New careers strategy fit for the 21st Century

The new IAG strategy aims to modernise careers education to make it more accessible for today’s generation of young people.

Recent research* shows that children at 11 have very high aspirations, with 75% saying they want to go to university. Children’s aspirations, attainment and life chances are greatly improved when parents are involved in their learning and development and have higher educational aspirations for them. Providing parents with the help and support they need to engage in their children’s learning is at the heart of the strategy.

The broad aims of the strategy are:

• For every young person to get careers education up to the age of 18.
• To pilot approaches to teaching about careers in primary school.
• For primary schools to work with universities to give younger pupils an experience of higher education and the wider world of work.
• For every young person to have access to a mentor.
• To bring IAG into the 21st Century with better online access to careers advice through Facebook, YouTube, blogs and forums and a new dedicated online mentoring scheme to enable young people to talk to professionals online.
• To provide more help for disadvantaged and disabled young people in accessing work.
• To set up a £10M fund to support innovative ways of delivering careers education.

Ed Balls, said: “Many people have anecdotal experiences of really bad careers advice and often say if they had their chance again they would have done something different. I want this generation of young people to be able to look back and say their careers advice and guidance was relevant and gave them informed options.

“This generation of young people look to the Internet for knowledge in most areas. That is why we are investing more money in online advice and guidance so that we can deliver a truly 21st century careers education service.”

Sir Alex Ferguson added: “When I was a young footballer my father insisted I did an apprenticeship. Without this advice and qualification I would not be where I am today… It’s important that teachers, parents and businesses spot talent early on and nurture young people to achieve the best they can.”

*Aim Higher: How young people formulate their views about the future