Career Guidance Conference 26-27 May, Brno, Czech Republic

Career Guidance
What works and why it matters
Tristram Hooley, Professor of Career Education, University of Derby
OECD definition

Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to

assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout
their lives, to make educational, training and occupational
choices and to manage their careers…
The activities may take place on an individual or group
basis, and may be face-to-face or at a distance (including
help lines and web-based services).
(OECD, 2004)

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Overview

A note
Why it What
of
matters works
caution

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Overview

A note
Why it What
of
matters works
caution

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Impacts for individuals

• Improves engagement with education

• Enhances performance in the education system

(increases motivation)

• Support transitions between education and work (and

other life stages)

• Contributes to lifelong wellbeing and success

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Public policy rationales

• Active ageing
• Economic development.
• Efficient investment in education and training.
• European mobility for learning and work.
• Labour market efficiency.
• Lifelong learning.
• Social equity.
• Social inclusion.
• Youth employment.

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Does it work?

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Economic benefits

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Overview

A note
Why it What
of
matters works
caution

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Lifelong guidance is most effective where it

1. Is lifelong and progressive.

2. Connects meaningfully to the wider experience and lives of the individuals
who participate in it.
3. Recognises the diversity of individuals and provides services relevant to
their needs.
4. Combines a range of interventions (e.g. one-to-one and online support).
5. Encourages the acquisition of career management skills.
6. Is holistic and well-integrated into other support services.
7. Involves employers and working people, and provide active experiences of
workplaces.
8. Is delivered by skilled, well-trained and motivated practitioners.
9. Draws on good-quality career information.
10. Is quality-assured and evaluated.

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Good career guidance (Gatsby)

• A stable careers programme

• Learning from career and labour market information
• Addressing the needs of each pupil
• Linking curriculum learning to careers
• Encounters with employers and employees
• Experienced of workplaces
• Encounters with further and higher education
• Personal guidance

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Overview

A note
Why it What
of
matters works
caution

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Policy is not the same as
morality.

Just because polititicians

think something is a good
idea doesn’t make it the right
thing to do.

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Evidence can’t tell you what
to do.

It can only tell you if what you

are doing does what you think
it should be doing.

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
What are we doing?

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
References

• Gatsby Charitable Foundation (2014). Good Career Guidance.

London: Gatsby.
• Hooley, T. (2014). The Evidence Base on Lifelong Guidance.
Jyväskylä, Finland: European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network
(ELGPN).
• Hooley, T. and Dodd, V. (2015). The Economic Benefits of Career
Guidance. Careers England.
• Hooley, T., Marriott, J., Watts, A.G. and Coiffait, L. (2012). Careers
2020: Options for Future Careers Work in English Schools. London:
Pearson.
• Law, B. (2012). The uses of narrative: Three scene storyboarding –
learning for living, http://www.hihohiho.com/storyboarding/sbL4L.pdf.

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Summary

• Career guidance serves a range of public policy goals.

We need to get better at articulating these to policy
makers.
• There is an extensive evidence base that suggests that
career guidance can be effective and lead to a number of
impacts.
• The evidence base can also provide insights on how best
to organise career guidance activities.
• We should be think carefully about what we are trying to
achieve. Politics and evidence can only take us so far…

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk
Tristram Hooley

Professor of Career Education

International Centre for Guidance Studies
University of Derby
http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
t.hooley@derby.ac.uk
@pigironjoe

Blog at
http://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk