Research and analysis

The role of information, advice and guidance in young people's education and employment choices

Survey asked years 9, 10 and 11 about careers education and information, advice and guidance received from family, teachers and Connexions.

Documents

Details

Careers education and information, advice and guidance (CE/IAG) provided to students before the end of compulsory school may be essential to allow them to make suitable educational and employment decisions and to minimise the potential costs associated with uninformed and unsuccessful choices.

Young people can obtain CE/IAG from three main sources: from their family, from their school, or from the specialised Connexions service. This paper reports the findings of research designed to estimate how much difference the availability of CE/IAG makes to young people’s attitudes to school and expectations for post-16 activities and to the actual decisions they take after reaching the minimum school-leaving age.

The analysis mainly compares outcomes between young people who reported regular advice from each source and those who reported less. Alternative ways of defining regular advice (depending on the particular sequence of questions asked in each year) have been tested, and the overall conclusions are not sensitive to the precise definition used.

This summary is designed to record the conclusions of the analysis, with minimal technical discussion. Many readers will find that the summary provides as much information as they need, without having to consult the full text.

Published 26 August 2010