Education and Employers
Research Digest - October 2025

PUBLICATIONS

Drawing the future: assessing the alignment of younger pupils’ occupational aspirations with future labour market demands in Sweden

Matt X. Richardson, Nick Chambers, Karin Schölin Bywall and Sarah Wamala Andersson

Children’s occupational aspirations begin forming at an early age and there are multiple factors that may affect them. These aspirations are still poorly understood in the context of presumptive labour markets, however. This study seeks to understand the occupational ambitions of children in elementary schools in a region of Sweden, and to compare these to expected labour market demand. The internationally established Drawing the Future method was employed to obtain answers from 1832 pupils, who drew 409 unique occupations within about one third of all possible standard occupational classification categories for Sweden. Only six categories contained an occupation drawn by more than 4% of pupils. There was a considerable absence of STEM-related occupations, and gender differences among the drawn ambitions were large. Media and online sources were stated as the most common sources of knowledge about the drawn occupations, while schools accounted for only 6%. Pupils heavily emphasized experiential factors such as “having fun” and doing “cool” things as a rationale for their chosen occupational ambitions. A large majority of pupils believed the labour market would present many opportunities for them, that schooling was important to achieve success in these markets, and that both genders could undertake similar occupations. Interest in continuing to post-secondary education was considerable. There were few differences among pupils with Swedish backgrounds and those with foreign backgrounds.

Tailored Work Experience in Wales

Anthony Mann and Jonathan Diaz

This OECD paper examines the Tailored Work Experience (TWE) programme in Wales, an initiative launched in 2022 to re-engage students aged 14–16 at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). Drawing on international research, stakeholder perspectives, and new analysis of data from the 2022 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the paper explores how extended work experience placements can influence student engagement, academic outcomes, and future aspirations. The analysis situates the TWE within broader theories of human, social and cultural capital, and compares it to similar programmes in other OECD countries. It finds that while work experience can contribute positively to student motivation and long-term employment prospects, its effectiveness depends heavily on quality, student preparation, and integration with wider career development activities. The paper offers five key considerations for enhancing the TWE programme and highlights the importance of thoughtful design in maximising benefits for socially disadvantaged and low-performing students.

Correcting Beliefs about Job Opportunities and Wages: A Field Experiment on Education Choices

Bart K. de Koning, Robert Dur and Didier Fouarge

This paper reports on a field experiment in which secondary school students in the Netherlands were provided with information about job opportunities and hourly wages of occupations they were interested in. The experiment took place within a widely-used career orientation programme and involved 28,186 students in 243 schools over two years. The study found that students views about the labour market prior to the intervention were often highly inaccurate, but that the information received improved the accuracy of students’ beliefs and led many to change their preferred occupation to one with better labour market prospects, becoming more likely to enrol in a related education or training programme. Administrative data that covers up to four years after the experiment shows that students  who chose (and remained in) post-secondary education programmes with better job opportunities went on to earn higher hourly wages.

Unsettled horizon: adolescents’ career expectations in the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous contexts

Luyang Guo

The focus of this article is on teenage career uncertainty or indecision.  Using data from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022, the paper looks at the ways in which uncertainty across 80 countries is related to societies and economies that are becoming increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Results reveal that (a) the proportion of adolescents uncertain about their career plans nearly doubled after the pandemic and persisted in certain economies; (b) a student’s immediate environment including their school explained only 10% of the uncertainty, while wider contexts, notably economic conditions, accounted for 65%; (c) students with lower self-efficacy, poorer academic performance and inadequate future preparation were more susceptible to career indecision; (d) higher levels of youth NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) were positively associated with career indecision, especially for disadvantaged students; and (e) educational disruptions had minimal impact on career decisions, while girls benefited more from targeted career guidance.

