1 Getting advice and support to the young
people who need it
1. Connexions is committed to providing a basic level
of advice, information and guidance to all young people who want
it. Moving away from providing an automatic careers interview
for all pupils was intended to free up resources for those areas,
schools and young people most in need. In addition to enabling
a broader range of support and advice to be offered to young people
in different contexts through a single point of entry, Connexions
recognised that some young people need more flexibility in the
way that they access advice and guidance. New means are being
developed, including one-stop shops and Connexions Direct. At
March 2004, over 400 one-stop shops providing local services under
one roof were open or planned. Around 70% of them are open after
school hours and at the weekend. Connexions Direct allows contact
with advisers by telephone or text message, or by web chat and
email from the Connexions Direct website (www.connexions-direct.com).
Of the calls to Connexions Direct, 57% are about careers, learning
and jobs.[6]
2. The success of Connexions depends on young people
knowing how and where to seek advice when they want it. For many
young people, parents and schools are the main sources of advice
on careers options and the avenues through which they can seek
to achieve their aspirations. Many schools can and do provide
such advice and Connexions should be complementing them by providing
impartial advice and guidance specific to the young person. The
success of Connexions depends on it being visible and accessible,
and the Department therefore introduced a clear branding and wide
advertising for Connexions. Young people have been involved in
developing the service, and independent customer surveys are showing
a high degree of satisfaction with it.[7]
3. Informing young people about the range of opportunities
available, guiding them on how to develop their careers and how
to get the advice they need to decide the right mix of options,
are all key elements of the careers curriculum. Schools have a
statutory duty to provide appropriate careers education. However,
careers education has to compete with other priorities, and the
quality of schools' provision is very variable. Half of the schools
surveyed by the National Audit Office claimed they had insufficient
time to develop the curriculum to incorporate careers education,
and in nearly two-thirds of the schools it was being coordinated
or delivered by staff without any formal qualification in careers
education.[8]
4. Connexions' tasks include helping schools to improve
their careers education as well as to understand when and how
to refer young people to Connexions. It now has a toolkit for
schools, developed by a head teacher, showing how to use Connexions
in schools and how it works with other support systems. Connexions
partnerships also have agreements with schools in which the schools
set out what they want from Connexions, including a minimum level
of contact time they can expect from a Connexions Personal Adviser.[9]
5. Connexions is a universal service in terms of
the overall offer of information and advice, but also involves
a substantial targeting, with resources being focused on areas,
schools and teenagers who need it most. According to the National
Audit Office's survey, two-thirds of schools considered that staff
did not fully understand the role of Connexions' Personal Advisers,
and two-fifths considered that staff were uncertain how to identify
and refer pupils who need specialist advice to Connexions. The
latter is an important role for schools so as to secure early
intervention with young people who could develop multiple problems.[10]
6. Connexions management information includes records
of "interventions" with young people, based on each
occasion when a Personal Adviser offers some element of substantial
or meaningful assistance. Interventions are classified into three
groups: intensive and sustained support for those students with
multiple problems; in-depth guidance and help for those at risk
of disengaging from education, employment or training; and information,
guidance and review of careers, learning and personal development
choices. Total resources for 13-19 year olds will differ, and
some variation between partnerships in the categories of intervention
is to be expected, for example, depending upon the resources the
area already has through other programmes. For interventions with
young people in need of the most intensive support, the range
is from two to 63% and half of all partnerships are spread between
17 to 38% (Figure 2).[11]
7. The Department explained that deprivation indices
suggest a higher proportion of young people requiring intensive
support in, for example, Humber, than in Essex, Southend and Thurrock.
The age of the partnership can also have an effect, since as partnerships
mature, they tend to learn of more young people previously not
known to them, many of whom require intensive support. The Department
is setting up a system to track the different categories of intervention
and use the information for comparing partnerships' performance.[12]
6 C&AG's Report, paras 2.28, 3.30-3.31; Qq 13,
57-58, 76, 89 Back
7
C&AG's Report, para 3.32; Qq 12, 96 Back
8
C&AG's Report, paras 3.19-3.21; Q 17 Back
9
C&AG's Report, paras 3.19, 3.21; Qq 7-9, 16-18, 60-61, 66 Back
10
C&AG's Report, para 3.22; Qq 18, 59, 76 Back
11
Qq 26-29, 83-88 Back
12
Q 87; Ev 16 Back
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