Tuesday 6 January 2015

give young people the opportunity to decide their own futures

if our young people are to make the right choices about their future careers then they must be given the options. They need to be told not just about 'A' levels and university entrance, but also about apprenticeships and technical training.

but the fact is that they are not! There is a statutory duty on schools and colleges to provide access to impartial careers advice for young people aged 13 to 18, but this is simply not happening. Part of the problem is that these institutions tend to push their students towards conventional academic achievement. Perhaps this is not surprising given the background of most teachers and lecturers, and the natural desire to maintain the viability of sixth forms, but it is not helpful to most students.
young people speak readily about the pressure they are under to stay on at school, or move to sixth form college, and take A-levels, rather than starting apprenticeships. In fact, many young people simply don't know that they exist as a careers option. According to a recent University and Colleges Union perception study, 'numerous young people felt informed about UCAS applications....fewer felt they knew anything about apprenticeships.
this is why we need to take responsibility for the delivery of careers advice out of the schools and colleges themselves and into local 'hubs' like edudo, which will bring together relevant interested parties in an area – businesses and service providers – fully accredited and operating under a national standard.
at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!