GATBSY BENCHMARK 2
Learning from career and labour market information
WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE
All students and parents should have access to high-quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. They will need the support of an informed adviser to make best use of available information.
- By the age of 14, all students should have accessed and used information about career paths and the labour market to inform their own decisions on study options.
- Parents should be encouraged to access and use information about labour markets and future study options to support their children.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Access to up-to-date career and labour market information is important for social mobility. Information about pay, numbers of vacancies and alumni’s successful transitions helps to connect students to a different future.
- Students with high aspirations often lack the knowledge to put their plans into action. Providing detailed information about progression routes, relevant courses and employers and useful networks strengthens their capacity to make effective choices and transitions.
- Students, parents and teachers need to be updated about new and developing routes and pathways, such as technical levels in occupational areas and the continued expansion of apprenticeships.
- Students need strong digital skills to make good use of online information about career exploration, making applications, self-presentation and professional networking.
TOP TIPS FOR EMPLOYERS
- Check out the sources of information that the school or college promotes to its parents and students as part of your preparation.
- Share additional insights, sources and contacts from your own sector and from your LEP so that teachers, careers advisers and students have a more rounded picture of opportunities.
- Provide references to good sources of information as part of employer engagement events.
- Encourage students to undertake follow-up research so that they can find out more and start to put plans into action.
- Provide practical examples of how different subjects are used within the workplace so that students value the skills and knowledge they are developing at school.
- Illustrate your talks with film clips or job profiles from free careers resources, such as I Could or the National Careers Service.
- Bring talks to life with concrete case studies that show diverse pathways and job opportunities in your organisation. You should also provide your organisation’s websites with details of entry requirements.
- Share your insights into trends in the labour market as part of your contribution but encourage students to do their own research too.
- Contribute to the training of teachers and careers advisers about changes in the labour market to ensure those working directly with students on a day-to-day basis are up-to-date.
- Listen to what young people say about careers information and share these insights with schools and the Enterprise Adviser Network to support ongoing improvement in the impact of careers messaging.