Education and Employers
Research Digest - March 2021

Notices

6th International Conference on Employer Engagement: Preparing Young People for the Future

The conference will focus on employer engagement in general education, technical and vocational education and training, and the extent to which such interventions adequately prepare young people for the rapidly changing world of work. In particular, attention will focus on developing and capturing the skill requirements within the changing labour market and how such interventions can support young people as part of the response to Covid-19. It will also seek to reflect on reforms and policy shifts concerning education and training and employer engagement internationally. We welcome papers from a range of organisations. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, 31st March 2021. Accepted papers and proposals will be notified by Friday, 30th April 2021.

Call for papers live

Publications

International approaches to careers interventions Literature review 

Pye Tait Consulting & Carol Stanfield Consulting 

​This report draws upon the findings of 5 major international literature reviews published since 2016, which covered careers education, careers in the curriculum, career guidance and employer engagement. Summaries of recommendations from these major literature reviews include starting careers guidance activities early, with approaches and interventions tailored appropriately to age, as well as the need for activities that encourage self-reflection.

WHERE NEXT? What influences the choices school leavers make? 

UCAS 

​This report discusses how students make these choices, and how they differ by pathway? To what extent do the choices students make in school affect their next steps? And how should we support students in making informed and aspirational decisions? Analysis of the report identified that: the age at which students start thinking about HE varies. Students choose their degree subject before they think about the university or college they want to attend. Decisions are most influenced by enjoyment, but employability is increasingly important post-COVID. Some HE subjects require more forethought than others. Post-16 choices strongly influence students’ futures and finally, there is a need for earlier, broader, and personalised careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG). 

Early Learning and Child Well-being: A Study of Five-year-Olds in England, Estonia, and the United States

OECD

England (United Kingdom), Estonia and the United States participated in this study to enhance the body of international evidence available to policymakers, education leaders, practitioners and parents to improve children’s early learning outcomes. The study's information provides each country with insights to inform their approaches to children’s early years and their approaches in the early years of schooling. At five years of age, there is much that education systems can do to support these children's learning trajectories further.

Starting early: building the foundations for success

Chris Percy & Alice Amegah

The report looks at the impact of career-related learning on primary aged children based on international evidence and a major new survey undertaken in England of 10,000 children. The ‘Starting Early’ report explores how activities that involve role models from the world of work can help foster a positive attitude towards school, improve attainment and challenge the stereotypical views children often have about the jobs people do based on their gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background. It shows that the potential of career-related learning in primary schools is far greater than today’s practice.

Improving Education the New Mexico Way: An Evidence-Based Approach

Jeannie Oakes, Danny Espinoza, Linda Darling-Hammond, Carmen Gonzales, Jennifer DePaoli , Tara Kini, Gary Hoachlander, Dion Burns, Michael Griffith & Melanie Leung

The report is based on a study to provide New Mexico leaders with a research perspective on the challenges facing education and identify evidence-based ways that state policy can address them. The central finding reported is that the key to system improvement is recognizing that students who face barriers to school success—including poverty and systemic racism—are not exceptions in New Mexico; rather, they are the norm.

The Global Cost of Inclusive Refugee Education

World Bank-UNHCR

The report presents a joint effort by the World Bank and UNHCR to estimate the cost of educating refugee children through host country inclusive systems, which has become critical, now more than ever, with refugees staying much longer in asylum countries, without solutions.

I’m Here for the Hard Re-Set: Post Pandemic Pedagogy to Preserve Our Culture

Gloria Ladson-Billings

This article speaks to the need to rethink education fundamentally and consider the pandemic as an opportunity to restart, or more precisely re-set, education using a more robust and culturally centred pedagogy. It further provides examples of the new ideas that scholars and practitioners employ to ensure academic, cultural, and social success for students who were regularly placed at risk of failure because of their racial, cultural, and socioeconomic status.

Comments

Urgent, Effective Action Required to Quell the Impact of COVID-19 on Education Worldwide

The World Bank ​

During the pandemic, ‘lost’ education jobs aren’t what they seem

Chad Aldeman

Addressing education inequality with a next generation of community schools

Brookings

Children’s agency: What is it, and what should be done? 

Yana Manyukhina & Dominic Wyse

‘The significant return to normality’: Back to school in England, but who is missing? 

Lucy Wenham, Iqra Din & Liam Eaves 

An apprenticeship FAQ: What employers need to know about talent development 

Annelies Goger, Chenoah Sinclair, & Aaliyah Dick 

Fifth of students 'poorly prepared for university' 

BBC

Careers and Covid: When the pandemic hit job ambitions. 

Sean Coughlan 

Edge Foundation Policy Networks 

This group brings together policy leads and practitioners from a range of educational organisations so that collectively, we can horizon scan and spark collaborative, solution-focused discussions around the opportunities for influencing policy across the learning and skills landscape. For more information or to get involved, contact us at ewilson@edge.co.uk.

Events