Skills

1
Skills competencies required by career
practitioners to develop internet-based practice

• Lancaster University
• Department of Educational Research Seminar Series
• 6th June, 2012
• Jenny Bimrose
• Institute for Employment Research
• University of Warwick
• jenny.bimrose_at_warwick.ac.uk

2
Outline

• Research method/findings
• Follow-on research
• Future indications?

3
ICT Policy Context

• young people today want and expect to secure
  IAG from a range of sources beyond formal careers
  advice
• Our IAG offer for young people will exploit a
  range of digital technologies
• Ref Department for Children Schools and
  Families (2009). Quality, Choice Aspiration A
  strategy for young people's information, advice
  and guidance. London HM Government. Retrieved 26
  October 2009, from http//publications.dcsf.gov.uk
  /eOrderingDownload/IAG-Report-v2.pdf. (DCSF,
  2009b, p.13)
•  

4
ICT for CEIAG Workforce Capacity?

• ...the knowledge base of the Career Guidance
  workforce which is necessary to use ICT
  technology can be lacking ... This is not
  conducive to the direction in which the
  occupation as a whole is moving...
• Ref Cobbett, D., Dodd, F., Miller, S. and
  Shearer, L. (2009). Skills needs and training
  supply for career guidance a gap analysis.
  Newcastle upon Tyne Trends Business Research
  Ltd.

5
Research questions?

• Skills competencies
• Which are required to deliver on ICT-based
  CEIAG?
• Workforce capacity
• Is there a skills gap?

6
Evidence-based practice?

• Research 2009/2010 (CfBT)
• Literature review
• Fieldwork
• Data analysis write-up

7
ICT Use of language
8
ICT Current usage in CEIAG
9
Skills competencies for ICT-based CEIAG
10
Digital Skills
11
Digital Skills Social/Personal

• Communication
• General Knowledge
• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Self-Esteem

• Parallel processing
• Persistence
• Peer-to-peer learning
• Risk-taking

12
Digital Skills

• Cognitive/Physical
• Multi-tasking
• Logical thinking
• Problem solving
• Trial error learning

• Technical
• Hand-eye coordination
• Technical confidence
• Web-design
• Content creation

13
Evidence-based practice?

• Fieldwork
• Small scale, mixed method empirical study
• 6 sites across England (Connexions)
• Varied delivery contexts and geographical
  locations
• Data collection YP, PAs and managers

14
Data collection Young People

• 7 focus groups 46 YP
• 46 male, 54 female
• Years 8 to 13
• 35-60 minutes
• Range of materials used

15
YPs experiences of CEIAG

• Available services high level of awareness
• Participation high - various methods
• Telephone and email low level of usage
• Career information mixed response
• Varied search strategies deployed
• National website Connexions Direct low
• level of usage

16
YPs aspirations ICT in guidance
17
Data collection P.A.s Managers

• Interviews 11 P.A.s 6 managers
• 18 male, 82 female
• Majority qualified Dip CG, QCG, NVQ Level 4
• CPD high levels of participation
• Variety of contexts

18
P.A.s managers current use of ICT in service
delivery

• Limited
• Potential to develop this part of practice
  embraced enthusiastically (generally!)
• Brakes
• technological infrastructure
• resources
• confidence

19
Skills competencies findings

• Majority high or medium for most essential
  digital skills
• Most support required for skills in web design
  and content creation
• Overall workforce well positioned to develop
  confidence and additional skills to engage
  effectively in internet-based guidance delivery

20

• Context shifting paradigms
• From this. To this

21
ICT Policy Context

• ..further integration of ICT into careers
  service delivery is essential for effective
  delivery of services, a number of key issues need
  to be resolved before its successful
  implementation can be achieved fully. These
  include CPD support for careers professionals
  ICT specification for the all-age service to
  ensure this supports fully integrated provision.
• Ref Careers Profession Task Force Composite
  Progress Report to Ministers, March 2012

22
ICT Policy Context

• the existing funding for face-to-face career
  guidance services for young people has been
  allowed to vanish without trace, without any
  public announcement to this effect. Most existing
  Connexions career guidance services for young
  people have being eroded or dismantled by Local
  Authority cuts. Schools now have to pay for
  services they previously received free of
  charge.
• Ref Careers England Policy Commentary 15B (Final
  Version)
• The Coalitions Emerging Policies on Career
  Guidance
• (May 2012)

23
ICT in IAG - Current usage?
24
ICT in IAG - Themes

• Levels of integration
• Drivers
• Timelines
• Evaluation

• Future plans
• Organisational implications
• Future landscape
• Workforce capacity

25
Levels of integration

• Reactive ad hoc response to requests
• Ongoing need (not part of initial training)
• ICT competence (tricky, sticky leaky)
• Contracts ambiguity uncertainty targets
• The more negative experiences CAs have of
  technology based systems, the more difficult it
  is to persuade them to embrace its usage more
  widely in practice.

26
Technological Frames

• Assumptions, expectations beliefs about ICT
  that are both informed by, inform, ideas and
  assumptions toward ICT, are embedded within the
  organisational culture
• Incongruent, or inaccurate technological frames
  are associated with problems during the adoption/
  use of new ICT in organisations (Menold, 2009)

27
Workforce capacity

• Continuum
• ICT not used a lot currently - to integral to
  service delivery
• Varied examples of innovative practice, but
  mainly for information administration
• Separate strands little integration
• Social networking a feature
• Ad hoc development

28
(No Transcript)
29
ICT IAG Future skill needs?

• Contingent on
• Emerging currently diffusing models of
  practice (i.e. role of ICT in delivery of
  services)
• Changing characteristics of the various
  sub-sectors (e.g. public v. private sector
  shape of services, etc.)
• Shifting nature of the core expertise of
  practitioners (i.e. impact of the world- wide
  web)

30
ICT Past, Present Future
31
Future indications UKCES

• to develop a prototype database drawing on
  existing data sources, with the specific purpose
  of testing the feasibility in practice of
  creating a comprehensive repository of careers
  labour market information (LMI) over the longer
  term.
• Outcome advice on the feasibility of
  developing a careers database of robust
  LMI, to be opened up for multiple interfaces
  for a range of users

32
Future indications

• February March, 2012
• Career database (LMI4U)
• Feasibility study open linked data
• Hackday
• Report for Ministers

33
Future indications

• For high quality, robust LMI to have the maximum
  impact when used in a variety of career-related
  contexts, additional support will be needed that
  goes beyond simple access to data. Thought needs
  to be given to the ways different data sets need
  to reflect the particular needs of particular
  user groups.
• Ref LMI for All Career Database Project -
  Processes Adapted and Lesson Learned (2012)
  Unpublished.

34
Skills competencies for internet-based guidance

• Thank you!

Reference Bimrose, J., Barnes, S-A. and Attwell,
G. (2010) 'An investigation into the skills
needed by Connexions Personal Adviers to develop
internet-based guidance.', Reading CfBT
Education Trust, Report of an empirical
investigation into the demand from young people
for internet-based guidance, together with the
readiness of Connexions services to deliver.
(Full Executive Reports are available online.)
http//www.cfbt.com/evidenceforeducation/our_resea
rch/evidence_for_youth/advice_and_guidance/connexi
ons_personal_advisors.aspx Bimrose, J., Hughes,
D. Barnes, S-A (2011) 'Integrating new
technologies into careers practice Extending the
knowledge base', Wath-upon-Dearne, London UK
Commission for Employment and Skills, http//www.u
kces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/publications/integra
ting-new-technololgies-into-careers-practice.pdf