Driving prosperity and inclusion with lifelong career advice for adults
While Gatsby’s primary focus is on young people, career decisions continue well beyond the age of 18. They are taken throughout our lives and are crucial not only to our own wellbeing and prosperity, but also to that of our local community and national economy. For adults, good career guidance can play a key role in tackling unemployment, underemployment and skills misalignment.
The adult career guidance campaign in action
To understand what current adult career guidance provision in England looks like, Gatsby commissioned researchers Pye Tait Consulting to gather evidence.
The research examines the strengths and weaknesses of adult career guidance in England and identifies the key stakeholder organisations and the services they provide. It also highlights examples of best practice and explores the role of digital innovation in adult career guidance.
Understanding the diverse needs of the adult population is essential for analysing the supply of career guidance.
To support this, Gatsby commissioned a typology of adult career guidance needed to inform policy making on guidance infrastructure and related services, such as training. The typology identifies eight groups who may benefit from guidance, with representative personas, population estimates and trends over time. The research also includes an overview of central government support currently provided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Education (DfE).
To find out what we could learn from other countries’ experiences of adult career guidance, Gatsby commissioned an international research project from SQW and the International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby.
The research sought to:
- Gain a better understanding of what ‘good’ looks like in adult career guidance; and
- Build a firm evidence base to help Gatsby, wider stakeholders and policy makers consider how to build a good adult career guidance system.
The team of researchers worked with people involved in adult career guidance in seven countries: Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Denmark.
In addition, the team produced a series of in-depth case studies exploring the whole adult career guidance system in four of those countries: Estonia, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.
The final report summarises the findings from this work and identifies several features of successful adult career guidance systems.
As vital and trusted local hubs for education and training, Further Education (FE) Colleges are well-placed to contribute to an effective, accessible career guidance system. Our research suggests that while co-location is not widespread – fewer than 10% of colleges in England have established relationships with a National Careers Service contractor – there are clear benefits to both colleges and careers service providers.
Colleges engaged in co-location report that collaborating with the National Careers Service builds their capacity to meet adult learners’ career guidance needs, reinforces their role as community anchors and supports local workforce development. A key takeaway is the importance of shared objectives and performance indicators; these are essential to ensuring that resources are used effectively when services are delivered in a co-located setting.
Careers decisions don’t end at 18, they continue throughout our lives, often during times of change or challenge. Our work with adults is rooted in the same belief that has guided our work from the start: that high-quality career guidance can make a meaningful difference whatever someone’s age or stage.
- Beth Jones, Head of Career Programmes
Reports & publications
Career Guidance for Adults: Evidence Gathering
This is a summary of findings from a market research exercise into the adult careers guidance landscape conducted by independent research organization, Pye Tait on behalf of the Gatsby Foundation.
Author(s)
Pye Tait Consulting
The demand for adult career guidance in England: Market sizing against a typology of needs
This is an executive summary of our work by Chris Percy to define the typology for adult career guidance needs in England.
Author(s)
Chris Percy
National Careers Service and Further Education co-location research
Qualitative research report by York Consulting, exploring the extent and nature of NCS and FE college colocation across England, including the delivery models used and key benefits, challenges and enablers.
Author(s)
Martha Julings, Philip Wilson
