#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 79

Welcome to #TheWeekinCareers! If you are a first-time reader (and congratulations if so, you are now part of a 4100+ strong community!), this newsletter is my attempt at summarising some of the key #Careers-related news from across the #Careersphere each week, along with some of the talking points I feel are worthy of further debate amongst the #Careers community! So, without further ado, on to the news!

This week's newsletter is somewhat of a bitty affair, as there have been a number of significant 'goings-on' in the #Careersphere over the past week, and in lieu of a tasty main item to cover in detail, it only felt right to pay all three of these topics their due in what can generously be described as 'a little bit of everything'. We start this week by digging into the findings of the Migration Advisory Committee's (MAC) review into the Graduate Route visa pathway for international students/graduates (a verdict that contains more than a little significance for careers professionals working in HE or private practitioners who work with international clients), then move on to reflect on Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 (which is taking place this week) and its relevance to careers professionals, before finishing with a glance at some of the latest future-facing reports regarding our educations and skills systems.

All this PLUS another jam-packed #BestOfTheRest to digest with your weekend coffee (or beverage of choice) - dig in, at your leisure...

I hope you enjoy this week's newsletter and thank you as always for continuing to subscribe, read, comment on and support #TheWeekInCareers! ??

Return of the MAC ??

For those of us who work in Higher Education careers (and the sector more generally), the first part of this week was a somewhat nerve-wracking affair, as we awaited the result of the Migration Advisory Committee's (MAC) review into the Graduate Route (the post-study work visa for international graduates, which grants undergraduate and Masters students two years post-study, and PhD students three years post-study in which to pursue work of almost any description within the UK), which had been commissioned by the government with the purpose of interrogating whether this visa pathway was being abused in any way (although there are a number of commentators who have suggested this may have been part of the government's wider campaign around reducing the net migration figures...)

The result of the review was considerably more positive than many of us working in the HE sector (myself included!) had prognosticated, with the MAC ultimately offering the welcome words of 'We recommend retaining the Graduate route in its current form', albeit with some additional considerations, which I'll outline below:

The general takeaways from the report were that there was no evidence of abuse found in terms of students moving on to the Graduate Route visa and that students who progressed on to this route were broadly contributing to the economy, with the route itself found to be helping the UK to recruit international talent and enhance our 'soft power' globally (all things that universities broadly knew anyway, of course!)

That said, greater collaboration between the government and HE sector regarding the government's labour market objectives in relation to international students was recommended (whatever this might mean in practice) and there was also an interesting line in the report around agents and the potential 'mis-selling' of UK HE, which the sector will be keeping a beady eye on in the future, in terms of potential policy changes around universities' work with agents - the MAC stated that - 'We are concerned about potential exploitation of both Student and Graduate visa holders due to poor practices by certain agents and sub-agents who recruit students onto courses and may be mis-selling UK higher education. Universities should be required to publish data on their spend on international recruitment agents and the number of students recruited through agents annually as a starting point to improving disclosure' - something I'm not sure too many universities would necessarily be opposed to. If you're interested in reading about the MAC review more generally, there has some been some useful commentary on LinkedIn over the past few days, including this excellent summary from Thal Vasishta at Paragon Law Ltd. :

Now, all of this does not necessarily mean that the Conservative government will follow the recommendations of the review (the new net migration figures that are released on 23rd May could have a bigger impact on their manifesto/policy proposals in this area), but it certainly helps universities in terms of reinforcing the positive narrative around the Graduate Route and why it should remain in place, and has emboldened prominent commentators such as Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive of Universities UK, to push back further against some of the more ill-informed commentary we've seen from politicians regarding this issue.

So yes, the verdict from the MAC is a shot in the arm for both international students/graduates (who, as Mike Grey FRSA rightly notes, hugely enrich both our HE sector and country as a whole) and the HE sector in general, but as Louise Nicol observes in her recent article for University World News, part of the reason we are where we are in relation to the dialogue with government around international students/graduates is because we have let the situation regarding the collection of international graduate outcomes data progressively worsen, to the point that we now lack the figures to be able to confidently articulate some of the arguments in favour of post-study work visas with government stakeholders. And as the comments from the MAC review illustrate all too clearly, the biggest victims if we get this wrong are likely to be the international students themselves, who in some cases may have been sold a very particular vision of UK Higher Education on limited evidence of what this will actually be like when they arrive or what it might do for their careers:

What the debate around the Graduate Route and the place of international students/graduates in the UK has clearly surfaced is the funding crisis currently engulfing our universities, with the OfS having recently suggested that previous financial forecasts for the HE sector may have been overly ambitious, and floating the deeply worrying prospect of 8 in 10 universities running at a deficit if current recruitment woes continue (relating to both international and UK students).

