CareerSteer – careers test for career choice www.careersteer.org
Opportunity Structures Assignment: Winter 1997.
Diploma in Careers Guidance, College of Guidance Studies, Swanley.
Cole Davis
How successful have changes in the educational curriculum and
training provision been in preparing young people for the
emerging demands of the new labour market? What are the
implications for the Careers Service as a result of this, and
what support can individual Careers Advisers provide?
Since the 1970s (e.g. James Callaghan's 1976 Ruskin speech),
British policymakers have appeared to focus on making education
and training relevant to the needs of the labour market. As the
labour market has continued to change drastically, it is
necessary to examine these changes as the criteria for then
measuring the reforms and their effects. The implications of
this matrix upon the careers service and proposed strategies for
individual practitioners will then be discussed together.
'Flexible working' is demanded by organisations that have
themselves changed radically to meet global demands (Handy,
1989). Competition, accelerated by the effects of new
technology, have led to the diffusion of transnational
corporations' mores. Retail staff are required to serve around
the clock. Traditional working class manufacturing jobs are in
steep decline; such wages as are available are rightly or wrongly
priced as part of a market economy (Hutton, 1995). Many
professional jobs have been mutated by deregulation and the
emergence of comparatively new specialisms. One of these,
information technology, with the accompanying confidence in
instant communication, is creating a revolution in the staffing
needs of those occupations which would otherwise appear to be
continuing in a traditional manner.
Full-time permanent employment would appear to be a vanishing
commodity, or at least the province of the over-worked (Handy,
1994) and insecure (Hutton, 1995). Some of this is related to
the interdependent factors of part-time work and the increasing
participation of women in the workforce (Maguire, 1991) and may
in time be changed by demographic factors (Tillsley, 1995). It
should be noted that extrapolations of trends may only be of
value for a few years; at our current rate of change, almost any
scenario is possible. The only common denominator seems to be
volatility (and even that may eventually change).
Certain demands, however, appear to be made of the current
workforce. A basic standard of literacy and numeracy is often
required, with a growing demand for communication skills,
particularly I.T. related; these are to be referred to henceforth
as core skills. Manual jobs not requiring these have diminished
considerably in number. Jobs at even relatively junior
professional levels require more than content knowledge; such
process skills (hence to be referred to as key skills) vary in
formulation (c.f. Pring, 1989; Rajan & Bevan, 1990), but include
elements such as working as part of a team, decision-making, and
entrepreneurial flair. The use of the term 'skills' may be a
rather unfortunate one, giving the impression of neatly
categorised achievements, measurable at given levels:
'benchmarked'.
The development of the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ)
is the obvious manifestation of such an approach, with
performance criteria for differing levels being attuned to the
perceived requirements of the employer and now being incorporated
into Network Training and Modern Apprenticeships. According to
the careers advisers recently interviewed by the writer, the NVQ
is gaining respect amongst employers, in spite of concerns about
college-based NVQs (Financial Times, 1996). Such support may be
attributed to the advantages of on-the-job training: skills are
not always easily transferable to other companies, a cosy
recruitment process is available without the tenure strings of
traditional apprenticeships, and the subsidies on top of low wage
levels is also attractive to employers. This short-term approach
may not meet emerging needs, however. A training within one
company, trained in its way of working, may not be of use to
employee or employer in the uncertain long- or even medium-term.
The GCE A level, while still respected by 'older'
universities, which in turn produce degrees acceptable to many
large employers, also fails to generate transferable skills,
often in terms of core as well as key skills. Some proponents of
history, philosophy and psychology make claims to the development
of 'critical thinking' and 'powers of analysis'. Even if true,
such arguments hardly extend to the academic route as a whole.
Universities complain about the poor standards of literacy of
undergraduates. This problem is being countered by taking
grammar into account during assessment; success without training
input is uncertain, however. Employers of graduates also
complain about an insufficient breadth of key skills. Once on a
purely academic curriculum, students are unlikely to practise key
skills in a broad sense in further education.
