CAREERS ADVICE

Catherine Rowland

considers how careers advisors

can use ICT to enhance their support for students and looks at new research asking what young people want from their advisors

professionals have been reluctant to fully engage with the possibilities provided by the internet. Earlier this year, the Institute of Career Guidance

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published research which stated that careers advice in schools in England is “patchy and inconsistent”; and indeed before the election, the government announced a review of the system delivered by local authorities in 2011. With youth unemployment running at a consistently

high rate and demand for university places far outstripping places available it is now more vital than ever that young people have access to high quality careers and training advice to support them with their decisions. Instead of just looking to technology to improve careers advice, it is important that any new initiatives are going to be effective for the time and money put into them. In a new report from CfBT Education Trust,

researchers conducted a study of young people to find out what they are looking for from careers guidance and how the internet can play a role in this. One of the key findings was that despite high levels of ICT competence and usage, young people expressed a strong desire for face-to-face interaction when it comes to careers advice. One of the greatest concerns, of both young people

and professionals, was that if an internet-based service was introduced it would replace the role of careers advisors currently found in schools. Instead what careers advice professionals need to do is use the benefits offered by the internet to supplement face-to-face advice and provide a more flexible and holistic service. One of the greatest benefits of the internet as a

guidance resource is that young people can access the internet where and when is most convenient. All the young people involved in the study said that they had access to the internet either at home, school or college and accessed it at least once a week. For students who may be thinking about careers and

training for the next step of their life while studying for upcoming exams and completing coursework, being able to access information at any time of day or night can help them to better plan and organise. For careers advisors, it is also a great way to keep

up-to-date with all of their contacts and maintain the relationship between face-to-face discussions. Some young people interviewed mentioned emailing their careers advisor but never receiving a response which proved a wasted resource and did not inspire any confidence in the young people. When engaging in communication over the

internet it is important to respond to and acknowledge communication from clients even if it is something that would need to be discussed over the phone or in person; emails and message-board postings can be too easily ignored and can damage the relationship between careers advisor and student. One environment in which young people said that

careers guidance would be much less welcome is on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. These were seen as “their spaces” and attempts to interact with young people through these sites as a careers guidance resource would probably not be successful. The social nature of these sites also means that for

careers advisors working within schools it is better to keep contact within a professional setting and through a dedicated careers site to avoid issues of child protection and privacy. In accessing careers advice, young people particularly

value the opportunity to talk to employers and ask questions related to their industry. Doing this in person can make it difficult to provide access to a wide range of employers from different backgrounds as relies on careers advisors arranging for individuals to provide seminars or drop-in sessions for the students. Using resources on the internet such as podcasts,

vodcasts, blogs, message-boards and chatrooms there is now the possibility to get young people from across the country interacting with employers from a variety of industries in a way that is convenient and accessible. There are already a number of computer aided

SecEd • May 13 2010

OUNG PEOPLE generally have very high usage of ICT, and internet- based services form an integral part of their social networking, communication, entertainment and information gathering. Despite this, careers advice services and

Getting the right guidance

guidance resources available and there was an overall positive response to these. Resources like Kudos,

Routes Ahead and Fast Tomato were identified as

being good examples. Most young people had accessed these resources during careers sessions at school so it is important that school firewalls and internet security settings allow students and teachers to take advantage of the benefits that these resources offer. There are however a couple of issues of concern

regarding internet-based guidance for young people. While young people were generally aware of issues around internet safety and privacy settings when interacting with people and organisations on the web, very few expressed any concern about the reliability and validity of information found on the internet. It is now assumed that most young people will be

proficient in ICT skills to effectively use and access the internet. The main concern now is developing digital literacy skills among young people. As well as an awareness of online safety issues, digital literacy is also about being able to assess and evaluate online content rather than accepting the information as fact. The rise of user-generated content means that it is

now difficult to tell who the expert voices are online, and wiki sites like Wikipedia can demonstrate to students just how easy it is to put information up on the internet that appears to be factual but in fact could be completely made-up. When looking at information regarding training

and careers – something which could affect the rest of their lives – it is important that young people are able to evaluate the validity and reliability of an information source to make a judgement on how to use the information provided. As careers guidance services move towards more

integrated online provision, careers advisors and guidance professionals will need to be able to support young people to make these decisions and use the internet effectively as an information source. While current levels of ICT use for careers guidance

are fairly low, the skills needed for advisors to use the internet as a resource are fairly basic ICT skills that most teachers and professionals will already have. For careers advisors, the key area of development to effectively implement online guidance will therefore be focused around effective use of the internet, safety concerns and digital literacy. There is no doubt that the opportunities available

through the internet offer great benefits both for careers advisors and the young people accessing careers guidance services. What is important however is that any online

provision used and developed for careers guidance should respond to the needs and preferences of young people, and should not replace current practice but instead provide additional value.

SecEd

• Catherine Rowland is a senior manager at South London Connexions for the CfBT Education Trust.

Further information

Read the CFBT report at: www.cfbt.com/evidence foreducation/our_research/evidence_for_youth/advice_ and_guidance/connexions_personal_advisors.aspx

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