Careers Education 2022/23: Now & next

A vision and model of modern careers education that is broad, structured and inclusive has taken hold and progress is being made that is driving change for young people and employers alike.

This report is built on the biggest dataset available on what is happening in careers education today from more than:

• 100,000 students, telling us about their career readiness and essential workplace skills 4,500 secondary schools and colleges, reporting progress in careers education.
• 340 employers who have shared data about their engagement with education.
• 1,100 business volunteers who have given us their assessment of the impact they are seeing.

It also brings together data and insight on student post-16 and post-18 destinations, the Employer Skills Survey and UCL’s Millennium Cohort Study survey.

The report covers the progress made in careers education in the academic year 2022/23 and what this tells us about where we should go next.

During this period, and continuing today, there has been a high level of policy interest in careers education and a growing consensus that the current system is doing a better job of preparing young people for work and life and breaking down barriers to opportunities.

Three technical notes highlight the relationship between good career guidance, positive outcomes for young people and student career readiness, and outline how the industry interests of career-ready students are less gender stereotyped and better aligned to the labour market. These technical notes explain the methodologies, findings, limitations, and potential further investigations.

• Looking deeper at destinations
• Careers education and career readiness
• Right students, right jobs