If transferable skills are indeed required on initial entry,
perhaps with an embryonic 'portfolio' for future regular job
changes (Handy, 1989), the narrow bases of the NVQ and A levels
are a cause for concern. They often only provide utility,
respectively, within the current employing organisation or a
circumscribed area of academic study.
The GNVQ attempts to straddle the divide between the academic
and the vocational. Although didactically based, it focuses upon
a particular industrial sector (e.g. leisure and tourism), and
its emphasis on performance criteria within continuous assessment
familiarises students with the NVQ system, now increasingly
available at level 4 as a route to professional qualifications.
It is also being increasingly accepted as an equivalent to A
levels by many universities and some employers.
Its adoption of core skills as non-negotiable targets within
the curriculum constitutes an attempt to improve candidates'
employability. Unfortunately, the likeliest source of key skills
is both available and avoidable. Work experience placements,
usually two fortnightly periods in any given academic year, are
not assessed; even attendance is not mandatory. Given the
additional problem of scarcity and difficulty in arranging -
placements give them lower priority than TRIDENT and professional
qualification placements - tutors sometimes fail to take
placements seriously and may even discourage students from going.
Viewed from most perspectives - getting a 'taster' of a type of
work, enriching course-based knowledge, or developing skills -
this must surely be viewed as an opportunity often wasted.
It may also strengthen the more cynical, but widely held, view
that the GNVQ is merely a further education route for the less
able. Such a view also encompasses secondary education.
"More cynical commentators have suggested that the
government's desire to maintain traditional
examinations and to introduce records of achievement as
well is a re-enactment of the 'sheep and goats'
mentality of the earlier tripartite system, with
academic examinations being preserved for the
scholastic elite and records of achievement servicing
the needs of the rest..... Some would go further and
argue that the wide-ranging emphasis of records of
achievement on recording a great variety of skills and
personal qualities, as well as specific attainments, is
a re-enactment of the old elementary school concern
with civic virtue and Godliness as well as basic
competence in the 'three R's' ..." (Broadfoot, 1989).
One should also note that a concern with the authenticity of
apparently student-created records - and an understandable
circumlocution in teachers' testimonials - makes them rather
unreliable measures of attainment. This of course undermines
their value in facilitating entry into the labour market.
The national curriculum, does, however, make a serious attempt
to prepare students in core and key skills. Primary schools
concentrate on literacy and numeracy (key stage 1). At secondary
level, there is an emphasis on process that may have some
validity in the development of key skills; in, for example,
'C.D.T.', planning, implementation and evaluation are valued, as
well as the actual production. T.V.E.I., introduced in the early
1980s, encouraged this, as well as schools and industry links.
The National Curriculum, with its core components and an
attempt to maintain a balance between sciences and other, more
popular subjects - the notions of 'choice' and 'range' - is
mainly aimed at raising the attainment levels of children of
average and below average ability. At least more people may
become numerate and literate enough to compete for the wider
range of clerically focused jobs that would appear to be largely
replacing assembly line jobs.
Rees (1992) cites class and gender as primary determinants of
the type of course selected, in school, on youth training
placements, and in further and higher education. She refers to
the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, which led to textbooks being
monitored for more blatant stereotyping (c.f. Race Relations Act)
and prevented the debarring of pupils from non-traditional
options. Recent media concerns about schoolboys' inadequate GCSE
results may in fact have missed the point. The apparent deficit
is a relative one, girls' performances having improved, the
effects of legislation on education having filtered through.
"However, economic recession and the growth in youth
unemployment are seen to undermine the view that
investment in education will ensure continuing economic
prosperity." (Brown, 1989).
In spite of an upturn in employment in 1997, young people not
pursuing full-time further education are being encouraged to take
part in the successors of the Youth Training Scheme rather than
in 'real jobs'. It could well be argued however, that the
unemployment situation would be much grimmer if the schemes did
not alter the statistics (Killeen, 1996). As mentioned above (in
relation to NVQs), the narrowness of on-the-job training may
limit its longer-term benefits in the face of continuing
technical and occupational volatility. At the same time, whilst
providing employers with cheap labour, the schemes do give
trainees a continuing foothold on the qualification ladder which
is increasingly a factor in the labour market.
