Valuing career guidance – value to whom, value for what?

The seminar explored the value (and benefits) derived from career guidance and offered a broad-based consideration of the resources needed for a ‘proper’ career guidance system. It was chaired by Keith Herrmann. The focus was primarily on services provided to young people in schools, colleges and universities as the Gatsby Foundation review of adult guidance and the IES Commission on the Future of Employment Support are reporting later in the year.

This webinar considered:

• What is value, value to whom and how any consideration of value depends on who is measuring it and what it is they are measuring. This brings into play notions of social value, not just economic value, and how value is a personal proposition (and lifelong) rather than just about short-term destinations or employment outcomes.
• The labour market crunch and how this highlights the need for proper CEIAG and career transitions beyond education to meet the needs of the future economy.
• How much should be spent on career education and guidance.

David Winter from The Careers Group at the University of London explored the various ways in which graduate career outcomes are (and could be) valued, and the impact this has on strategic approaches to careers and employability development in higher education.

Emily Tanner from the Nuffield Foundation considered what the evidence on young people's transitions and the future labour market tells us about the nature of career guidance needed in schools and colleges. She also considered the benefits and pitfalls in measuring the value of career guidance.