Consultation on Careers Guidance for Schools, Sixth Form Colleges and Further Education

Consultation on careers guidance for schools, sixth form colleges and further education institutions Consultation Response Form The closing date is: 1 August 2012 Your comments must reach us by that date. Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes, primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

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Name Estelle Robinson Field Studies Organisation (if applicable) Council Address: Head Office Preston Montford Montford Bridge Shrewsbury Shropshire England SY4 1HW

If you have a query relating to the policy content or consultation process you can contact the DfE National Helpline on: 0370 000 2288 or via the Department's 'Contact us' page or by emailing: [email protected]

If you have a query relating to the consultation process you can contact the Consultation Unit on:

Telephone: 0370 000 2288 e-mail: [email protected] Please choose one of the following options to best describe you as a respondent.

11-18 School 11-16 School Academy School Sixth Form Further Education Representative College Institution Group Sixth Form Further Education Careers College Institution Representative Representative Representative Group Group Group Careers Local Authority Student Professional Parent Governor Employer X Other

The Field Studies Council (FSC) is a pioneering education charity committed to bringing environmental understanding to all. The FSC provides informative and enjoyable opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to discover, explore, be inspired by, and understand the national and built environment. We believe that the more we know about the environment, the more we can appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations. We feel that fieldwork should be a vital element of an imaginative and contemporary education.

Established in 1943, the FSC has become internationally respected for its national network of education centres and is the UK’s leading provider of natural resources related field courses. It currently welcomes 145,000 visitors every year on courses to its national network of 17 Field Centres. These include groups from nearly 3,000 schools, colleges and universities. FSC is also a leading UK provider of biodiversity and ecology related training courses for adult learners, including both career development for professionals involved in ecology, natural history and landscape related disciplines and also courses for leisure learners who are interested in discovering more about the world around them. Finally, FSC is also a leading publisher in this field, publishing nearly 150,000 identification guides and related resources every year. 1 Should we extend the new duty on schools to secure independent, impartial careers guidance for their pupils, downwards to Year 8 (age 12- 13), from September 2013?

x Yes No Not Sure

It is important that all young people get accessible, independent and impartial careers information, guidance and support from Year 8 upwards. Becoming aware of the range of jobs and sectors available – and perhaps more importantly of the skills and pathways to those careers – is vital, and that engagement process should begin long before young people start making education choices that will have a long term impact on the type of careers that is open to them later in life. Understanding what skills and knowledge is needed for different jobs also enables young people to better relate what they learn in different subjects to an external and practical application, as well as increase their interest and engagement within those subjects. This is particularly important within the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects.

Many studies have indicated a major decline in positive attitudes from students towards science, with many pupils rejecting a science-related career by the age of 16 (Porter and Parvin, 2008). Young people at secondary school generally see less relevance in science to the real world, find it less inspiring, and enjoy less practical work.

Pupils need to be better informed of the wide range of opportunities and careers available to them by pursuing STEM subjects. Currently, there is a large gap between reality and pupils’ perception of the skills needed for different careers (“Half of children find science and maths too difficult or too boring”, Daily Telegraph, 15 March 2012) and in the survey carried out by the National Audit Office, less than one in five pupils were “satisfied” with the career guidance they received in relation to STEM subjects.

2 Should we extend the new duty to secure independent, impartial careers guidance, upwards to young people aged 16-18 in schools, sixth form colleges and further education institutions, from September 2013?

Please Note: If the consultation supports the extension of the new duty to 16- 18 in schools, sixth form colleges and further education institutions, the Government will consider extending to other provision including Work-Based Education and Training. However this is out of scope for this consultation.

x Yes No Not Sure It is important that all young people have access to careers guidance, and therefore this information and support should be available within their educational institution – whatever form that may take – given the current and predicted shortfall in specific skills and sectors.

In its 2009 skills survey, CBI found that a third of businesses had difficulty in recruiting STEM graduates and postgraduates; and when it came to science, hi-tech and IT sectors, this rose to two-thirds (in BIS, 2011).

Research by the Environment Research Funders’ Forum (ERFF, 2010) to identify the 15 most critical gaps the environment sector faces in the coming decade highlights fieldwork as one such critical skills gap. Yet the ERFF found a decrease in the number of people available to conduct skilled field research which has meant that employers are finding it difficult to recruit individuals with fieldwork skills.

Lantra’s UK Skills Assessment research (2011) into the land-based and environmental sector highlights that over a quarter of the workforce is aged 55 or over. Unclear career pathways, combined with issues around image and attractiveness of the sector, impact recruitment of young people into this vital sector. Providing clear information about career entry, progression and professional development opportunities could support an increased interest and uptake in jobs/careers.

3 What issues, if any, would arise for your institution from the requirement to provide access to independent careers guidance?

There should be a holistic approach to careers guidance within an education setting, so that students are able to understand/relate what they learn and do within the classroom to how it can be applied in the real world. In this way, students who experience fieldwork and the practical element of outdoor learning are able to relate this to the wide range of careers where fieldwork is an important skill/element.

4 Any other comments? FSC recommends careers advice and guidance that highlight the range of careers and opportunities available with STEM and fieldwork skills; and facilitates pupils’ understanding of career trajectories and how present-day decisions impact their future choices. Thank you for taking the time to let us have your views. We do not intend to acknowledge individual responses unless you place an 'X' in the box below.

Please acknowledge this reply X

Here at the Department for Education we carry out our research on many different topics and consultations. As your views are valuable to us, would it be alright if we were to contact you again from time to time either for research or to send through consultation documents?

X Yes No

All DfE public consultations are required to conform to the following criteria within the Government Code of Practice on Consultation:

Criterion 1: Formal consultation should take place at a stage when there is scope to influence the policy outcome.

Criterion 2: Consultations should normally last for at least 12 weeks with consideration given to longer timescales where feasible and sensible.

Criterion 3: Consultation documents should be clear about the consultation process, what is being proposed, the scope to influence and the expected costs and benefits of the proposals.

Criterion 4: Consultation exercises should be designed to be accessible to, and clearly targeted at, those people the exercise is intended to reach.

Criterion 5: Keeping the burden of consultation to a minimum is essential if consultations are to be effective and if consultees’ buy-in to the process is to be obtained.

Criterion 6: Consultation responses should be analysed carefully and clear feedback should be provided to participants following the consultation.

Criterion 7: Officials running consultations should seek guidance in how to run an effective consultation exercise and share what they have learned from the experience.

If you have any comments on how DfE consultations are conducted, please contact Carole Edge, DfE Consultation Co-ordinator, tel: 0370 000 2288 / email: [email protected]

Thank you for taking time to respond to this consultation. Completed questionnaires and other responses should be sent to the address shown below by 1 August 2012

Send by post to: Public Communications Unit, Area 1C, Castle View House, East Lane, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 2GJ

Send by e-mail to: [email protected]