Government finally rolls out new careers guidance scheme

Nicky Morgan came under heavy fire from MPs in January over the coalition government's inadequate careers service provision in schools, where receptionists were trained to give teenagers careers advice in a system that was "not mandating any standards whatsoever".

Three months on from the education secretary's mauling in front of the education select committee, the government is rolling out a new system that Ms Morgan hopes will begin to address critics' concerns.

The independent careers advice body will be chaired by Christine Hodgson, the executive chair of Capgemini UK. It is designed to fill the gap left in 2011 when Michael Gove, the former education secretary, scrapped the careers service body Connexions and transferred its responsibility to schools - without providing extra cash.

Ms Hodgson - who wants Capgemini to be a systematic matchmaking service that links employers to schools - was appointed by Ms Morgan in December to establish an employer-led careers advice company.

It aims to inject life into a careers system that in 2013 was described by the CBI employers' group as being on "life support".

Ms Hodgson plans to provide students with broad career advice - providing them with options outside their local areas if they want to explore a career in the City or industry.

A big focus will be promoting "Stem" subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) in schools in an effort to help plug a yawning skills gap. "A number of organisations have already come to us and said, this can be a vehicle to help get the message out," Ms Hodgson says.

"At the moment, you've got no end of willing employers who are happy to go in and to help schools. At the other extreme, you've got all these schools that are either inundated with offers of support, or they have nothing. There's no consistency and there's inconsistent coverage.

"I'm really interested to start with some really cold spots where there has been very little employer contact in schools, some of the coastal towns, some of the rural areas.

"The reason I want to do both is I want to learn from where activity is happening as to what works well and what doesn't. I like the idea of cold spots because I want to think about how we are going to attract employers to go into an area where they don't have activity, how are we going to engage SMEs? If we can co-ordinate it, will it make it easier for schools in those areas?"

But questions remain over how effective Ms Hodgson's "umbrella organisation" can be if individual schools lack dedicated career advisers and a proper system of monitoring careers advice.

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There are also subtle differences between the pair over whether the government should mandate and monitor standards for career advice. Ms Hodgson thinks it "would be taken much more seriously if schools are measured on it".

But the education secretary, brought in to soothe relations with the teaching community after four years of war with Mr Gove, is reluctant to stoke more tension by saddling the profession with more bureaucracy.

"I go back to 900 teachers I have spoken to since I took on this role," Ms Morgan says. "They are all saying trust us as professionals . . . if I put in a whole new tier of sanctions, it cuts across the message I am getting from teachers."

Labour, meanwhile, has committed to investing £50m to guarantee face-to-face advice from careers guidance professionals should the Labour party win next month's election. Labour claims the funding - to be taken from universities' existing outreach spending - will be used to ensure trainer careers advisers are available to all school children, from the age of 11.

How careers advice is delivered in schools in the coming five years will depend on who wins the general election - Ms Hodgson gave this interview before the dissolution of parliament.

However, Labour said that it had no plans to scrap the venture, acknowledging that schools did need more support in linking up to business.

"If you think of schools as a three-pronged plug socket, and you think of the world of work as a nine-pronged plug, you need a least one adapter to connect the two," Ms Hodgson says.

"And if this organisation can be part of creating that adaptor, then it will be a really valuable organisation."

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