Careers Advisors as Change Agents & InnovatorsHow school careers advisors approach their roles and utilise Labour Market Intelligence (LMI)

Applied Research in Technical Education

Dr Chris Coutts & Abdulridha Dismal

Bahrain’s 2030 Economic Vision

• Reducing Dependency on Oil• Economic Diversification • Making the Private Sector the

Engine of Growth• Making Bahraini Employees of

choice

Bahrain’s Economic Vision & Goals are strategic drivers guiding the direction of its planning and operations, as they do in any

successful business.

Labour Market Intelligence Project in Bahrain In cooperation with LMRA, Tamkeen, Napier University, Scotland

•Focus groups •Interviews•Survey•Careers & Industry Forum

Emerging Findings

Choosing the right career is Hard?

• Unclear relationship betweenHigher Education and the Job Market. “Mismatch between university output &

private sector requirements” “students simply studying the wrong things.”

• A multiplicity of Higher Education Providers and Programmes

A labour market characterised by high levels of uncertainty

Careers Advisors support students to plan their futures, by building capability & assisting decision

making

Labour Market Intelligence

• Information – An organized set of data or facts

• Intelligence – Information used to enable a decision to be made

• Labour Market (LM) – A system that allows both Employees and Employers to satisfy their needs;

Some definitions.....

Some demographics

By 2020 Bahrain’s population….• Will reach 1.5 million • 46% will be Bahraini• Will include 80,000 more Bahrainis in

the workforce• Growth of working age will be 41%

(over 400,000)

19% growth in GDP per capita

7

2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-20120

3,000

6,000

9,000

12,000

15,000

18,000

21,000

10,433

15,54317,139

13,541

15,83016,978

8,024

11,44813,286

11,226

18,859

11,618

Trend in Students enrollment

Males Females

Participation by gender

16-5-2012

(HEC survey data)

8

2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-20120

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

13,829

21,653

24,938

19,81918,274

24,517

4,628 5,338 5,487 4,948

16,415 15,691

Trend in Students by University

Private Public

Participation by HEI type

16-5-2012

(HEC survey data)

9

Students by Programme in 2011-2011 (HEC data)

Current HEI Students

16-5-2012

10

No. Programmes Total

1 Art and Design 33

2 Business Related 88

3 Engineering 39

4 Information Technology 34

5 Medicine, Medical and health Science 11

6 Graduate Studies and Research 1

7 Media and Communications 8

8 Law 14

9 Education and Teacher Training 12

10 Science 7

11 Physical Education 8

12 Applied Studies 2

13 Logistics 3

Total 260

Programme Analysis HEIs

16-5-2012

(HEC survey data)

Comparative Example 1.

RELATIONSHIP OF INDUSTRY LABOUR NEEDS & VOCATIONAL DEGREE QUALIFICATIONS

Comparative Example 2.

Source: QAA Vocational Review Unit 2008 (from Central Informatics Organization 2005)

Congruency?

Bahraini Comparison

Source: QAA Vocational Review Unit 2008 (from Central Informatics Organization 2005)

• Fragmentation of the Labour Market part time/ short term contracts “Jobs not well defined, taken on a temporary basis, not a good pay

structure, mostly run by family members, “one man show,” very fragile environment”

“ A lot depends on winning contracts”

• High youth unemployment including graduates• Government favoured over private employers

“Good pay structure, stable environment”

•Legislative barriers “Its very difficult to hire/fire Bahraini” “The formal rules are less transparent”

Other problems?

What the Schools told us?

• Labour market needs are a vital component of good advising and planning for the curriculum

• We can’t easily access up-to date information in a format that’s useful for us our busy roles

• CAs are very resourceful people.... • We spend a great deal of time and

energy trying the get the best, most up-to date information for our students

• Our information comes from personal contacts, web information and HEIs

• The internet and government sources are the most important

Careers Advisors’ approach?

• Advice about career opportunities is based on academic achievement & their interests

• We have a lack of resources, people and software, to implement career development programmes

• We don’t have the processes to assist students in identifying their potential to develop in other areas

• No time to give much one-to-one attention. • Some Innovative Models to overcome these problems: Clubs,

interest groups, every teacher a CA

Decision making?• Principals rated the most important influences on choosing a career as:

1. family2. students’

interest & ability 3. job-market.

• Many students were looking for “easy options”• Finances played a major part in deciding

• So did parents but a disconnect with labour market requirements -strategies to update?

What Principals said?

• Information is scattered, very bureaucratic!

• It would be great to have a ‘one-stop-shop’...to have information all in one place, easily accessible

• As a principal, we don’t know the jobs in the future; this is the kind of information we need access to

• We need yearly updates on this type of information.

• More training needs to be provided for CAs to do their jobs well

• More resources (human and physical)

• Regular updates to keep up to date with the Labour Market Changes.

Conclusions

And Industry?

• Labour market is a very important consideration • The skill gap for local staff is an issue • There are cultural issues-there was unwillingness to

take certain jobs:1. “Oh it’s at a warehouse?” 2. “Can I work at Head Office?”

• Decisions about training have to be made in advance of the industry

• SMEs need some sense of where market is going and make decisions in line with trends.

SMEs Findings

• LMI from many sources: government, friends, customers, competitors, market research, internet, government

• Reliance on social media -peculiar to SMEs?

• Many wanted to employ Bahraini but.....

Private sector survey results show that University graduates in Bahrain lacked core skills

Skills University Graduates Lack?

Source: Private Sector Survey 2005, run jointly by the Ministry of Education, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Economic Development Board. Total number of companies surveyed: 400 (as of Nov 25,

2005).

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Graduates need to be able to: Communicate Participate in a team Use their initiative Problem solve Think critically

Industry feedback

A Paradigm Shift.....

Challenges for Careers Advisors1. What are the most important gaps in skills of school graduates that

need to be filled?2. How should careers advisors utilise this information?3. Knowing all this, what changes need to be made in schools and the

role of advisors?4. How can careers advisors help parents to get a realistic view of the

Labour market?5. How can they forge stronger links with industry? 6. What changes need to be made to the curriculum to integrate

Career Development? To ease transition?

What next?

What can parents do? Findings from a recent Community Workshop

• Encourage and support • Stay involved and

interested• Communicate about the

importance of education• Help their children

understand Higher Education expectations

• Discuss differences between teacher/parent perceptions

• Keep up to date with changes in the Labour Market

Community Engagement

What is so different?• Following the Rules in High School vs

Choosing Responsibly in Higher Education• Going to High School Classes vs

Succeeding in Higher Education Classes• High School Teachers vs

Higher Education Tutors• Tests in High School vs

Assignments and Projects in Higher Education• Grades in High School vs

Grades in Higher Education

Feedback from Students

Connecting GenerationsInspiring Innovations

Any Questions?

Thank you