Brown (1989), however, doubts the ability of employers to
stipulate training needs. They agree only on "the need for a
flexible and adaptable workforce capable of responding to changes
in the work process".
There are also very grave doubts about the over exposure of
youth training to market forces. It is hard to envisage an
adequate preparation for such insecurity; neo-Keynesians such as
Hutton would argue that such destabilisation is in fact
deleterious and should be challenged. (Hutton, 1995).
Whether or not a more regulated approach to political economy
comes about - and the new Labour government of 1997 does not
currently seem to be on such a course - we can currently only be
certain of uncertainty. As noted earlier, there are diminishing
returns upon extrapolations from current trends. The most
reasonable suggestion for improving education may be a revised
form of liberal education (or humanistic, perhaps); in requiring
people for all seasons, Renaissance Man (with Woman) may return.
In the meantime, the Careers Service may be seen to bear the
burden of lubricating the employment exchange system, adapting
individuals to the needs of the labour market (Roberts, 1977).
This is in line with one of two governmental aims for guidance
work, that of economic efficiency. (Watts, 1996a). The clear
implication for careers advisers is that whatever their feelings
or ideological principles, they should be informing clients about
appropriate training schemes or courses, whichever is appropriate
to individual needs. Clearly, a person's development, personal
attributes and aspirations need to be taken into account, with
the leavening of realistic information about the labour market.
Given the shifting patterns of occupations and training and
educational provision, the gathering of Labour Market Information
(and Intelligence) will remain a crucial role within careers
services (the diversity deriving from privatisation and roles in
further education, etc., suggest the plural to the writer).
Individual careers advisers clearly have a professional duty to
update their knowledge.
Continuing and improved liaison with careers education
teachers, as well as specialist input from advisers, is required
to form a firm foundation for guidance. Transmission of sound
L.M.I. may reduce some of the usual burden of unrealistic
expectations.
A second governmental aim, that of promoting social equity
(Watts, 1996a), is easily translated into policy statements for
careers companies, which have to comply in any case to be awarded
contracts. Careers advisers, however, can take a truly active
role. A woman who has been informed that 'airports are no place
for girls' (actual case), and has been advised to take a social
care course, may be informed of the reality of industrial needs,
female participation in the workplace, and of the facts of sexual
discrimination and relevant legislation. Similarly, careers
advisers may take action by reporting direct and indirect
discrimination to the EOC, CRE, etc. Increasing diversity is a
reality of the emerging labour market, which can be discussed
within careers education and is necessary to both discourage
conflict and to encourage local market needs. (Local needs, and
obvious matches with local people, should not blind advisers,
however, to individuals' potential. One adviser, on the writer's
recent placement, failed to challenge or make alternative
suggestions when an academically strong working class black woman
introduced her intention of becoming an air hostess).
One of the factors of the labour market is the uneven
distribution of work, and types of jobs, over the country. As
well as gathering and disseminating information which facilitates
mobility, in Europe as well as nationally, truly local market
information is also needed. The careers adviser can improve on
the service's information by developing contacts amongst
employers and actually generating the idea of training
opportunities amongst such 'providers'.
In dealing with some of the above-mentioned problems of
training and work experience placements, careers services and
careers advisers have complementary roles. Careers services
should promote the importance of wider skills development as a
strategy for enabling longer-term organisational change
(including the current Investors in People scheme) and may also
encourage providers to consider the benefits of the NVQ and other
non-academic routes to competence. Advisers should also promote
the latter during careers education, and in liaison with teachers
and other agencies.
Careers advisers, in conjunction with their services are able
to discourage employers who abuse training schemes. They do not
have to 'feed' clients to such employers in the future; given
occasional shortages, and the subsidy, this may be an effective
sanction, used with discretion.
Within schools and further education, careers advisers should
encourage placements to be seen as integral to learning, both in
terms of curriculum (especially GNVQ) and in general
understanding of work. Work 'tasters' may be misleading, given
limited exposure, and may sometimes lead to superficial
preferences in guidance interviews. Whilst tactics must reflect
limited influence, there are ways in which these considerable
weaknesses in the system may be addressed.
