The Work Ahead for Expanding Education-to-Career Pathways

By David Soo, Chief of Staff, Jobs for the Future

I recently visited The Loop Lab , an apprenticeship program that trains students in digital arts—video, audio, and other creative endeavors. The passion and joy was palpable for editing videos, making podcasts, and telling stories that highlight the lived experiences of themselves and their communities. As apprentices, they were being paid for their work and learning, all while being setup for in-demand careers. The Loop Lab—based in Cambridge, MA—has a mission “to empower Womxn and People of Color in the media arts to develop careers in audio/video through job training and job placement.” These students were thriving and learning new skills in programs designed to fit into their lives and enable them to support themselves and their families.

For all the interest over the past decade in pathways programs outside of college, programs like this are too rare—and they’re often seen as “alternatives” to college. What might it take for us to shift the narrative and the reality to help students understand that there are multiple viable pathways to a career? New data give us some clues to how.

Gen Z and Employers Are Open to Innovation

JFF and ASA recently commissioned a Morning Consult poll of both Gen Z students (those in high school) and employers, and we found that there was significant interest in pathways other than traditional college degrees, but both students and employers still viewed these new paths as too risky. Here’s what we learned:

1. Skills, not degrees, should be the key when hiring. Both students and employers agree that the degree is a bad proxy for career preparation and they would prefer a system based on skills.
2. The perception is that degrees are still favored by employers and are the “safe” choice. Despite not favoring the degree, students and employers both felt it was safer to pursue or hire from traditional degree pathways.?
3. Both employers and Gen Z want more information about pathways. More information on the options available—including their quality and how they prepare people for the labor market. ?

We learned this through both quantitative and qualitative data—a nationally representative survey and focus groups and 1:1 interviews. And while it’s not shocking, it does give us more confidence to drive more investments into solving the challenge.

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Four Areas for Investment to Build that Future

What we heard from students and employers gives me hope! There is a genuine interest in a different future, but a few key things are missing that will make all pathways less risky and accessible to all learners. As a field, we must invest time, money, and attention in the following areas:

1. Provide better information, especially about the quality of non-degree learning. Employers and learners must feel confident that programs are high-quality and will prepare them for the workplace. The current measures of program quality are either too blunt (at the federal level) or too subjective (self-reported by programs) or nonexistent! How might we provide accurate, trusted, and comparable data on program quality and outcomes?
2. Raise awareness about multiple pathways--and reduce stigmas around non-college paths. Despite all the talk in policy circles about apprenticeships or online certificates, only 25% and 23% respectively of high school students were very familiar with them. And they sure knew that their parents would prefer them to go to college! How might we ensure that high-quality pathways are seen as a viable option for all students?
3. Help students navigate and pay for these programs. Too often, students rely on word-of-mouth or Googling to find information about programs and how they should pay for them. How might we provide data-informed career navigation tools and supports that help students determine responsible pathways and payment options?
4. Invest in new pathways models. Too often, traditional programs reify existing inequities and are adapted from models that have worked (for institutions) in the past. In this dynamic time for the development of new kinds of education and training programs, how might we encourage more innovation with program models designed with students in mind, especially those that provide equitable outcomes for the most traditionally underserved?

Join us!

JFF and ASA conducted this research together and are on a mission to build the future that both Gen Z students and employers told us they want. We'll start with the four steps articulated above, but would love your partnership--and ideas on what more can be done. What do you think should be the first investment?