Does employer engagement in education improve the school-to-work transitions of young people?

Anthony MannDirector of Policy and ResearchEducation and Employers Taskforcewww.educationandemployers.org

Employer engagement in education

• Work experience• Job shadowing• Careers talks• CV workshops• Mock interviews• Business mentoring• Enterprise activities• Classroom talks• Reading & number

partners

From 2004, governments in England, Scotland and Wales acted to require schools to integrate work-related learning into the learning experiences of 14-16 with significant expectations of increased employer contacts

Did higher levels of employer contacts improve the labour market prospects of British teenagers?

• A unique YouGov survey

• 986 young British adults aged 19-24

• February 2011• Testing for correlations

between volume of employer engagement and labour market outcomes

• Statistical controls• Age at time of survey• School type attended• Highest level of

qualification (Level 1-5)• Gender• Ethnicity• Region

Detailed analysisMann & Percy (2013) Journal of Education and Work: available at www.educationandemployers.org/research

Employer Engagement in Education: Theory and Evidence (forthcoming) eds. Archer, L., Stanley, J. & Mann, A. London: Routledge.

Earnings: up to 18% on average

NEET status: 3 times less likelihood

Can we believe the results?Something important happens to young people when theyengage with employers whilst still in the education system

• AIR UK (2008), The involvement of Business in Education: A rapid evidence assessment of measurable impacts. Department for Children Schools and Families.

Review of US and UK literature. Only 15 out of 161 sources robust. All show measurable positive impacts: better “preparedness for work”, development of job and work skills, improved work-based competencies, attitudes, behaviours, enhanced employability, higher initial wages. 8 of 15 show higher attainment. None reduced attainment.

1,764 subjects randomly assigned to CA and control groups, tracked 8 years after leaving high school. 80% retention. CA = vocationally focused, academic learning programme enriched by extensive employer engagement, taught discretely, ages 15-18.

Reference: Kemple, J. J. with Willner, C. J. (2008), Career Academies Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood. MDRC

Validating US data: Career Academies study

Employer engagement CA Ctrl

School-based enterprise 59 31

Community service 74 47

Job shadowing 43 15

Workplace visits 53 16

Employer talks @ school 68 38

Work-readiness classes 55 19

Talked teachers re: careers 78 58

Talked careers counsellor 57 48

Mock interviews 35 14

School-arranged job interviews

24 6

Orr et al (2007) “National Academies Foundation Career Academies” in Neumark D. Ed. Improving School-to-work transitions, 190-191

Teenage part-time employment positively linked with better outcomes for young adults

• Ruhm, C. (1997) “Is High School Employment Consumption or Investment?”Journal of Labor Economics: premiums of up to 22% annually 6-9 years after leaving high school

• Crawford, C. Et al (2011), Young people’s education and labour market choices aged 16/17 to 18/19. DfE: Those who continue in full time education combined with some work at ‐age 16/17 are more likely to be in some kind of work at age 18/19 than those who were initially in full time education ‐without any work.

Work experience and part-time working compared

Significant links between career certainty/realism and labour market outcomes

Yates, S. et al (2010) “Early Occupational Aspirations and FracturedTransitions: A Study of Entry into ‘NEET’ Status in the UK” Journal of SocialPolicy

The 7% of British 16 year olds who are uncertain and 40% who are unrealistic about careeraspirations are two to three times more likely to be NEET at 16-18

Sabates R. et al (2011) “Ambition Gone Awry: The Long Term SocioeconomicConsequences of Misaligned and Uncertain Ambitions in Adolescence” SocialScience Quarterly

“..our results reveal negative long-term consequences of misaligned ambitions, particularlymisalignment in the form of an underestimation of the educational attainment necessaryfor one’s occupational goals. Specifically, youths who underestimate their educationalexpectations given their desired occupation have lower levels of educational qualificationsand wages in adulthood than their counterparts with high and aligned ambitions.”

Explaining the value of employer engagement in educationHuman capital: technical skills, employability

skills, attainment

Social capital: ‘norms’, access to non-redundant trusted information, network extension

Cultural capital: aspiration validation, language and presentation (‘business awareness’)

What happens...Raffo, C. & Reeves, M. (2000) “Youth Transitions and SocialExclusion: Developments in Social Capital Theory” Journal ofYouth Studies

“young people are provided with an opportunity to gain information, observe, ape and then confirm decisions and actions with significant others and peers.

..In this situations, individual strategic decisions about life choices are being affected by external .. actors .. beyond the structuring influence of locality and class.

This results in these individualized systems of social capital for individuals becoming more open and fluid, with outside, symbolically rich, resources impacting more freely on their lives.”

A lot of little goes a long way

What do we do?

Advice from the OECD“More complex careers, with more options in both work and learning, are opening up new opportunities for many people. But they are also making decisions harder as young people face a sequence of complex choices over a lifetime of learning and work. Helping young people to make these decisions is the task of career guidance... [Career professionals] need to be able to call on a wide range of information and web-based resources. Strong links between schools and local employers are very important means of introducing young people to the world of work.”

Learning for Jobs (2010), 16

A massive expansion of employer engagement

Activity How demanding (1 = not at all, 5=very)

Staff going into schools to talk about the organisations or the jobs they do

2.72

Staff volunteering to be reading or number partners (usually at primary schools)

2.84

Staff volunteering to take part in enterprise competitions

2.88

Staff volunteering to give mock interviews/CV feedback 2.93

Staff volunteering to be governors 3.00

Job Shadowing 3.03

Staff volunteering to be mentors 3.06

Workplace visits 3.08

Organising work experience 3.27

Make easy, free and trustworthy for schools to connect with employers in ways that best suit them

Massive demand from schools80% of teachers think it is very important for pupils to hear from employers 50% English secondaries register with Inspiring the Future since April 2012Thousands of employee volunteers already signed up

www.inspiringthefuture.org

Step 1: Organisations promote Inspiring the Future as part of volunteering

scheme, or to members and contacts

Step 2: Employees register their skills and interests on

www.inspiringthefuture.org

Step 3: Website matches opportunities, and education staff contact volunteers through

the site

Step 5: Employees and schools provide feedback

Step 4: Employees volunteer at schools

19

How it works

A simple means of allowing teachers to find people who can talk to young people knowledgeably about Apprenticeships

Thank you.Stay in touch.

www.educationandemployers.org/research.aspx

www.inspiringthefuture.org

Anthony.Mann@educationandemployers.org