The UK government, whilst launching a new National Careers Service, is switching responsibility for advice to those aged under 19 to schools. And this can only worsen the present situation where advice can be patchy especially for those with vocational qualifications. Do schools really have teachers able to advise students about vocational careers?
However the concern about asking parents reflected in the report of the City and Guilds course seems strange. Our research for the EU G8WAY project shows that parents can often pressurise young people into careers routes in which they are unhappy and which are not suited to them. Equally there is long running research showing that young people tend to follow their parents in careers choices and that this only reinforces the class nature of the education and occupational structures.
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The survey of 1,620 15- to 19-year-olds found those on vocational courses were least likely to have been given guidance.
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Some 22% of those studying for A-levels and university courses said they had not received careers advice; this rose to 28% for those taking apprenticeships, BTecs and GNVQs.
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The survey, conducted on behalf of City & Guilds – an exam board for vocational courses – also found teenagers were far more likely to ask advice from parents if they had been to university.
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Just 30% of teenagers would turn first to their parents for advice if they had no more than GCSE-level qualifications. Some 45% would ask their parents for career help if they had degrees.
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