For careers professionals, we may not always be able to control the circumstances impacting the settings that we work in, but if the ongoing Graduate Route saga has taught us anything, it's that we cannot afford to sit on the side lines when it comes to policy issues that overlap with our work - so often, we have both the data and the human stories that make a compelling narrative / counter-narrative for policymakers, and the more we can engage at this level (see a great example below from the AGCAS International Task Group), the greater the possibility of us having 'a seat at the table, rather than being on the menu' (to paraphrase the fantastic Thomas Chigbo ):

MHA Week 2024 - Reflections on Wellbeing at Work...??

For those who may have missed it (I know how busy this time of year can be for careers professionals, regardless of what setting you happen to be working in!), this week was Mental Health Awareness Week, a campaign led by The Mental Health Foundation since 2001 with the intention of bringing together the UK to focus on getting good mental health squarely on everyone's agenda:

This year's theme for Mental Health Awareness Week was about moving more and how regular physical activity can be so beneficial for our mental health, but I'd like to focus on the subject of mental health from more of a career development perspective and highlight why it continues to be such a key influence in our working lives.

As chance would have it, 德勤 have recently released their latest report on the workplace perspectives of younger generations, 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey: Living and working with purpose in a transforming world, and perhaps unsurprisingly mental health features prominently, with only just over 50% of both Gen Z and Millennials surveyed stating that they believe their employer takes the mental health of employees seriously, and a worrying 27% of both generations expressing concerns that 'my manager would discriminate against me if I raised mental health concerns'. As Shoshanna Davis notes in the article linked below, it's hardly surprising that mental health is a concern for younger generations in the workplace, given the cumulative effects of lockdowns, the cost-of-living crisis and a seemingly endless succession of 'thought pieces' in the mainstream media geared at presenting young people as 'lazy' or 'workshy':

As Shoshanna Davis rightly points out, there is a whole raft of 'rules of the game' type stuff relating to workplace norms that it can't simply be assumed that young people will know (from the tone of email communications to understanding when you might broach the topic of a pay rise) and I would concur that this requires a level of understanding from all parties involved in preparing young people for the future (government, parents/carers, the education system and employers) to ensure that we aren't simply 'setting individuals up to fail'.

We also see these same types of assumptions being made when it comes to mental health in the workplace - as Maddy Woodman notes in her LinkedIn blog post below, poor mental health doesn't necessarily 'have a face' and it can often be too easy for us to make value judgements about our colleagues based on how they appear or act day-to-day, without really knowing what's happening with them below the surface. As Maddy Woodman observes, having open and honest conversations about mental health can be empowering to both the individual sharing their story and those around them taking it in, and is certainly not something that should ever be presented as NSFW, regardless of some of the outdated views still kicking around when it comes to this topic:

While IMO it's unproblematic to say that there may be a variety of causes of poor mental health related to work, including social isolation for those who may not be working, this is often presented in a highly simplistic way, which in the last few years has manifested itself for some commentators in the form of a dogmatic campaign to drive individuals back into physical workplaces. What this sort of rhetoric conveniently ignores, of course, is the fact that for many individuals, flexible working can be a huge benefit to mental health and wellbeing - as Molly Johnson-Jones writes in her LinkedIn piece below, flexible working can be a 'lifeline' for many individuals for myriad reasons, whether due to health, caring commitments or simply because it helps them maintain a better balance regarding their workload (for example, working in an open-plan office five days a week can be a tricky balance, in terms of managing the social aspect of work vs completing tasks you actually need to get done!), and this approach should arguably be the norm, not the exception:

We know that there is a whole bunch of evidence out there that demonstrates 'decent work' can be a net positive for mental health and wellbeing, but we also know that the reverse is true, with poor working environments and factors such as discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads and job insecurity posing a serious risk to mental health. As someone currently working for an institution which is going through a severe restructure, with almost 200 staff at risk, I'm seeing almost daily the cumulative impact this is having on the mental health of colleagues across the institution, regardless of whether they have been directly impacted by the proposed changes. As Molly Johnson-Jones notes in her article, there are green shoots out there, with 81% of organisations having increased their focus on mental health since the Covid-19 pandemic, and progressive employers like Multiverse, Tui and City & Guilds leading the way, but there is clearly still a long way to go when it comes to ensuring that supporting mental health and wellbeing is less of a tick-box exercise and more of a cultural evolution (as Molly beautifully illustrates below!)

