Extending careers advice for the benefit of all our young people

Today, I was delighted to take part in the 2nd Reading debate on The?Education (Careers Guidance in Schools) Bill.?The Bill is being taken through the Lords by my colleague, Ralph Lucas.

The purpose of the Bill is positive and pretty straightforward. The private member’s bill would seek to extend the duty to provide careers guidance in schools in England to students in year 7. It would also extend the duty to academies.

What are the current careers guidance requirements in schools?

At present, there is a statutory duty (under section 42A of the Education Act 1997) on secondary schools to secure independent careers guidance for students from the year in which many students reach the age of 13 until the end of the school year in which the majority of students reach the age of 18. This equates to the school years 8 to 13. Guidance must include information on education and training options for 16- to 18-year-olds, such as apprenticeships.

The statutory duty currently places such requirements on maintained schools, special schools and pupil referral units. However, it does not place a requirement on academies. Despite this, the Government notes that many academies will have a contractual duty through their funding agreements to secure independent careers guidance.

The ‘Baker clause’

In 2018, legislation requiring state secondary schools to provide access to information about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships came into force. The ‘Baker clause’—named after Lord Baker, the member who introduced the measure as amendment during the passage of the?Technical and Further Education Act 2017—specified that schools must provide students in years 8 to 13 with access to information from colleges and training providers about these options.

In January 2019,?the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published a report examining compliance with the Baker clause in schools. The IPPR found that compliance had been “very poor”, with 37.6% of the 101 schools it had examined complying with the clause only by publishing a provider access statement.

In a?House of Lords debate on vocational education and training in October 2019, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, Lord Agnew of Oulton, said that he accepted that “not enough schools have taken it [the requirement] seriously enough” and that the Government would be “taking a tougher approach with them”. Despite this, he also stated that compliance with the clause was improving:

We surveyed a number of schools recently and 76% stated that the duty is being partially complied with. A further review this summer found that compliance, although patchy, is improving.

Skills for Jobs white paper

The Government published its?Skills for Jobs white paper on further education?in January 2021. The white paper included proposals for careers advice, such as enforcing the Baker clause by requiring schools to inform its students about technical and vocational careers. It would do this through:

• a new minimum requirement about which careers providers are to be given access to which students and when;
• tougher formal action against non-compliance; and
• government-funded careers support for schools to be made conditional on Baker clause compliance.

Additionally, the Government pledged to lower the age range of the duty on schools to provide independent careers guidance to students in year 7 and publish updated guidance setting out what it expected for secondary schools (as statutory guidance) and colleges (as a requirement for funding).

What would the bill do?

The bill would seek to extend the duty to provide careers guidance in schools in England to students in year 7. It would also seek to extend the duty to all academy schools and alternative provision academies. It comprises three clauses.

Clause 1?of the bill would seek to extend the duty to provide careers guidance in secondary education in all types of state-funded schools. The clause consists of six subsections:

• Subsections (1) and (2) of clause 1 would extend the duty to provide careers guidance to students throughout their secondary education. At present, there is no obligation for students to receive careers guidance until they are in year 8.
• Subsection (3) would extend the duty to all academy schools and alternative provision academies. Subsection (4) names the proprietors of those schools as “responsible authorities”. This would require academies to ensure that its students are provided with independent careers guidance, including options in respect of 16–18 education or training, such as apprenticeships.
• Subsection (5) would provide that the duty to include information on 16–18 education or training options would not apply to students over compulsory school age.
• Subsections (6) and (7) would remove age definitions and references to students’ classes in sections 42A(6) and 42A(7) of the Education Act 1997.

Clause 2?would make consequential amendments. This includes revoking the?Careers Guidance in Schools Regulations 2013, which currently extends career guidance obligations to students aged between 13 and 18.

Lastly,?clause 3?would provide that the bill be extended to England and Wales (although it would only apply in England as education is devolved). It also states that the bill would come into force on a date set by the secretary of state in regulations. The explanatory notes for the bill details that this is intended to be 1 September 2022.

Second Reading in the Lords

In the debate I asked the Minister what additional considerations she would consider in relation to disabled students.?It is clear that, at present, disabled young people are not getting the careers advice that could enable them to pursue the courses, their ambitions, achieving their aspirations alongside their non disabled peers.?

Data for this is clear, the progression rate, measuring the number of pupils progressing from school to higher education, was 47.5% for pupils with no identified Special Education Needs (SEN). However, progression rates for pupils with SEN ranged from 20.8% for pupils receiving extra or different help in school (SEN Support) to just 8.4% for pupils which a statement of SEN or Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP).?In 2019/20 the progression rate to higher tariff providers, which are the top third of HEPs including Oxbridge and Russell Group Universities, was just 1.1% of pupils with an EHCP/Statement and 3.3% of those on SEN support. In comparison, the progression rate for other pupils was 12.3%.

The Bill is clear and I hope it makes swift passage into legislation for the benefit of all our young people, not least all our young disabled people.?It is simply about enabling talent.?This bill can play an important part in enabling, empowering all our young people at such a critical time in their lives.?Currently, talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.?This Bill can be part of addressing this.