Careers Advice /Support in FE

[rachelvbwho]

Hi All,

I currently work in HE with students focusing on engagement with industry (think company projects, internships etc) and I have been really surprised by the lack of career direction, career thinking and general knowledge about the future that many of our students have.

I know at universities they have careers teams who in theory cover all this but I wondered if there is a distinct lack of support in this area at schools and FE?

It seems to me like there is a 'gap' in provision and it could be an area to look into developing further. So I'd appreciate your input!

What is your experience of careers support for young people in FE?
Are you happy with it?
What do you think should be offered?

Thank you!

Specifically in FE Colleges, provision is patchy, some colleges are much better than others, it’s often optional for students and generally there’s more of an onus on the students to access it when they’re possibly not confident or mature enough to do so.
The issues differ in schools I think.

What should be offered is a comprehensive programme, covering the options available, the routes, lots of speakers from industry, good quality guidance, as much as students need. As a start!

My son has been at college since last September studying a Btec and has had no careers information/advice at all so far.

I'm a careers adviser but schools/colleges pay for access to our services. Schools happily buy the service in but FE colleges don't, preferring their own careers team...my experience is they are used as recruiters with year 11 students rather than with their own students and planning for HE/employment.

We used to go into the vocational courses and help with apprenticeship/UCAS applications etc when we came for free but it's all in house now (and not happening at all according to some students)

I work in FE and we have an in-house careers team, apprenticeship team, t-levels team... marketing go into schools and we have loads of events and career fairs as do lots of local partners - the council, the NCS, JCP and other government funded organisations.

They advise on career and education pathways, allow the use of Kudos software as well as workshops for CV writing, interview techniques etc.