New Horizons - Careers education provision in areas of social deprivation: a report on efficacy.

I've had lots of requests for me to share my Masters dissertation, on which my New Horizons ResearchED talk is based upon. I thought it would be easiest to share this on my blog page to support Careers Leads and anyone else interested in CEIAG within their subject areas.

Abstract

Careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) has undergone many reforms in a little more than a century of its existence in England. The most recent evolution of this sees the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) inspection framework explicitly use research carried out by the Gatsby Foundation (Holman, 2014) that provides a series of eight benchmarks to used as an informed framework on which to assess CEIAG provision. 

This paper uses a systematic literature review to evaluate the CEIAG provision of secondary schools in the East Midlands and Yorkshire & The Humber regions. Producing a narrative account that suggests that success under the Ofsted inspection framework and Gatsby benchmarks are insufficiently effective to address the CEIAG needs of school communities in areas of social deprivation. This report highlights shortcomings caused by a national focus on supporting individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds; resulting in current advice falling-short in helping schools address deeply-ingrained social disadvantage in communities that have long-standing factors restricting equitable access to impactful CEIAG-based experiences throughout Secondary and FE education. 

Conclusions of shared best practice, made with considerations to common themes observed across successful CEIAG providers, and recommendations to improve CEIAG practice in Secondary schools serving communities in areas of social deprivation are made to promote effective provision that considers the challenges of meeting the needs of large numbers of disadvantaged students.