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What Do Graduates Do? 2011

The latest edition of What Do Graduates Do? 2011 tells you what graduates are doing six months after graduation.

Read What do Graduates do? 2011(7MB pdf)

An over view of the report is

Graduate employment is at 69.7%, with a record number of graduates (100,265 or 63.4%) finding graduate level employment and unemployment has gone down from 8.9% to 8.5%. There were signs of growth in business and financial services as more graduates found jobs as business and financial professionals and associate professionals but the cuts in public spending are beginning to have an impact of the initial destinations of graduates with drops in the number of clerical staff in local government positions. Whilst the private sector has managed to buffer the loss in employment opportunities within the public sector in 2010, it remains to be seen as to whether this will continue for the 2010/11 cohort of graduates.

Education and Labour Market Choices Report

A new report published by the Department for Education (DfE) looks at the educational and labour market transitions made by young people at 16/17 and 18/19.

You can read the brief or the full report here.

Some of the findings are shown below

Almost half of those who are NEET at age 16/17 are still NEET one year later;

Almost half of those who are NEET at age 17/18 are still NEET one year later;

At age 16/17, and more so at age 17/18, doing some work (whether combined with full-time education or with training) is associated with a lower risk of becoming NEET in future;

Being NEET between the ages of 16/17 and 18/19 is associated with worse outcomes, in terms of both short- and long run wages and employment outcomes, than being in a job without training or indeed any other initial state;

Young people who are NEET at age 18/19 have the lowest KS2 and GCSE scores;

Those who do not continue on in full-time education at age 17/18 and 18/19 had consistently more negative educational attitudes and aspirations whilst at school;

Girls are more likely to stay in full-time education than boys, but girls who do enter the labour market at age 17/18 or 18/19 are most likely to end up in jobs without training with boys more likely to take a job with training.

The Advisory Centre for Education

The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) provide the information, support and high-quality advice that parents need to help their children at school, particularly where there are problems.

You can get in touch on the following helpline numbers

• ACE Advice Line 0808 800 5793 (Monday to Thursday 10am-1pm) calls are free from UK landlines and all major mobile networks - 3, Orange, Virgin, Vodaphone, T-Mobile and O2.
  
• Exclusion Advice Line 0808 800 0327 (Monday to Thursday 10am-1pm) calls are free from UK landlines and all major mobile networks - 3, Orange, Virgin, Vodaphone, T-Mobile and O2.

You can request an Exclusion Pack by calling 020 7704 9822 (24hr answerphone to leave your name and address only) calls charged at local rate or you can download a pack here.

The ACE wesbite also has a number of booklets and briefings here.

DfE Report on Subject Choices

The Department for Education has recently published a report which examines the importance and impact of the subject and course choices that young people make at age 14 and age 16.

The report includes

• Subject and course choices at 14 and 16
  
• How do young people make subject and course choices?
  
• The role of schools
  
• Multivariate analysis of subject choices
  
• Conclusion
  
• Appendices

Some of the findings from the report include

Choices at 14

The most commonly‐taken vocational courses are VRQs and BTECs, with the most frequently‐taken subjects being Computer Literacy, Sports Studies / Leadership, Preparation for Work and Applied Science. Basic Skills exams are taken by about one‐fifth of pupils. There is also quite a substantial gender divide in some subjects, with Health Studies / Science, Speech & Drama and Art & Design being more popular amongst girls, and Sports Studies and Business & Finance more popular amongst boys.

History GCSE is taken by just under a third of all Key Stage 4 students, while Geography and Art GCSEs are taken by around a quarter of pupils. Modern foreign languages (MFLs) are taken by less than half of Key Stage 4 students, with around a quarter of students taking French.

Choices at 16

Maths is clearly the most popular A‐Level choice, with over 16% of pupils taking it in 2009–10. Amongst English‐related A Levels, the most popular is English Literature, taken by 11% of pupils (despite being offered at over 80% of schools and colleges). Among the natural sciences, there is quite wide variation from the most popular, Biology (13%), to the least popular, Physics (7%). Psychology is also relatively popular, with 13% of pupils taking this A Level in 2009–10. History and General Studies are popular A‐Level choices too, being taken by around 11% of pupils. Modern foreign languages, in contrast, do not appear to be popular choices at A Level, being taken by less than 6% of all Year 13 students.

Read the full report here

The Importance of GCSE Maths and English

A report has found that young people with GCSE Maths and English are less likely to be unemployed than those who do not achieve.

The Centre for Cities found that there is an obvious correlation at city level between GCSE Maths and English attainment and youth unemployment.

The research shows cities perform at a similar level when you measure performance of GCSE A* to C grades across all subjects, but strikingly there are huge disparities between cities when looking at pupils’ performance in Maths and English.

Read more here.

New Careers Service roll out.

Skills Minister John Hayes announced plans for the roll out of the new careers service for England at conference of Institute of Career Guidance at the start of November.

Delegates were concerned with the quality of the service that will be given to clients; Hayes reinforced the need for professional standards and assured delegates that the new online and telephone advice services would adhere to the Matrix quality standard.

To read the full ICG press release about the event visit here.

Young People's Aspirations

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation carried out a report on 'The influence of parents, places and poverty on educational attitudes and aspirations'.

Find out more about the report here.

find out more about the Jospeh rowntree Foundation here.

Transition Arrangements - Careers education and guidance in schools

Cegnet have written about the transition arrangements schools will need to put in place when the Educaiton Bill is passed in December and their duty to secure independent and impartial careers guidance for Years 9 to 11 students.

Read the full report here

ICG recently published report

The institute of Careers Guidance have recently published the following report...

Uncertain futures - The impact of cuts to the careers service on the futures of young people.

Read the full report here (.pdf).

STEMNET's Leading Lights

STEMNET creates opportunities to inspire young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Leading Lights showcases 19 STEM Ambassadors from all over the UK who are using science, technology, engineering and maths to push the boundaries of what is possible and to make the world a better and more exciting place to live.