Impartial careers advice and guidance to young people aged 14-16 years provided by Careers Wales advisers

Careers Wales targets the 14-16-year-olds most in need of independent advice and guidance for their career pathways. Most careers advisers are well-prepared for the guidance session at the schools and settings visited, particularly where relationships with schools are good. They provide clear advice, often challenging risky or unrealistic ideas through sensitive questioning.

Most of the young people eligible for a guidance session respond well to their adviser. They consider questions around their initial ideas and plans and are willing to work towards the action plan they create with support. However, young people’s starting points range widely, often due to the quality of career support from their schools they have had before the session.

Estyn has found that Careers Wales are not always clear about measuring the impact and effectiveness of their services and overall strategy. Overall, the company’s processes for evaluating the impact of its services are underdeveloped, with too much focus on client satisfaction and not enough analysis of what impact the service has on improving the quality of clients’ planning or decision-making. This limits the company’s ability to base its improvement planning on a reliable or rigorous analysis of service strengths and areas for improvement.

Recommendations

Careers Wales should:

• Develop systems and appropriate criteria to evaluate the impact that services have on the effectiveness and resilience of young people’s career planning and decision-making
• Ensure that effective evaluation, based on accurate, comprehensive and relevant evidence, informs strategic planning and quality improvement
• Strengthen links with other careers companies to improve opportunities for professional learning and developing good practice
• Continue to ensure that analysis from quality assurance activities is fed back to individual schools to strengthen careers and work-related education
• Ensure that all staff promote young people’s awareness of the value of the Welsh language as an employment skill
• Ensure that all staff understand the company’s arrangements and procedures for the safeguarding of young people