Future Gazing ??

As we've seen from the pleasantly surprised reactions to the MAC review (see above) from the HE community this week, it rarely benefits us to confidently assert that we know how something is likely to turn out, although of course this doesn't stop us from trying! This week has seen a number of new reports drop which, in their own way, have attempted to provide a glimpse into what the future of education and work might (or possibly should) look like - check them out below and see if you think they've been a useful exercise in scoping out what's to come...

?? Skills 2030: Building a World-Class Skills System - No matter how you feel about the 'Skills agenda', the truth is that there's no avoiding it these days as the policymaker's nomenclature of choice, so we're all going to have to learn to live with it - the latest report to interrogate the skills system in England and look ahead to how we might change this for the better comes from Policy Connect , whose Skills 2030: Building a World-Class Skills System features an assessment of skills-related policy initiatives to date (such as the introduction of Local Skills Improvement Plans under the current government), a series of recommendations for improving our skills system (including additional funding for FE, greater powers/funding for Mayoral Combined Authorities to manage their skills provision and a new 'right to retrain' initiative) and gratifyingly, contributions from the Career Development Institute and a clear reference to the benefits of establishing an all-age career guidance system in England. Naturally, the English careers community awaits with bated breath our upcoming General Election in the UK, in order to see which group of politicians may actually be taking forward the ideas generated from reports like the one below, but on first reading there is an awful lot to like in the Skills 2030 report - take a look! ??

?? What might the future of assessment look like? - The rapid growth of GenAI over the past year or so has led to many conversations within the Education sector about how this technology could impact the future of assessment, but it would be foolish to think these sorts of discussions have only come about for AI-related reasons. In a recent article for FE News , Director of Communications for the Edge Foundation , Susan Higgins, reflected on the latest Next Generation Assessment Conference and the issues around current standardised assessment methods in the education system, not least the lack of opportunities within the assessment process for individuals to demonstrate creativity, self-improvement and personal development. Susan identifies some valuable points from broadcaster and speaker Jeffrey Boakye regarding the way our current assessment system detriments not just learners but educators themselves (certainly something that has been reflected to me by my partner, who is a secondary school art teacher) and there is heaps more commentary and discussion to dive into on this subject via the Edge Foundation's website, including examples of different assessment systems from around the world...

?? Morrisby x Skills Builder: Essential Skills for 2035 - It's back to the Skills agenda for our final future-gazing item, as Morrisby and Skills Builder Partnership partnered this week on a webinar to discuss how schools can prepare their students for a skills-based job market - in the webinar (which you can watch via the hyperlink embedded in the image below), Steve Jones highlighted the increasing move towards skills-based hiring we are seeing from employers across a range of industries and how Morrisby are factoring this in to the services they offer to schools (e.g. embedding a 'learner passport' into their platform to help students record Essential Skills against any activities they may have taken part in). There are some interesting insights into how employers are also using the Essential Skills from Skills Builder and the value of having a 'consistent language' around Skills, although I confess that I remain sceptical as to whether any single universal framework will ever be able to capture the full spectrum of what businesses and organisations might be looking for in their prospective employees. What interests me more is the discussion around a 'Digital Record of Achievement' (or skills portfolio) that an individual could take with them through their working life, something I know is currently being explored by organisations like Group GTI and the Australian federal government and has direct relevance to the delayed Lifelong Learning Entitlement initiative, now planned to launch in 2026...

If you are interested in the idea of how the education system can prepare young people for uncertain futures, I highly recommend keeping an eye on the work of Alex Zarifeh , who is doing some brilliant thinking and resource creation related to Futures Readiness (the programme he has created), which takes (in my view) a much more holistic and comprehensive approach to considering the skills, strengths, mindsets and behaviours that individuals need to manage their careers over time, particularly in a digitally-focused world...

