Schools: Vocational Guidance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the extent to which schools prepare young people for employment, apprenticeships and vocational education, including through careers advice, work experience opportunities and mental health support; whether she plans to introduce further measures to support pupils identified as being at risk of disengagement from education or employment; what assessment she has made of the role of mentoring in supporting young people’s career aspirations, confidence and preparedness for employment, apprenticeships and further education; and whether she plans to expand access to mentoring programmes for pupils and introduce standards for the quality, consistency and accessibility of mentoring provision in schools and colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister
The government is determined to ensure that every young person leaves school well prepared for their future pathways.
We are improving careers guidance in schools and colleges, with clearer expectations set out in statutory guidance, including the Gatsby Benchmarks to support high-quality provision.
Alongside this, we are strengthening delivery through the Careers & Enterprise Company, including tools such as OnTrack+, which help schools identify pupils at risk of disengagement earlier and target support to keep them on track for future pathways. We are also committed to all secondary pupils benefitting from two weeks’ worth of meaningful work experience.
Through the Every Child Achieving and Thriving White Paper, we are tackling disengagement through a stronger focus on inclusion, belonging and earlier support, alongside expanding access to mental health support teams.
We will publish a best practice framework to help schools measure and improve pupil engagement, with all schools expected to monitor pupils’ sense of belonging and take action to improve it by the end of the Parliament.
Mentoring has an important role in raising aspirations and supporting young people to succeed, particularly those at risk of disengagement. We will continue to support high-quality approaches as part of wider reforms.
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