Skilful Advice

The Age

Saturday October 11, 2008

Max Berry

Career advice in schools needs to be effective and cover a wide range of occupations, with record levels of emigration compounding skill shortages.

A study by the Australian Council for Educational Research has found that almost all students between years 10 and 12 access career advice at their schools and believe the information provided meets their individual needs.

Career advisers are likely to be the most popular staff members at secondary schools if the number of students seeking their time is any guide. But career advice has drawn criticism from employers who have felt the impact of skill shortages, while a relatively high number of school leavers failed to undertake further education or training. Not all of these have gone straight into full-time jobs, with disturbing levels of youth unemployment and underemployment amid cries for more workers.

The mode of delivering career advice is important. The ACER study, which distilled the thoughts of 8000 students aged 15 in 2003, found that they considered individual discussions with career advisers the most beneficial and group sessions the least useful.

Other common career activities in schools include use of written material, talks by representatives of universities and colleges, and visits by employer representatives, which were found to be more useful by male students than females.

Students perceived careers advice more favourably after they had experienced a broad range of career activities, the study found. And students who had lower achievement scores or were unsure whether they would complete year 12 tended to offer more positive comments about career advice than the overall student population.

There was little difference between schools in how career advice was perceived by students; the service was appreciated - and equitably delivered - across a wide range of schools and socio-economic backgrounds, ACER found.

Release of the ACER report in the past week coincides with figures showing Australia has experienced its biggest exodus of people who say they are leaving the country permanently.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans revealed that 76,923 left the country declaring their departure permanent in 2007-08, with half of those in skilled jobs and two-thirds aged between 25 and 54. There was a net gain from immigration, with 149,635 permanent settler arrivals in 2007-08.

LINK acer.edu.au