7.4

Young people

Quality, choice and aspiration: a strategy for young people's information, advice and guidance


The Department for Children, Schools and Families launched ‘Quality, Choice and Aspiration' in late 2009. This strategy for young people's information, advice and guidance (IAG) is expected to play a significant role in supporting the skills development of young people in England, and in particular to raise the aspirations of those from disadvantaged backgrounds and to encourage social mobility.

The strategy was influenced by the report ‘Fair Access to the Professions', which was produced by a dedicated panel chaired by Rt Hon Alan Milburn MP. This report put some emphasis on the role of IAG in social mobility, and heavily criticised aspects of existing provision. The Fair Access report made many recommendations on IAG, and several of these have been taken forward within the IAG strategy.

The strategy includes an IAG Guarantee which entitles young people in school to:

  • support from a Personal Tutor who knows them well and who can help them to access specialist advice and ensure any learning needs or issues are quickly addressed
  • high quality programmes of careers education which help young people to plan and manage their own careers
  • impartial information, advice and guidance about learning and work options including about Apprenticeships, Diplomas, Foundation Learning and GCSEs/A levels
  • information, advice and guidance about the benefits of higher education and how to access the opportunities that it affords
  • a programme of work related learning (in Years 10 and 11), giving young people direct insights into the world of work.

All young people are entitled to access, through wider commissioned services:

  • one to one advice and support from a local specialist Connexions adviser when needed
  • information and advice by telephone and online every day (including evenings and weekend) through Connexions Direct
  • further specialist support from local services as needed
  • information on all local learning programmes for 14-19 year olds via their local 14-19 prospectus
  • support for young people to move to adult information, advice and guidance services when they reach the appropriate age
  • the ability to apply for post-16 learning opportunities on-line through a Common Application Process by 2011.

The strategy heavily emphasises the importance of work-based learning and experiences of work (including virtual work placements), specifically identifying mentoring as a tool which can support both this aim and the aim to raise aspirations.

Modernising IAG provision through extending the use of ICT is another aim of the strategy. The paper states that ‘young people today want and expect to secure IAG from a range of sources beyond formal careers advice' and want to ‘access information online, and to make use of new interactive technologies'.

Examples of proposed innovations include supporting the development of:

  • online/virtual work tasters to give young people insight into career options, focused on the professions
  • moderated chat rooms
  • message boards
  • webcam facilities for face-to-face discussions with an adviser.

Thus the strategy is explicit about exploring online guidance - it is not just about online information resources.

Youth Sector Development Fund

The fourth round of funding under this heading will be run to support information, advice and guidance, as announced in the IAG strategy.

This fund is for third sector organisations and aims to extend existing provision as well as to encourage new, innovative initiatives.

All bids to this fund must address:

  • evidence of track record of success in delivering improved outcomes to disadvantaged young people through 1:1 support, mentoring and IAG
  • evidence of ability to engage young people with the lowest aspirations, and their families
  • capacity to provide young people with a range of experiences that respond to their needs, preferences and lifestyles, and raise their aspirations for learning and work
  • robust established partnerships with businesses, FE, HE and schools, to support young people's growing aspirations
  • provision of impartial information, advice and guidance to young people and their parents, to support learning and career decisions
  • clear additionality, without duplicating or displacing existing provision, and a clearly evidenced need
  • capacity to carry out agreed activities from April without a start-up phase, and deliver agreed outcomes by March 2011
  • adherence to the Quality Standards set out in Annex 1 of Quality, Choice and Aspiration
  • how full use of existing online IAG provision (or other online provision adapted to meet IAG needs) will be made, whilst responding to young people's expectations for sourcing IAG in new ways
  • evidence that young people have been involved in drawing up the proposals and will be part of their delivery and evaluation
  • robust management and governance arrangements, identifying dedicated personnel, roles and responsibilities, including those of relevant partners
  • clear safeguarding strategy, covering child safeguarding measures and compliance with child protection legislation
  • clear plans for formative and summative evaluation within the constraints of the funding period
  • all projects must provide evidence to demonstrate sustainability beyond March 2011.

All proposals will need to include provision for involving parents in IAG.

The opposition perspective

The Conservatives have outlined their plans to create an all-age careers service. Currently, England is the only country in the UK not to have such a service already; the government policy for England is to develop an all-age strategy, which aims to create coherence between careers provision up to the age of 19 and the adult advancement and careers service, which is due to be launched in 2010.

For young people, an all-age service according to Conservative plans would include access to a careers adviser based in every school - which is quite a different prospect to that which is currently on offer.