Even if unable to encourage careers teachers and further
education tutors to act directly, direct interaction within
education guidance could emphasise the benefits to be gained by
preparing for placements and by sharing knowledge afterwards.
Services could also mail relevant institutions to promote such an
initiative.
University careers services should continue to stress the
advantages of work experience, in terms of wider skills
development as well as 'looking good on your c.v.'. Given a
tendency for tutors on non-vocational courses to regard careers
education and guidance as entirely the province of careers
professionals (Watts, 1996b), a proactive approach is required,
including general information from the service as an
intervention, but preferably with direct interaction in the form
of careers education where possible. A similar approach may be
usefully aimed at A level students.
In advising on unemployment, a clear problem for the
academically less able, including those with various special
needs, the careers service should encourage programmes which
allow skills training at work (e.g. Network Training).
Individual advisers still have to consider individual
circumstances, including the client's right to choose. There
will be cases where moving straight to a job is appropriate - or
unavoidable. Advising the client of the possibilities of future
(and life-long) learning is a reasonable tactic: the National
Open College Network (Mackinnon, 1997) is providing a national
framework of vocational qualifications to overlay traditional
adult education courses, whilst the Open University offers a
part-time mature students' route to academic advancement. These
are amongst the range of opportunities which may be discussed in
guidance interviews. Careers advisers should thus be capable of
adopting strategies which equip individuals as well as possible
for the ever-changing labour market.
In such a volatile environment, no system of education or
training is likely to prove adequate. Vocational routes may be
poorly coordinated and inadequate supported academically;
academic courses may lack the wherewithal for students to acquire
necessary key skills. It will be seen, however, that careers
services and individual careers advisers may design interventions
to directly and indirectly ameliorate these shortcomings.
REFERENCES
Broadfoot, P. (1989) Records of Achievement and the GCSE. In
Cosin, B., Flude, M. & Hales, M. (eds.) School, Work and
Equality. Sevenoaks: Hodder & Stoughton.
Brown, P. (1989) Schooling for Inequality? Ordinary kids in
School and the Labour Market. In Cosin, B., Flude, M. & Hales,
M. (eds.) School, Work and Equality. Sevenoaks: Hodder &
Stoughton.
Financial Times (1996) A limited measure of success. Financial
Times, 27 March, 1996.
Handy, C. (1989) The Age of Unreason. London: Random.
Handy, C. (1994) The Empty Raincoat. Sydney: Random.
Hutton, W. (1995) The State We're In. London: Vintage.
Killeen, J. (1996) The social context of guidance. In Watts,
A.G., Law, B., Killeen, J, Kidd, J.M. and Hawthorn, R.
Rethinking careers education and guidance. London: Routledge.
Mackinnon, I. (1997) A qualifications system that offers wider
access. People Management, 4 December, p.43.
Maguire, M. (1991) British labour market trends. In Ashton, D. &
Lowe, G. Making Their Way - Education, Training & the Labour
Market in Canada and Britain. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Pring, R. (1989) The Curriculum & the New Vocationalism. In
Esland, G. (ed.) (1990) Education, Training & Employment, vol. 2.
Wokingham: Addison-Wesley.
Rajan, A. & Bevan, S. (1990) British Socio-economic trends to
1995 and their employment implications. Brighton: Institute of
Manpower Studies.
Rees, T. (1992) Women and the Labour Market. London: Routledge.
Roberts, K. (1977) The Social Conditions, Consequences and
Limitations of Careers Guidance. British Journal of Guidance and
Counselling, 5, 1, 1-9.
Tillsley, C. (1995) Older workers: findings from the 1994 Labour
Force Survey. Employment Gazette, April, 1995.
Watts, A.G. (1996a) Careers guidance and public policy. In
Watts, A.G., Law, B., Killeen, J, Kidd, J.M. and Hawthorn, R.
Rethinking careers education and guidance. London: Routledge.
Watts, A.G. (1996b) Careers work in higher education. In Watts,
A.G., Law, B., Killeen, J, Kidd, J.M. and Hawthorn, R.
Rethinking careers education and guidance. London: Routledge.
CareerSteer – careers test for career choice www.careersteer.org