Careers advice is a ‘postcode lottery’, warns Sutton Trust

The careers guidance available to young people has become a “postcode lottery” that hinders social mobility, a leading charity has said.

The Sutton Trust says the National Careers Service – which offers telephone and web-based advice to schools – should also provide students with face-to-face advice from specialist careers advisers.

The call comes as a new report for the trust shows that where schools provide guidance of a high quality, there are improvements to GCSE results, attendance and access to leading universities.

The research, by academics at the University of Derby, compares schools that have received a “quality award” for their careers guidance with those that have not. After controlling for other factors, the study finds that at both GCSE and A-level, quality awards are associated with improved academic performance.

The report calls for the National Careers Service to be strengthened, giving schools access to professionally qualified advisers. The Department for Education should continue to improve the quality of the destination data that it collects on where students go to after their GCSEs and A-levels, it adds.

Read her full report here.