to redress this potential imbalance and inform what is a lively debate. Looking on the bright side, any renewed focus on the activities of Career Guidance is an opportunity to speak up about the potential value of the work, whilst recognising that of course as with any profession there may be instances of less than good practice. So how do you respond to the suggestion that Careers Advisers contribute to the perpetuation of inequality by lowering aspirations and colluding with the status quo? Can you give examples of more enlightened practice, or any explanation of the experiences of the interviewees above?
This site also contains a discussion around Digby Jones' suggestion that careers advisers are to blame for gender inequality to which you may also want to contribute.
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