Investing in careers education and guidance

Sue Eynon outlines plans for a major conference in London this autumn to explore anticipated radical change in the delivery of careers education and guidance in England

The face of careers education and guidance (CEG) in England looks set to change dramatically in the near future. With this in mind, two organisations - each celebrating a major anniversary this year - have come together to arrange a national conference to address the issues.

CRAC celebrates 40 years in 2004 as the largest career-related education charity in the UK, working actively to promote lifelong learning and develop the career-related skills of people of all ages. At the same time, Investor in Careers (managed by Connexions Cornwall and Devon), the quality kitemark for CEG for schools, colleges and training providers, celebrates its 10th anniversary.

The conference will be held in London on 1 October 2004 and is being planned in collaboration with the Institute of Career Guidance in association with the National Association of Careers and Guidance Teachers.

The timing has been set to coincide with various changes coming on line in September 2004, including the duty on schools to provide careers education in Years 7 and 8, changes to the key stage 4 curriculum and statutory changes relating to work-related learning for all at key stage 4. By then information will also be available on the 'end-to-end' review of Connexions, currently being conducted by the Cabinet Office, and the final report by Mike Tomlinson's 14-19 Working Group (expected in September 2004). Their interim report supports the proposal for a more structured approach to personal planning and review before and during the 14-19 phase for all learners and the Group will consider the implications on workload and resources that this would bring. QCA is also currently focusing on coherence and co-ordination of personal development learning at key stage 4 and its report, expected any day now, will contain some key implications for CEG.

Question time
So much behind-the-scenes activity will inevitably bring with it far-reaching repercussions for all of us with responsibility for personal development and guidance within and beyond schools. How will new demands be defined? How will they be met? What implications will the findings have for the future design and delivery of CEG programmes for both schools and guidance providers? What will the changes mean for young people?

At a time of such radical re-thinking of CEG delivery, we should no doubt delve deeper and ask such fundamental questions as:

Make sure you contribute to the debate! For full details of the conference, visit the website at: www.crac.org.uk/events/investing/about.htm