And if you enjoy keeping up to speed with all of the latest developments in the careers sector (Ed: Shameless plug incoming...) then keep your eyes peeled for the relaunch of the Career Development Institute 's #WeAreCareers podcast, which will be returning to your screens / headphones this summer (via YouTube / Spotify) with fortnightly episodes covering a range of future-facing topics relevant to careers professionals across the sector, including Artificial Intelligence, Experiential Learning, Primary Careers and Alumni Engagement, to name just a few! Check out the teaser video below from MeetSabiha . and I for a reminder of why you should tune in and add us to your weekly rotation of pods...

What have been your big takeaways from the last week in the #Careersphere? Have there been any massive stories or themes that I've passed over, or do you simply have some alternative views regarding some of the topics I've surfaced in this week's newsletter? Answers, as always, on a #TheWeekInCareers postcard! ?? (or more accurately, via the comments thread at the bottom of the newsletter...)

The Best of the Rest: My Hot Picks from the wider?#Careersphere???

?? Equality Beyond Access: Supporting First-generation Students - First up this week, a really important upcoming event from Alaya Holloway and FirstGens , dedicated to the advancement of outcomes for students who are the first-generation to attend university, entitled Equality Beyond Access: Supporting students who are the first in their family to attend university. As Alaya has written about previously for Wonkhe, First Gen students are an extremely diverse cohort and so this event, which is FREE to attend and takes place on Wednesday 29th May (10:00-11:40 BST), promises to be an excellent opportunity to understand more about first-generation student challenges and explore ways in which organisations and practitioners can enhance student engagement and success. Check it out!

?? Pondering Careers: Where to find LMI - Up next, it's over to Lucy Sattler who has put together another excellent edition of her Pondering Careers newsletter, which this time around focuses on the topic of how she finds Labour Market Information (LMI) from different sources and uses this to inform her work with clients. There are some really valuable nuggets to take away from Lucy's reflections, including the importance of looking at both Macro and Micro LMI (and examples that fall somewhere in between) and why the sources of LMI we use with young people don't always need to be the types of sites that are tailored for students, as there is so much great LMI out there that has been designed for other purposes but is still super useful for early-career explorers.

? The Careers Circle is LIVE - We've been plugging the much anticipated launch of the Careers Circle, Jessica Pieri RCDP 's brand-new community for UK careers professionals working in secondary education, for some time now, and it's been great to hear this week that the community, which is sponsored by UCAS is now LIVE and ready to start taking registrations! If you are interested in becoming part of the Careers Circle, simply follow this link and you'll find an introductory video from Jessica Pieri RCDP which tells you everything you need to know in order to get started. Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

???????? Midlands Teachers and Advisers Conference - Medicine and Healthcare Professions - Next up, another great CPD opportunity for careers professionals in the UK, this time all about Medicine and Healthcare professions, a sprawling sector area that it always benefits us to learn more about - the Teachers and Advisers Conference, which takes place on Monday 24th June from 09:30-4:30pm via Microsoft Teams, will cover a range of topics, including how to apply for Medicine and spotlights on Radiology, Dentistry, Pharmacy and more. You can register for the event now simply by clicking the following link and completing the sign-up form. Kudos to Kelly Coles , Emily Roisin Reid and the other stakeholders (Warwick Medical School, Birmingham Medical School, Keele University Medical School and the Medical Schools Council) involved in putting this cracking CPD opportunity for careers professionals together!

?? NICEC network meeting: Remembering the legacy of Ronald Sultana - We finish this week's newsletter on a slightly more sombre note, as next week (Tuesday 21st May, 2:00-4:30pm) sees an online event from NICEC that has been set up to reflect on the legacy of the late, great Ronald Sultana, who sadly passed away in November last year. The event will provide attendees with an opportunity to reflect on what Ronald Sultana's work has meant to them and others from the global careers community and beyond, with speakers including Tristram Hooley , Rie Thomsen , Rosie Alexander and Dr Gill Frigerio . It promises to be a worthy celebration of an individual whose life and work impacted such a diverse range of people, both within the career development sector and beyond.

I'm always keen to hear what people think of this weekly newsletter format (e.g. Is it helpful? Does it add value to what is already out there on LinkedIn? What might make it better/more digestible?) so please do drop me a DM if you have any thoughts!

See you in the #Careersphere next week for?Episode 80! ??