Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 06 December 2012
06 Dec 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Careers Services
I humbly apologise. Someone must have the same dulcet tones as Mr Russell.
Help for young people with careers development is important. Our young people need to develop skills and make the right subject choices at school and the right choices for college and university, so that they can prepare for the increasingly fast-paced and volatile jobs market.
Careers services are also critical to development in the wider economy, as is evident from the high levels of youth unemployment in Scotland. In my council area, which the minister knows well, the youth unemployment rate is a worrying 30 per cent.
On the basis of the evidence that is before us, the minister’s self-satisfied motion, which seeks to celebrate reform, is misguided and does not reflect life in the real world. As I am sure that the Presiding Officer knows, I am always willing to applaud the Government when it does good things, and I would genuinely have preferred to be able to compliment the minister on implementation of effective reforms in the careers service. It is unfortunate that evidence is mounting that the so-called modernisation of the careers service is, like college regionalisation, driven by a cost-cutting agenda, which is leaving tens of thousands of young people with little or no real careers guidance.
As SDS confirms in its “Corporate Strategy 2012/15”,
“The Scottish Government’s Career Information Advice and Guidance Strategy ... places a particular emphasis on giving individuals the ability to manage their own career journeys by developing the relevant skills.”
However, the ability to manage the career journey is being driven in one direction: away from people and human interaction and towards the web-based service, my world of work.
There are serious misgivings about the effectiveness and impact of my world of work. Those concerns fall broadly into two camps: first, the number of young people who have registered for the service—a key point is that this is not the number who have actually used it; and, secondly, the effectiveness of the web-based service for those young people who actually log on and use it.
In 2009, academic researchers Cathy Howieson and Sheila Semple were commissioned by SDS to look at web-based services. Their report concluded:
“the value of career websites in supporting users’ career development remains untested. Very little is known about the impact of career websites on young people’s career-related knowledge and skills and whether such websites can deliver the gains that have been identified as accruing previously from CIAG”—
that is, careers information, advice and guidance. The researchers went on to ask:
“Do all young people have the technical abilities to use websites, are they able to deal with the volume and complexity of the information available?”
Help for young people with careers development is important. Our young people need to develop skills and make the right subject choices at school and the right choices for college and university, so that they can prepare for the increasingly fast-paced and volatile jobs market.
Careers services are also critical to development in the wider economy, as is evident from the high levels of youth unemployment in Scotland. In my council area, which the minister knows well, the youth unemployment rate is a worrying 30 per cent.
On the basis of the evidence that is before us, the minister’s self-satisfied motion, which seeks to celebrate reform, is misguided and does not reflect life in the real world. As I am sure that the Presiding Officer knows, I am always willing to applaud the Government when it does good things, and I would genuinely have preferred to be able to compliment the minister on implementation of effective reforms in the careers service. It is unfortunate that evidence is mounting that the so-called modernisation of the careers service is, like college regionalisation, driven by a cost-cutting agenda, which is leaving tens of thousands of young people with little or no real careers guidance.
As SDS confirms in its “Corporate Strategy 2012/15”,
“The Scottish Government’s Career Information Advice and Guidance Strategy ... places a particular emphasis on giving individuals the ability to manage their own career journeys by developing the relevant skills.”
However, the ability to manage the career journey is being driven in one direction: away from people and human interaction and towards the web-based service, my world of work.
There are serious misgivings about the effectiveness and impact of my world of work. Those concerns fall broadly into two camps: first, the number of young people who have registered for the service—a key point is that this is not the number who have actually used it; and, secondly, the effectiveness of the web-based service for those young people who actually log on and use it.
In 2009, academic researchers Cathy Howieson and Sheila Semple were commissioned by SDS to look at web-based services. Their report concluded:
“the value of career websites in supporting users’ career development remains untested. Very little is known about the impact of career websites on young people’s career-related knowledge and skills and whether such websites can deliver the gains that have been identified as accruing previously from CIAG”—
that is, careers information, advice and guidance. The researchers went on to ask:
“Do all young people have the technical abilities to use websites, are they able to deal with the volume and complexity of the information available?”
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick)
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-05109, in the name of Angela Constance, on the modernisation of Scotland’s careers services.14:57
The Minister for Youth Employment (Angela Constance)
SNP
Having the right people with the right skills in the right jobs is central to growing Scotland’s economy, and an effective careers service is a crucial found...
Kezia Dugdale (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
I am interested in the minister’s comments on a “universal service for all young people”. I have in front of me “Putting Learners at the Centre—Delivering ou...
Angela Constance
SNP
Absolutely not. One of the strengths of the careers service as it stands but enhanced by modernisation is that it will be flexible and responsive. With the u...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
The move from face-to-face support to online support has its challenges, of course. Is the minister aware, for example, of the recent figures that I have, wh...
Angela Constance
SNP
Let us be clear that a person does not need to be registered to access the careers service, but of course we want young people to register, as we think that ...
Kezia Dugdale
Lab
Will the minister take an intervention?
Angela Constance
SNP
Not just now—I have not finished dealing with Mr Smith’s point.With every month that goes by, registration increases by 10 to 15 per cent. I also take except...
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
Will the minister take an intervention?
Angela Constance
SNP
No, thank you.Those young people will receive career management skills in the classroom as part of the curriculum for excellence. That is our baseline univer...
Kezia Dugdale
Lab
The minister says that she wants careers services to be at the heart of the system. How, then, can she explain a 20 per cent cut in front-line services? That...
Angela Constance
SNP
Miss Dugdale will be aware—it is no secret—that Skills Development Scotland has had a voluntary severance scheme, which ended in March 2012. However, there h...
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I am not a member of the Education and Culture Committee and I am quite new to the issue, but I have read the briefing from Unison, which says that 93 per ce...
Angela Constance
SNP
I am aware of that survey only because it is quoted in the Unison briefing that has been distributed to members today. I have of course seen press comments a...
Kezia Dugdale
Lab
Will the minister give way?
Angela Constance
SNP
No. The survey had 350 staff—Interruption.
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Ms Dugdale, sit down.
Angela Constance
SNP
I understand that 350 staff participated in the survey, out of a head count of 1,150 staff. The survey took place before the intensive face-to-face engagemen...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Can we stop having remarks from a sedentary position?
Angela Constance
SNP
The Government is firmly committed to high-quality universal careers services for people of all ages. We are committed to services that are independent, impa...
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
My experience of being a recipient of careers guidance at school was not particularly good, but that probably says more about my attitude as a surly, spotty ...
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning (Michael Russell)
SNP
No.
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I think that in this case Mr Russell was the innocent party. Some of his colleagues were certainly intervening.
Neil Findlay
Lab
I humbly apologise. Someone must have the same dulcet tones as Mr Russell.Help for young people with careers development is important. Our young people need ...
Angela Constance
SNP
I am certainly aware of the research that those reputable researchers conducted in 2009, which was actually pre my world of work. Does Mr Findlay accept that...
Neil Findlay
Lab
I am just coming to that point. The academics suggest that web-based services, while potentially a useful tool, should not replace the current face-to-face c...
Angela Constance
SNP
Will Mr Findlay give way?
Neil Findlay
Lab
Certainly.
Angela Constance
SNP
As Mr Findlay is so well informed by his trade union and Skills Development Scotland sources, does he accept the commitment that has been given that, in the ...
Neil Findlay
Lab
Presiding Officer, I think that we have heard enough from the minister now.