07.07.07
Research reveals that a majority of students - particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds - are being failed, because no one is telling them how their exam and course choices will affect their careers
Futuretrack, the biggest-ever longitudinal study into the relationship between HE and employment, revealed that the majority of students were satisfied with access to publications such as the Good University Guides or with opportunities to visit a UCAS fair or university campus.
However, when it comes to specific careers guidance, the proportions of students who felt they got what they needed drop to about half, and the more individually-tailored and pertinent the advice they needed, the more they felt they had been failed.
Insufficient information
When it came to understanding the relationship between courses and employment options, nearly six out of ten said that they had received either insufficient information or no information at all, while a damning seven out of ten felt they hadn’t received enough information about the career implications of post-16 exam subject choices.
Asking the right questions
‘The size of this percentage was one of the things that most shocked me,’ says Futuretrack head, Professor Kate Purcell, ‘and it is clear that it is non-traditional students who go straight to university from school who are losing out. They don’t have any access to experienced advice at home so they don’t really know what information they lack. If you come from a background where no one close to you know has gone to higher education, you don’t know what questions you should be asking.’
Poorer study choices
As the report states, ‘There appears to be a shortfall in the careers advice applicants received from schools. For those with graduate parents attending schools and colleges where the majority of students go on to HE, this may be less of a problem, but for those without these advantages, lack of access to career guidance prior to HE application leaves them vulnerable to making poorer choices.’