Careers Advice for Young People and their parents

[wrlcaroline]

Hi everyone,
I work in the Reading area and want to get some advice from parents (not being one myself). I have worked in the education arena for 7 years (not as a teacher, working for outside agencies) around the area of work related learning. By that I mean running business simulation activities where students get to practise ?soft skills? such as team working and working to deadlines etc, organising employer talks and taking students to the employers, work experience placements and so on.
I want a careers service for young people that takes into account the individual and gives them impartial advice about their options whether that be the academic route or other options such as apprenticeships etc. I also want them to have up to date practical advice about current jobs growth in the area. When we can say every young person is given the correct access to careers information and skills training that suits their individual needs so they can choose a job they love doing and have the skills to do it well, then my job is done. And that goes for all young people ? whether they are classed as ?gifted and talented?, not in education employment or training or those ?middle of the road? students that tend to get forgotten.
Talking to a parent recently, she had a very classic story ? son at a very ?good? school but he is in Year 11, is not academic and so not receiving support from the school about his options. She is a great active parent who wanted to help him but didn?t know how and I gave her some advice about ideas for her son, people she could talk to, where she and he could get some more information and advice etc.
If I wanted to talk to parents about this further to see how I could help them, where could I do so? I know that as a parent of a young pre-school age child there are lots of groups that you?re likely to be part of but not sure that is the case when you have children of a teenage age? Any pointers of where I could start looking into this? And is this sort of thing a service parents might pay for?
Any help/suggestions much appreciated!
Thanks,
Caroline

I was approached by a friend of my daughters for careers and study options advice and, not being the right person to advise, I arranged a meeting for her with the school careers advisor. Her Mum wanted me to attend with her, so I did. I was really impressed by the way they approached the advice. So much detail of the student was asked and taken into account before tailoring the advice for her. It took a good hour and I thought it was a very good service indeed. That was connexions (although it has just changed its name, I think)

Needless to say, I wasn't needed.

Your other question about payment. This service was free and so good, no, I wouldn't pay for an alternative.

the connexions service does this free of charge - so why would anyone pay for it?

OP, I agree with the sentiments behind your post, and on one hand there is certainly an opportunity for freelance/self employed advisors to provide quality careers guidance at the moment, as the Connexions service has been annihilated in many parts of the country because of gov't cuts/change in policy.

But on the other hand: Careers Guidance is a profession. You should really have a professional qualification to practice - the QCG is currently the gold standard. Having an 'education background' isn't good enough, really, especially if you are going to charge for your services.

The East Berkshire Education Business Partnership is very good. There are some very committed companies in the Reading area who give huge amounts of employee time in encouraging students to think about their future careers.

One of the initiatives where you may be able to add value is in the annual TeenTech day - held at Madjeski Stadium in March each year, and hosted by Maggie Philbin. This is for Y8/9 students and focussed on Science, Technology and Maths. They would certainly welcome careers advisors, including those advocating apprenticeship routes as well as traditional degree programmes.

Futurewise www.myfuturewise.org.uk/ is good if the school does it. It largely confirms what you know though.