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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Disadvantaged Young People Accessing the New Urban Economies of the Post-Industrial City

August 22, 2006

An article by Carl Raffo, Journal of Education Policy, 21(1), pp.75-94 Raffo seeks to explain the growing polarization between an emerging post-industrial service base and high skill city economy, and the continuing educational and socio-economic underachievement of marginalised urban young people who struggle to access these changing labour markets. Raffo pulls together findings from four research […]

Evaluation of Increased Flexibility for 14 to 16 Year Olds Programme: Outcomes for the Second Cohort

June 22, 2006

A report by Golden, S., O’Donnell, L., Benton, T. and Rudd, P. (National Foundation for Educational Research) This report follows from the evaluation of the first cohort who participated in the Increased Flexibility for 14 to 16 Year Olds Programme (IFP), introduced in 2002 by the UK Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to ‘create […]

Gendered Identities and Work Placement: Why Don’t Boys Care?

June 22, 2006

An article by Osgood, J., Francis, B. and Archer, L. Journal of Education Policy, 21(3), pp.305-321 This article examines the problem of persistent gender stereotyping of career roles and aspirations among young people, and the choices and educational experiences that shape this. It draws upon data from a study conducted in England for the EOC […]

Do School-to-Work Programs Help the “Forgotten Half”?

September 18, 2005

A report by David Neumark and Donna Rothstein, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (the Institute for the Study of Labor). This paper tests whether school-to-work (STW) programs are particularly beneficial for those less likely to go to college in their absence – often termed the “forgotten half” in the STW literature. The analysis is based […]

Evaluation of Increased Flexibility for 14 to 16 Year Olds Programme: Outcomes for the First Cohort

June 22, 2005

A report by Golden, S., O’Donnell, L., Benton, T. and Rudd, P. (National Foundation for Educational Research) In response to The Green Paper: 14-19: extending opportunities, raising standards (2002), the Increased Flexibility for 14-16 year olds Programme (IFP) was introduced in 2002 by the UK Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to ‘create enhanced vocational […]

Pupil Interest in Physics: A Survey in Finland

June 22, 2005

A report by the University of Helsinki (Jari Lavonen, Reijo Byman, Kalle Juuti, Veijo Maisalo, Anna Uitto), NorDiNa 2/05 This report analyses the results of a survey consisting of 3,626 pupils (median age 15, 1,772 of whom were girls) in 61 schools, respondents from an original sample of 4,954 pupils from 75 schools (about 65 […]

Gender Equality in Work Experience Placements for Young People

June 22, 2005

A report by the London Metropolitan University (Dr Becky Francis, Ms Jayne Osgood, Dr Jacinta Dalgety, Dr Louise Archer), commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission This report analyses the magnitude of gender differences and socio-economic bias in the uptake of work placements for various occupations, comparing its findings to national data records of gender distribution […]

Does School-to-Work Make a Difference? Assessing Students’ Perceptions and Practices of Career-Related Skills

June 1, 2005

In Journal of Vocational Education and Training 57 (2) (2005) pp 219-236 The School-to-Work Opportunities Act in the USA was intended to help students learn employability skills and to prepare for careers or further education. Not many quantitative studies have been conducted to inform policymakers and teachers of the success of the programme. This article is […]

How Work Experiences While at School Affect Career Pathways

January 18, 2005

National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation Programme This research analyses how work activities undertaken by Australian students while at school affect their post-school pathways into work and between work and study. It finds that work experience does help open young people’s eyes to career possibilities; that young people who had undertaken school-based New […]

High School Career Exploration Programs: Do They Work?

October 8, 2004

In Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Oct. 2004), pp. 135-138 Many schools find it difficult to bridge the gap between encouraging academic and vocational paths for their pupils. Under the No Child Left Behind Act in the USA, schools were required to improve academic achievement and help more students into further education or better […]