At the end of May I released a new book called Online Research which I co-authored with Rachel Buchanan. To give people an insight into the new book we organised a webinar last month, which we have now posted on the iCeGS YouTube Channel. In the webinar we discuss the book, some of the key ..read more

I recently participated in a panel discussion on ‘technology and inequalities’ as part of the OECD’s Future Dreaming Conference 2024. In the discussion, myself, Anthony Mann and Tricia Berry discuss the way in which careers interventions can disrupt inequality and explore how they interface with new technologies ..read more

The Exploring Green Guidance project has just published a new literature review focusing on the evidence that supports green guidance. The paper explores literature which examines the intersection between career, career guidance, sustainability, green issues and environmental concerns. It finds that the literature is clear that climate change is real and already happening and that it is already having impacts on people’s careers through the greening of the labour market and education system and through a range of psycho-social effects such as climate anxiety. This has led to the development o ..read more

Like Pokemon, I’ve got to catch em all (my cultural references are as on point as the King’s). So before the election I’m going to quickly report on the Green Party’s manifesto. The manifesto is called Real Hope, Real Change which is essentially the party trolling the other political parties in a fairly amusing way. The manifesto has received a lot of fairly favourable coverage, see the BBC’s explainer or The Guardian’s summary. Basically it is a fairly standard progressive manifesto with a particular interest in the environment. The section on the economy is particularly interesting as it im ..read more

In the light of the Labour Party’s promise to align Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service in England, Professor Pete Robertson offers some useful reflections on the opportunities , and pitfalls, that such a move might offer. One of the promises in the Labour Party manifesto for the Westminster election is to kickstart economic growth by reshaping Job Centre Plus services and to incorporate career guidance services within them. This is essentially a good idea, but of course the devil is in the detail, and the way in which it is implemented will determine whether it will succeed. To ..read more

My tour of the manifestos has now reached Britain populist right wing party the Reform Party (the people who brought you Brexit). At the time of writing they are surging in the polls and looking to capture around a sixth of the votes. Because of our weird electoral system this is only likely to result in a handful of seats, but at this stage of the game who knows. So, what do they have planned for the country and for careers in particular. Reforms’ manifesto is called Our Contract with You and there is some nonsense about it being different from other kinds of manifestos. It is of course just ..read more

Earlier this week I participated in a webinar organised by the Career Development Policy Group to discuss the current election and what it means for career guidance. We discussed the Career Guidance Guarantee and talked through the party manifestos. It is worth a listen if you are interested in these kinds of policy issues ..read more

We have just published a new paper as part of the Exploring Green Guidance project. The paper sets out the findings of a survey of 674 (mainly European) career guidance practitioners conducted in late 2023 and early 2024 about green guidance. The survey reports that the clients of career guidance need help with a range of sustainability issues and that a minority raise issues of environmental sustainability during career guidance interventions. We found that practitioners have a strong belief that the world is currently experiencing a climate crisis and that career guidance can be a small par ..read more

I’m working my way through all the manifestos for parties in the current election to see what they have to offer for careers. I started with the current government (pretty much ignores careers), then went to the Labour Party (not bad on career, but not so good on the wider economic and public sector picture). So, I guess now it is time for the Liberal Democrats. For people reading this outside the UK, the Liberal Democrats are Britain’s third party. They were regularly in government until 1915, but then had a fallow period out of government until they propped up a Conservative government from ..read more

The Labour Party have now launched their manifesto, which is simply entitled Change. As they are the party most likely to form the new government it is important to think about what it means for the careers sector. As ever there are lots of people who have offered more detailed analysis of what the whole manifesto means. Novara’s take on it emphasises the fact that it looks like the party is committing to reducing public spending and continuing austerity and worries that even the more positive commitments are undercosted. The Guardian is unsurprisingly more positive, but their explainer is al ..read more