POLICY AND RESEARCH DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF CAREER GUIDANCE – BRIEF

INTERNATIONAL SCAN

Presentation for the National Research Symposium, Ottawa, Canada, 13 March 2013 by Dr John McCarthy,

Director International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy, Nice, France

Email: jmc@iccdpp.org

Policy development trends

• World region: European Union• Initiator: European Lifelong Guidance Policy

Network• Development of tools to compare the state of

lifelong guidance policy development across countries

Policy development comparative tool

• Five areas of policy examined:• +Access to services• +Career management skills• +National coordination and cooperation• +Quality assurance• +Evidence base

Policy development comparative tool

• Progression continuum of policy steps/features/reference points described

• Implications for six sectors (schools, VET, higher education, adult education, employment, and social inclusion) drawn/deduced

Policy development comparative tool:Evidence base

Undeveloped Developed

No information held on cost-benefits to government

Immediate, medium and long-term calculated savings to the public purse in the form of economic and/or social returns on investment

Limited information on added value returns as a result of individuals participating in careers services

Evidence of on-going longitudinal tracking and studies that measure the impact of differing careers interventions in different settings

Policy development comparative tool: Quality assurance

Under developed Developed

Fragmented and/or one-off user satisfaction surveys

Absence of a careers management skills framework, linked to access to services by key priority groups

Highly organised quality assurance and evidence-based systems that involve users in the design and development of services

Total quality management system in place that also captures data on career management skills, levels of investment and added-value returns

Policy development comparative tool: Career management skills – monitoring and verification of outcomes

Under-developed Developed

No system in place to monitor and evaluate CMS activities

System in place to monitor and evaluate CMS activities; monitoring leads to progressive quality and impact gains

CMS not explicitly set as a learning/developmental outcome

CMS set explicitly as a learning/developmental outcome either separately or within relevant subjects or interventions

No evidence of formal CMS assessment

No regular reporting

Evidence of systematic and advanced formative assessment of CMS; assessment used as a didactic tool for self development

Education, training and Public Employment Services institutional reports with documented evidence collated in a national database and evaluated; annual national report published with recommendations; recommendations integrated into further policy reforms and action plans

Policy development comparative tool: Access to services-data collection

1. Under-developed

2 3 4 5. Developed

No infrastructure in place to collect data on existing services

No mapping or profiling of future needs of different target groups

No data present for different groups and sectors

Some efforts in place to collect data from different sectors of the population

Some reports for policy-making drafted with this data

Some data collected at institutional level and collated at national/regional level and by sector for policy-making purposes

Data on service usage collected at sector level and collated at national/regional level

Collated data used for policies to improve service access

Data on service usage and potential demand are collected and collated systematically at national/regional level to profile the services,

and used to develop evidence-based responses to target group provision

Policy development comparative tool: National coordination and cooperation

• Reference points for lifelong guidance policy:• +Policy partnership: support, elaboration process,

monitoring and evaluation, exchange of practice, connections to lifelong learning and employability strategies

• +Establishing a national forum for lifelong guidance: shared definitions and terminology, composition, tasks and roles, relationship of forum to government, citizen perspective

• +Operational modes of a forum: communication, cooperation, coordination of policies, actors, and service delivery

Example of policy reference point for national coordination and cooperation: policy partnership

Under-developed Developed

No structured co-operation exists between government ministries, social partners, and civil society on lifelong guidance policies and systems

A national lifelong guidance policy partnership/forum advises on a range of national strategies (education, employment, social inclusion) and action plans, and coordinates programmes and activities

Policy development measurement-concluding comments

• The concept of policy development comparative measurement

• The concept of evidence-based policy-making• Attention to evidence/data collection in the

policy comparative tool• Limitations

Policy and research development trends: world region Australasia

• Australia (2012)• National Career Development Strategy• Roles and responsibilities of national, states and territories

governments, and of other key actors• Preparation: • +literature review of national and international research; • +identification of needs and wants of young people under age

24 years and of their parents, teachers, communities;• +an options paper for career development interventions and

for a national strategy; and • +a cost-benefit analysis for each of the options

Australia: Green Paper for NCDS

• Areas where priority action needs to be taken:

• Improving access• Standards and quality assurance• Leadership (including a national forum) and

priority setting• Improving the knowledge base through a

research agenda

New Zealand – Developing benchmarks for careers education provision in secondary and

tertiary education (2012)• Secondary:• Student learning outcomes (competent and highly competent

CMS when leaving compulsory education)• -School leadership• -Resources• Tertiary:• Student learning outcomes in CMS• -Employer and industry engagement• -Student engagement• -Tertiary organisation engagement.

Policy and research development: world region Africa

• South Africa (2012)• The Framework for Cooperation in the Provision of Career

Development Services in South Africa • Directions: • Leadership and coordination – national and provincial forums• Partnerships and cooperation• Careers and labour market information• National career development service• Standard setting and quality assurance• Research and evaluation

Actual research on making a difference!

• Target group: young disadvantaged people • Mobility Manifesto by the Boston Consulting

Group (Sutton Trust 2010)• Cost-effective schemes to improve social

mobility• Independent careers and education advice

service: Every 1 GBP spent by government on the service would generate 7 GBP in extra lifetime earnings for the young person

Research on making a difference• Next Step UK: National Careers Service • Intervention Outcome Exploratory Evaluation (2012)• Next Step customers vs “control/matched group”• Both groups: mix of employed and unemployed• Next Step customers: first intervention – 72% F2F; 27%

telephone helpline; 1% web• Treatment group gain significantly more in employment status

post treatment (3 months, 6 months)• Proportion of treatment group on Job Seekers Allowance

declines more significantly post treatment (3 months, 6 months)

Research on making a difference

• Norwegian Agency for Lifelong Learning: VOX• Target group: adults in vulnerable social,

economic and work situations• Users’ reflections on experiences of services

of Career Centres in some of 14 counties• Users’ reflections on how career guidance

contributed to changes in their participation in education and employment

NORWAY

• Results of user surveys: very satisfied with provision; guidance had a positive effect

• Guidance received reported as a crucial factor for the following changes:

• Over 50% started an education/training programme, post intervention

• Over 50% have changed job situation: unemployment to employment; job change; change within present job e.g. promotion

Nordic Countries• Voice of users: promoting the quality of guidance for adults in

Nordic Countries (2010-11)• Funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers• Adults frequenting guidance services in adult learning centres• Survey results: Overall, respondents rated statements

concerning the benefits of educational outcomes of guidance more strongly than statements that concerned vocational or personal outcomes

• Similarly, statements that concerned personal outcomes were rated more strongly than statements about vocational outcomes

REFERENCES• Voice of users: promoting the quality of guidance for adults in Nordic Countries

(2010-11) http://www.nordvux.net/download/6821/voice_of_users.pdf• Career guidance for change (Norway)

http://www.vox.no/no/global-meny/English/Statistics-and-research/Publications/Career-Guidance-for-Change/

• An exploratory evaluation of the Next Step service https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/an-exploratory-evaluation-of-the-next-step-service

• The Mobility Manifesto http://www.suttontrust.com/public/documents/20100312_mobility_manifesto20102.pdf

• Lifelong guidance policy development: a European Resource Kit http://ktl.jyu.fi/img/portal/23229/ELGPN_resource_kit_2011-12_web.pdf?cs=1350649791

• Australia: National Career Development Strategy – Cost Benefit Analysis of Rationale and Options http://foi.deewr.gov.au/node/16282