Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance: Government response to the Committee’s Fourth Report - published in September 2023 

The Education Select Committee launched its inquiry into careers education, information, advice and guidance in January 2022 and published its report in June 2023.  The Government responded to the report in September 2023:

• that the DfE publish an updated Careers Strategy following findings that the 2017 strategy required improvements

• an annual evaluation of the Careers Programme, launched in January, and an extended rollout if it proves successful, including benchmarks for primary careers guidance

• improvements to work experience and reducing barriers to access in rural areas

• that Ofsted maintain their focus on careers and ensure schools give appropriate weight to vocational routes

• increased SEND provision, citing a lack of support, expertise, accessible work placements and specialist careers advisers

Read the report

Independent review of careers guidance in schools and further education and skills providers – Ofsted report published in September 2023

Ofsted produced their report following the thematic review into careers during spring and summer 2023. Overall they visited 30 schools and 14 FE & skills providers and identified themes in their findings, as well as areas for recommendations:

• careers guidance is still biased towards academic routes

• the impact of the pandemic on the quality of careers guidance has mostly subsided, but home-working continues to affect the provision of work experience

• careers hubs and Gatsby benchmarks are useful for developing provision, but work is still needed to raise awareness of their roles 

• careers guidance is lacking development in years 7 and 8, with Ofsted recommending that the DfE make the objectives for KS3 careers education more explicit

• schools are continuing to face difficulties in meeting funding commitments to ensure provision is delivered to a high standard

• data collection is proving difficult for schools due to time constraints

• integration of careers guidance across the curriculum varies in quality by subject, with STEM typically seeing better integration than humanities

Read the Ofsted review