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@warwick.ac.uk
Outline
Research method/findings
 Follow-on research
 Future indications?

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/IAGReport-v2.pdf. (DCSF, 2009b, p.13)
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.
Research questions?

Skills & competencies:
Which are required to
deliver on ICT-based CEIAG?

Workforce capacity:
Is there a skills gap?
Evidence-based practice?
Research: 2009/2010 (CfBT)
Literature review
 Fieldwork
 Data analysis & write-up

ICT: Use of language
Lack of consistency
Web-based
E-Guidance
guidance
Internetbased
guidance
ICT: Current usage in CEIAG
Resource: most
exploited
Communication:
embryonic
Materials:
underdeveloped
Skills & competencies for ICTbased CEIAG
ICT user
skills
Digital
skills
Guidance
skills
Digital Skills
Social/
Cognitive/
personal
Physical
Technical
Digital Skills: Social/Personal

Communication






General Knowledge
Creativity
Collaboration
Self-Esteem


Parallel processing
Persistence
Peer-to-peer
learning
Risk-taking
Digital Skills
Cognitive/Physical
 Multi-tasking



Logical thinking
Problem solving
Trial & error
learning
Technical
 Hand-eye
coordination
 Technical confidence


Web-design
Content creation
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
Data collection: Young People
•7 focus groups [46 YP]
•46% male, 54% female
•Years 8 to 13
•35-60 minutes
•Range of materials
used
YP’s 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
YP’s aspirations: ICT in guidance
Multimedia
information
Chat rooms
BUT retain
one-to-one
Email
communication
Social networking
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
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
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
Context: shifting paradigms
From this….
To this……
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
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 Coalition’s Emerging Policies on Career Guidance
(May 2012)
ICT in IAG - Current usage?
TELEPHONE
INTERVIEWS
STAKEHOLDERS
• Ten recorded
• Different sectors
• CEOs to
practitioners
• Private to public
ICT in IAG - Themes
Levels of integration  Future plans
 Drivers
 Organisational
implications
 Timelines
 Future landscape
 Evaluation
 Workforce capacity

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’.
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)
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
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 worldwide web)
ICT: Past, Present & Future
Web 1.0
Web 2.0
Web 3.0
• Access to information
• User-generated content
• Portable, personal web
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
Future indications
February – March, 2012

Career database (LMI4U)

Feasibility study – open & linked data

Hackday

Report for Ministers
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.
Skills & competencies for internetbased 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_research/evidence_for_youth/advice_
and_guidance/connexions_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.ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/publications/integrating-new-technololgies-into-careerspractice.pdf