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Careers advice is "on life support," say CBI

The CBI has lambasted the provision of careers advice in schools, following reforms that placed the responsibility with schools last year.

Echoing previous concerns from the cross-part Education Committee, the business organisation has said too many young people leave school or college with little knowledge of the workplace.

CBI director general, John Cridland was speaking to headteachers today as he said careers advice was on “life support” in many areas, and criticised the Government’s “laissez faire” approach.

He backed calls from the National Careers Council earlier this month to extend face-to-face advice from adults to students, as part of an overhaul of the Service, and also called on businesses to get more involved.

Mr Cridland said: “The jump from school or college to work is getting bigger year-by-year, decade-by-decade. The education system needs to develop the rigorous, rounded and grounded young people who can make that leap.

“The competition for jobs has never been so tough, with young people hit by a double whammy of slow economic growth and a rapidly changing labour market. Yet it’s alarming there is such a big mismatch between the skills that young people have and the realities of the workplace. We cannot afford to waste talent and investment when the long-term outlook is still so fragile.

“We know careers advice is on life support in many areas, as schools struggle with the new statutory duty. It’s right that schools should have the freedom to run their own affairs – but the Government may have adopted too laissez faire an approach with serious consequences for our young people.

“Businesses need to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in but there needs to be much more impetus from Whitehall. Careers must be a priority not a bolt-on afterthought or optional extra.

“It’s clear the National Careers Service is needed in schools. Young people need its brand of informed face-to-face advice, as well as needing to be better targeted, more actively online, through social media channels.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .