Why I decided to research the disconnect between secondary and HE careers provision.
What bothers you? That was the question I was told to ask myself when I decided to dive into the world of academic research. Funnily enough I was able to answer it instantly as I had been whinging about it for long enough! I am lucky enough to have worked as both a secondary school careers lead and now a university employability skills award manager, so I am passionate about life-long careers education and the positive impact we know it has when it is done well.
Here is what bothers me:
- Careers education and guidance provision in secondary schools and FE colleges has enjoyed a renaissance with the introduction of the Gatsby Benchmarks.
- Universities generally provide a wide array of careers and employability opportunities for students, including 1-1 guidance, placement/internship opportunites, focused workshops, mentoring and more.
However:
- Secondary and FE careers and teaching staff generally aren’t aware of university careers provision.
- University careers professionals often aren’t aware of the recently improved careers provision in schools and FE colleges.
- School/college – university transition programmes largely ignore how students can build on their careers development knowledge in HE.
Welcome to my blog!
This blog aims to explore areas I discover through my MRes research on how we can improve cohesion between secondary/FE and HE careers provision in England. What can the sectors learn from one another? What can young people tell us about their experiences of careers provision? And how may their experiences of careers education at school/college affect how they engage with their university careers service? During my MRes I will be speaking to first year university students about their experiences, and completing a qualitative study to ascertain key issues that need to be addressed to bridge the sectors.
Share your thoughts!
I look forward to sharing this exploration with you and, if you have any thoughts from your experiences, please do pop them in the comments.
One response to “What bothers you?”
I am really interested to read your research. I run the Careers Service in a London FE college and have been a careers practitioner for 20 years. I also spent 5 years before my current job working at 2 London unis, in outreach/WP and in careers/employability. My previous work has been invaluable in my current role.