Making their minds up: flux and stability in young children’s career aspirations in North East England

Carol Davenport and Annie Padwick

School career information advice and guidance in England has typically focused on pupils aged 13–18. However, pupils aged under 11 have already formed career aspirations. Career aspirations are used as a proxy for future occupational destinations. This study tracks the individual career aspirations over 3 years for 78 children aged 7–9 at the start of study, from three schools in the North East England taking part in a STEM outreach project. The data are also used to explore the applicability of aspiration development frameworks for younger children. The majority of children were able to name at least one career aspiration with nearly 70% naming more, although these aspirations were drawn from a relatively narrow pool of jobs related to children’s interests and jobs they see around them. 38% of the children had the same aspiration over time, but 60% of children changed their careers aspirations completely over the 3 years of the study. Career aspirations were strongly gendered, with boys naming a smaller pool of jobs most often. Between 2019 and 2021, there was an increase in STEM aspirations named by boys, and a decrease by girls. Thematic analysis of the reasons given for different aspirations identified four themes: self-actualisation, altruism, characteristics of the job, and role models. These themes were related to the aspiration frameworks. This study shows that there is both flux and stability in children’s aspirations between the ages of 7 and 11. The gendered career choices at both time points indicate that there is a need for educators to challenge stereotypes about who can do what type of job from a much earlier age. All aspirations were drawn from a relatively small pool of job suggesting that introducing children to a wider range of jobs at an earlier age could support development of aspirations.

Monitoring Gateway and Trades Academies, 2025

Dee Earle

This report from the New Zealand Ministry of Education looks at the results of two programmes introduced to make vocational learning more accessible in general secondary education. Gateway (established 2001) and Trades Academies (established 2010) are complementary programmes that support vocational education in secondary schools. Gateway offers short-term, work-based placements aligned with student interests, while Trades Academies provide longer term, structured learning in trades-related fields. Both aim to increase student retention, raise educational achievement, and support transitions into further education and employment. This report monitors the outcomes of both programmes by tracking two cohorts of students (aged 16 in 2014 and 2018) to ages 24 and 20 respectively. Outcomes for students in each programme were compared with similar students who were not in either, having controlled for their different background characteristics. Both programmes increased the likelihood of students staying in education at age 17 and achieving a Level 2 or higher qualification by age 18. Effects were consistent across genders and ethnic groups, including Maori students.  Benefits were sustained into work, especially for young men.

Pathways, Engagement and Transitions: How young people experiencing disadvantage navigate the first three years after leaving school

The Smith Family (Australia)

The Pathways, Engagement and Transitions (PET) study aims to understand the post-school pathways of young people experiencing disadvantage. It follows 800 disadvantaged young people through the last years of secondary education into adulthood.  The study finds that successful engage in work or study in the first year after leaving school is a significant predictor of how well they will doing two years later.  Young people experience typically reported unsettled experiences with many changing between education, work and unemployment over the three years. In terms of factors which are associated with better outcomes, the report highlights possession of a strong and diverse adult support network, particularly if built via employment and study (social capital), a positive self-concept that identifies defined education and career pathways, strong interpersonal skills that facilitate personal growth, and an ability to adapt to life/work challenges, capacity to collate and critically analyse career related information and make informed choices relating to career options, and capacity to create conditions that secure and maintain a career pathway.  The report’s recommendations include greater focus on career development from an early age, support for teenage social capital development and the expansion of personalised career support.

Towards universal opportunity for young people

Jenna Norman, Efua Poku-Amanfo and Avnee Morjaria

This joint report by IPPR and the Youth Futures Foundation shares the results of a survey of 3,603 UK adults, including a boosted sample for young adults.  Among the findings informing policy recommendations:

• Enrichment, extracurricular activities and trusted adult relationships are associated with better education and employment prospects. Our polling found that 29 per cent of young people aged 18–24 did not participate in extra curricular activities while at school. This was even lower among NEET young people.
• Fewer than half (47%) of young people aged 18-24 polled said they felt ready for work when they left education. This was even lower among NEET young people.
• Over three in four (77%) of people polled agree that young people under the age of 25 should have the highest priority access to apprenticeship opportunities.

Keeping young people in learning until the age of 18 – does it work?

