Moments of Choice: WHY TEENAGERS SWITCH OFF WHEN YOU ASK THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO DO WHEN THEY GROW UP

• Moments of Choice report from The Careers & Enterprise Company finds young people are too overwhelmed by choice to make informed decisions about careers 
• As GSCE results are published, study finds many young people rely on TV or outdated perceptions of the world of work despite recognising the jobs market has changed
• To improve the clarity of information and better support young people, The Careers & Enterprise Company launches a consultation on its findings including a series of evidence-based public information campaigns
• Findings published as The Careers & Enterprise Company celebrates milestone of mobilising 1,000 business volunteers to connect with schools and colleges across England.

As young people across England receive exam results and review their plans for the future, new research from The Careers & Enterprise Company finds they face an “information overload” when it comes to future careers.

Conducted by The Behavioural Insights Team*, the Moments of Choice report finds the careers information landscape is overwhelming and causes young people to rely on TV or refer to the jobs available to their parents’ generation when making decisions about what to do after education. This despite the fact that most young people recognise the jobs market has changed and their career would likely be very different to that of their parents.

According to the report, the way that careers information is presented adds complexity and contributes to young people switching off from making decisions about their future. This includes a multitude of online sources that present information on careers in different ways with a wide range  of criteria to evaluate it against. Developing the confidence and judgement to navigate this complicated landscape is a problem experienced by young people, teachers and careers advisers alike.

Today’s report – released ahead of GCSE results – provides proposals from The Company on how to improve the situation. This includes a series of public information campaigns to better frame career choices, targeted at young people, their families and support networks at key moments in the school calendar. These campaigns would be overseen by an expert council of employers, academics and careers advisers and informed by the latest research.

The research underlines the important role of employers in providing young people with exposure to the world of work so they can make informed decisions about their future. It is published as The Careers & Enterprise Company celebrates the milestone of recruiting 1,000 business volunteers as Enterprise Advisors within a year of being launched. This new nationwide network is building links between employers, schools and colleges across the country with the ambition to encourage even more businesses to get involved so every young person can benefit.

Claudia Harris, CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company, comments:

“The way that careers information is presented is overwhelming to young people. The already complex world of work is being made more complex, causing young people to switch off from decision-making altogether. Our report highlights two next steps: to be clearer in how we frame career choices for young people and to help young people build the judgement and skills needed to navigate the decision making process. Alongside this research is our proposal for a set of public information campaigns to to help young people and their support networks. These campaigns would be overseen by experts and informed by the latest research on what works.”

“To help young people build judgement to navigate the complex landscape, we need to give young people exposure to businesses and employers. This helps them develop a compass to navigate the world of work and provides them with the cues, connections and understanding to be informed decision-makers. We are delighted that in one year we have signed up 1,000 Enterprise Advisers or business volunteers to work with schools and colleges across England but we hope that more employers will get involved so that every school and college can benefit.“

Susannah Hume, Head of Skills at The Behavioural Insights Team, comments: “We started this research thinking that inspiring and informing young people were two separate challenges, but what we quickly realised was that inspiration about what a job would be like for them may be the most important form of information we can give to young people.

“We found that young people often have inaccurate ideas of what many jobs would actually be like, and that they may lack the support to seek out and evaluate information about potential careers. Good labour market information needs to be combined with providing inspiration in order to have a real impact on young people’s visions for their future.”

To coincide with Moments of Choice, the Careers and Enterprise Company has published a consultation document on how to build consensus around the information and guidance young people need based on research into what makes a real difference. The Company is calling for those in the careers and education sector to review and provide their views via [email protected] by Friday 9 September 2016.

The Careers & Enterprise Company is an employer-led organisation that has been set up to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work. Its role is to act as a catalyst in the fragmented landscape of careers and enterprise, supporting programmes that work, filling gaps in provision and ensuring coverage across the country. 

In its first year of operation it has focused on improving links between employers and schools and colleges. It has established a network of coordination across England in partnership with Local Enterprise Partnerships, with over 70 full time coordinators now working with clusters of 20 schools and colleges, and 1000 business volunteers signed up to provide counsel to individual schools and colleges. It has invested £5m in proven programmes to connect schools and businesses, unlocking a further £5m in match funding. 75% will go into the geographic areas in the country most in need of support – the ‘Cold spots’ – and 250,000 young sa

 

* About the Behavioural Insights Team

The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) is a social purpose company, jointly owned by the UK Government; Nesta (the innovation charity); and employees. BIT started life inside 10 Downing Street as the world’s first government institution dedicated to the application of behavioural sciences. The objectives of BIT are to:

• Make public services more cost-effective and easier for citizens to use;
• Improve outcomes by introducing a more realistic model of human behaviour to policy; and wherever possible,
• Enable people to make ‘better choices for themselves

About The Careers & Enterprise Company

• An employer-led organisation, set up to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work
• Role is to join the dots in the fragmented landscape of careers and enterprise, supporting programmes that work, filling gaps in provision and ensuring coverage across the country. It follows four principles to do this:

1. Test, learn and adapt
2. Build on what works
3. Work nationally, tailor locally
4. Enable and convene the best programmes

• In its first year, The Company set up the Enterprise Adviser network to help bridge the gap between education and employment. In year one, 73 full-time Enterprise Coordinators have been employed and 1000 business volunteer Enterprise Advisers and 732 schools signed up
• Its chair is Christine Hodgson, chair of Capgemini, and its board includes: Lord David Young, former Enterprise Adviser to the Prime Minister, Steve Holliday, former Chief Executive of National Grid plc, Brian Lightman, former General Secretary of ASCL and Julia Cleverdon, Vice President of Business in the Community and Special Adviser to The Prince’s Charities.