Research library

This online library provides a comprehensive repository of the different and effective approaches to employer engagement and careers education. Developed over the last decade it brings together the latest thinking with selected research published over the past 40 years for the benefit of researchers, academics and policy makers.

Free to access and searchable by keyword, it features summaries of a wide range of studies with abstracts and links to the full reports. With research articles and reports from leading figures and education bodies, you can examine issues such as employer-led learning, youth employment, career related learning in primary schools, and social mobility, as well as information on gender, ethnicity, and specific subject study such as STEM.

The main library is complemented by an extensive online video collection and a physical library. The video collection comprises over 150 videos of researchers discussing their work and its implications for policy and practice, together with conference presentations and seminars.

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‘The impact of financial and cultural capital on FE students’ education and employment progression’

January 14, 2016

Emma Norris & Becky Francis In Understanding Employer Engagement in Education: Theories and Evidence, Mann, A., Stanley, J. & Archer, L. (eds), London: Routledge (2014), pp.127-139. The book is available here. This chapter draws upon notions of social (in)equality and economic (dis)advantage to discuss how the career outcomes of young people are shaped by cultural […]

‘A theoretical framework for employer engagement’

January 12, 2016

Julian Stanley & Anthony Mann In Understanding Employer Engagement in Education: Theories and Evidence, Mann, A., Stanley, J. & Archer, L. (eds), London: Routledge (2014), pp.36-52. The book is available here. This book chapter conceptualises employer engagement in education through the ‘life course’ theory – arguing that life is contextually constructed in a social and […]

‘Careers education in a primary school’

January 6, 2016

Gothard, W.P. In Pastoral Care, 16(3), pp.36-41 (1998). The article is available here. Research within careers education in the primary setting has been sparse. This observational study assesses the impact of a ‘Careers Week’ event held within a single primary school in the South-East of England in June 1997. The annual event involves parents talking […]

‘Ambition gone awry: The long-term socioeconomic consequences of misaligned and uncertain ambitions in adolescence’

December 17, 2015

Ricardo Sabates, Angela Harris & Jeremy Staff In Social Science Quarterly, 92(4), pp.959-977 (2011). Find the article here. Arguably, UK school-to-work transitions have become more fractured as a result of declining availability of vocational routes and standardisation of the education system focused upon academic attainment. Simultaneously, research has demonstrated that youths’ employment ambitions have increased […]

‘Strategic frameworks for understanding employer participation in school-to-work programmes’

December 7, 2015

Frank Linnehan and Donna De Carolis In Strategic Management Journal, 26, pp.523-539 (2005). Find the article here. School-to-work programmes (STW) developed in the US out of the belief that the educational system was inadequately preparing students for the world of work. STW programmes are predicated on the engagement of employers in educational activities, and yet […]

‘Uncertainty in educational and career aspirations: Gender differences in young people’

December 4, 2015

Leslie Morrison Gutman, Ricardo Sabates & Ingrid Schoon. In I. School & J.S. Eccles (eds). 2014. Gender Differences in Aspirations and Attainment: A Life Course Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 161-181. The book is available here. Changes within the global labour market have resulted in more complex and fractured career and education pathways and there […]

‘The challenges facing young women in apprenticeships’

December 1, 2015

Alison Fuller & Lorna Unwin In I. School & J.S. Eccles (eds). 2014. Gender Differences in Aspirations and Attainment: A Life Course Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 182-199. The book is available here. It is recognised that there are stereotypical gender inequalities within UK Apprenticeship schemes. Literature concerning gendered stereotypes within education and training programmes […]

‘A longitudinal study of work-based, adult-youth mentoring’

November 18, 2015

Frank Linnehan In the Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63 (2003), 40-54. The article is available here. Despite numbers of US school-to-work programmes increasing considerably since the 1980s, the article begins by noting the failure of surrounding literature to keep pace. Linnehan’s study aims to address the gaps in literature by comparing the attitudes and beliefs relating […]

Stagnant Perceptions of Nursing Among High School Students: Results of a Shadowing Intervention Study

October 1, 2015

Gloria Porter, Pamela Edwards and Bradi Granger In the Journal of Professional Nursing 25:4 (2009), 227 – 233 The recruitment and retention of nurses in the USA is problematic, in notable part due to the misperception of nursing as a career and high drop-out rates of nurses in their first couple of years. This […]

The Relation of Source Credibility and Message Frequency to Program Evaluation and Self-Confidence of Students in a Job Shadowing Program

September 29, 2015

Frank Linnehan In Journal of Vocational Education Research 29:1 (2004) pp.67-81 This study explores the relationship between students and adults in the school and business environment during a US job shadowing programme. In particular, the credibility and message frequency of the adults who were being shadowed were analysed in relation to the perceptions of a […]