Matt Dickson, Sue Maguire, Maria Jose Ventura Alfaro, Andrea Laczik, Dana Dabbous, Olly Newton and Dave Thomson

In England, legislation introduced in 2008 required young people to remain in education or training to the end of the academic year in which they turn 17 from 2013 and to the time of their 18th birthday from 2015. This report from the University of Bath and the Edge Foundation is the first substantial review of such raising of the participation age.  The study draws on national administrative data and qualitative research in six local authority areas to assess the legislation’s impact.  It finds that gains tends to be small and short-lived in general with benefits concentrated among lower attainers.  Slight increases in GCSE English attainment and early-career earnings were identified, but overall the impact on labour market participation was limited.  Student dropout remains a major concern.   The study found that careers advice available to young people was inconsistent, particularly around vocational routes and that local authorities lacked the resources and data needed to track and support disengaged young people.

RESOURCES

Teenage Career Readiness Dashboard

OECD

This new resource from the OECD allows users to access data related to career development from the 2022 round of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which collected information from 790,000 teenagers aged 15-16.  The dashboard includes data from 80 countries.  Users can see the top 10 occupational expectations of girls and boys, how these relate to actual patterns of employment across economies, participation in career development activities (including speaking with a career advisor and attendance at job fairs), career thinking (certainty, career and educational plan alignment and ambition, and attitudes towards the capacity of schools to help them in their career development.  Data can be broken down by gender and socio-economic background and is also comprehensively available for individual countries.

PODCASTS

Why student career preparation is going wrong?

OECD

Part of the OECD’s Top Class podcast series, this 30 minute podcast features an interview with Anthony Mann, lead author of the OECD 2025 report, The state of global teenage career preparation. The podcast discusses the latest PISA data that shows record numbers of 15-year-olds to be uncertain about their job plans, confused about what they need to do to achieve them when they do know what they want to do, and focused on small parts of the labour market.  The discussion highlights how guidance can be improved for young people, especially from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, and why there is an urgent need to do more to help them prepare for their lives in work.

Listen to the podcast: https://soundcloud.com/oecdtopclasspodcast/why-student-career-preparation-is-going-wrong

EVENTS

Global Careers Month

This November sees the second Global Careers Month. An initiative of international organisations including the European Commission, International Labour Organisation, OECD and UNESCO, the month runs from 8 November and 13 December 2022.  The aims of the month are to raise awareness of the critical importance of career guidance, share excellent practice, identify challenges and disseminate research undertaken by the international organisations.  Schools and other organisations are encouraged to put on a special event to coincide with the Month. Events can be registered with the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance which is capturing activity around the world. For schools in the UK interested in running career speed networking event, Inspiring the Future has a how to guide. Also useful might be the OECD’s short paper on the key factors that maximise the chance of career talks being of long-term value to students.

For more information about Global Careers Month and the opening ceremony on November 8th, visit: https://www.skillsforemployment.org/iagevent

A SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thank you, Alice!

For the last five years, the Education and Employers research digest has been compiled by Alice Amegah. Alice grew up in rural Ghana and obtained a B.A. Hons degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana. She then undertook a MSc in Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford which included researching ‘How and Why Employers Engaged with TVET institutions in Ghana’. As part of this she used some of the research findings of Education and Employers which led her to apply for a paid internship at the Charity. Following her internship, she completed a PhD in Education at the University of Cambridge focussing on the participation of young women in STEM in vocational pathways in Ghana. Her most recent article was published by the Journal of Vocational Education and Training, A non-conformist choice: how young women studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in technical institutes in Ghana navigate their education and career decision. Having completed her PhD, Alice moved to Washington DC to work for the World Bank and we wish her well on her new role. Thank you!

The Education and Employers Research Digest is a free monthly newsletter received by over 4,000 people. It combines the latest research, reports and publications worldwide. It also has details of forthcoming conferences and events, calls for evidence, tenders, articles and blogs on careers, skills, jobs and education.  A particular focus is on engagement with employers and people in work to support the career development of children and young people.

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