By Youth Employment UK (published October 2018)
This annual census from Youth Employment UK explores the views of 14-25-year olds in education, training and employment. 1,498 young people were surveyed with the same set of questions on career learning, employability skills and social action, as well as subsections on experiences in college, sixth form, university, apprenticeships and time not in education, employment or training (NEET). The survey was designed by Youth Employment UK with support from Education and Employers, the Department for Education, the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC), the Edge Foundation and many more. Amongst this report’s most significant findings, young women were found to be receiving less access to careers support and work experience opportunities than young men. Young women are 20% less likely than young men to have ever received CV workshops and visits to a university.
This report provides a list of recommendation for education practitioners, government and employers to address gender discrepancies in confidence levels and aspirations, develop employability skills in young people and support employers to better understand quality, provision and targeting. The authors advise that further research is needed to understand the barriers facing young women in their aspirations and confidence towards entering the world of work. The national curriculum should also be reformed to provide better access to impartial careers advice, make work experience a statutory requirement of key stages 3-5 and embed career-related learning in every curriculum subject area to be inspected by Ofsted. Employers should be given access to data from the CEC’s careers benchmark tool Compass. This would help employers identify which schools are struggling to provide adequate careers provision and ensure support is targeted effectively. Employers can be encouraged to release young graduates and apprenticeships to work with local schools as peer role models and mentors.
Download the report here