The Sub-Committee on Education, Skills and the Economy has launched an inquiry into careers advice, information and guidance in England. It has invited responses on the following matters:
- The quality and impartiality of current provision
- How careers advice in schools and colleges can help to match skills with labour market needs
- The role of the new Careers and Enterprise Company and its relationship with other bodies such as the National Careers Service
- The balance between national and local approaches to careers advice
- Careers advice and apprenticeships
- The potential for employers to play a greater role in careers advice
The key points of the response are:
- The Society believes that all young people should receive high quality guidance on careers from an early age, especially the wide range of career options that studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects opens up.
- Careers information advice and guidance (IAG) should be an integral component of the school/college week throughout secondary education and provided objective and fairly to all pupils, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or socio-economic background.
- To deliver high quality careers IAG, schools need strong, sustained relationships with employers. These provide unique opportunities for young people to interact with STEM role models and help teachers and families to better engage with the myriad opportunities within academia and industry that studying STEM subjects can lead to.