Every day young people have to make important decisions about their future career. Their desires and expectations change over time, with exposure to a variety of influencers such as media, new technology, family/peer group expectations and changes in social mobility. What is interesting to educators, employers and learners is to see how young people’s career interests have changed and which careers are increasing in popularity.

How do we find out about young people’s career interests? One of the ways we can do this is by looking at data that is captured from an interactive careers interest tool used in the majority of secondary schools and colleges across the UK. Every year as part of their careers exploration, hundreds of thousands of young people use an online program called Kudos to help them with their career choices. The data captured from users of Kudos provides an insight into young people’s career interests and can highlight significant changes.

Data from Kudos for the academic year 2011/12 for around 425,000 young people from August 2011-July 2012 reveals the most viewed careers during this period:

National Careers Week (NCW) is being celebrated this week (4th March – 8th March 2013). This event focuses on careers guidance activities to support young people leaving education and the variety of options that are available to them.

It’s an opportunity for schools and colleges to raise the profile of the careers advice and guidance that they provide to students all year round, through a range of career-related activities. Already, over 1,500 schools have signed up and will give 1.1 million students the support they need to make informed choices about their first step on the career ladder. Last year, schools downloaded more than 25,000 free NCW resources during the week including videos, case studies and information about the world of work information.

CASCAiD are providing online webinars free of charge to help teachers/advisers deliver the new statutory duty for careers guidance. Where time and resources may be limited, CASCAiD’s online webinars provide a convenient way for teachers to either get free training or to view a demonstration of suitable resources.

Training Webinars

Schools already using Launchpad, Kudos, Kudos Inspire or Careerscape can benefit from a free Training Webinar which they can access from their own computer. This free training session provides additional support for using the programs from an experienced trainer. The 20-minute sessions illustrate all aspects of the programs and give teachers/advisers the chance to discuss any guidance issues, ask questions and get tips on using the programs with young people.

Loughborough University owned company, CASCAiD have introduced an integrated Schools Package to support secondary schools and their new duty to deliver careers guidance from this September. The Schools Package is designed to provide impartial careers support for students for each transition phase in a cost effective way.

The Schools Package consists of CASCAiD’s most popular online careers programs with the option to upgrade to the latest program, Kudos Inspire. With Kudos already used in over 65% of UK secondary schools, it seemed a natural progression to extend the range of guidance support available. In the Education Act 2011 it states that schools are required to ‘secure access to independent careers guidance for pupils in year 9-11’. It also declares that careers guidance must also provide ‘information on all option available in respect of 16-18 education or training.’ The Schools Package therefore brings together three careers programs to support students from the age of 11 – 19 years old. Lynda Lacey, Chief Executive of CASCAiD commented, “With the changes facing schools and the pressure to deliver the new duty for careers guidance, we felt that the Schools Package was a cost-effective way of serving the needs of all pupils and providing teachers with a suite of products that they are familiar with using.”

This September, secondary schools in the UK have a new legal duty to deliver impartial careers guidance to their students. The Department for Education (DfE) has outlined their key responsibilities and has stressed the importance of helping students to make well informed choices about education, training and career options. Loughborough University company, CASCAiD, helps schools implement careers guidance that supports the success of their students.  Producers of the already popular careers tool, Kudos, for over 20 years, the company plans to release a new version this June.

“We are aware that schools are facing a challenging time with the new duty to deliver careers guidance alongside the introduction of new destination measures and Raising the Participation Age - with reduced levels of support. When we developed the new version of Kudos, we knew it was paramount to incorporate features that would help schools meet the requirements of their new statutory duty but also to provide students with a high quality tool that was in their best interest” said Lynda Lacey, Chief Executive of CASCAiD.