Young people and their Futures: Using IT in Careers Guidance and Action Planning

Abstract

ABSTRACT At present, most young people access careers information through their teachers, or parents, and those who engage in any action planning tend to do so using paper based methods. Only a handful of local careers services are using the Internet which is ideally placed to transmit up to date information to schools online. This paper reports on a project which used the new technology to link schools with their local careers service. It involved the development and evaluation of an Internet site with a number of key features. Options included access to information on a wide variety of careers, links to other careers sites, advice on how to get a job, links to Higher Education institutions and local Further Education colleges, and work experience reports. In addition to the development of the website, a further aspect of the project was to trial the use of an action planning program within selected schools. These developments were evaluated by teaching staff and 13 to 16 year old pupils in five local secondary schools over a period of a year. The project raised a number of key issues for the use of IT in vocational guidance.