Connexions is an vital resource for young people, it should be protected. when I was out of school for a year and a half due to illness, my school advised me that I should just leave after my GCSE's because I'd never be able to cope with A-levels, they didn't have the expertise to give me any useful advice. The people at connexions however were much more helpful, they arranged with my local college for me to do my A-levels over 3 years and for me to be able to do most of my learning at home. To axe the service would be ridiculous, schools will only give you three options; work, sixth-from or college. Connexions have the expertise and information that young people need.

These anticipated cuts in a frontline careers advice service will do little to revitalise the economy but, equally important, widen the wasted space between young people’s hopes and dreams and the expert advisors they need to make the best choices.

If the Government is unable or unwilling to close that space, then we have to make a difference with communities of mentors/advisors who can guide not only the young, but everyone who needs expert careers advice. At WYGU, we’ve spent the past two years developing a social network platform for just this purpose, where professionals can give something back and people of all ages can link up with these experts to make the best career choices.

Deidre Hughes is absolutely right on this and I too have deep concerns about schools' abilities to provide impartial and accurate information, advice and guidance. I worked as a Connexions adviser in a school in England for many years and I was under constant pressure to promote the sixth form as an option to all year 11 leavers - even those ones who showed no interest in it or for whom it was simply not suitable. I absolutely refused to do this and maintained my impartiality and did what was best for each individual young person. Ability to do this will be lost if responsibility for careers advice is given to schools.
I think this coming Autumn is going to be a difficult one for many young people if these anticipated cuts come to fruition; with decreasing numbers of university places available together with a difficult economy, more young people than ever could become NEET and denied access to the professionals who can help them the most; the Connexions advisers.
What also strikes me is the total irony of this situation; careers advisers are supposed to inspire young people, encourage them to aim high and how can we do that if our own jobs are under threat leaving us demotivated and scared of the future?

If you ask the majority of 14-19 year olds what their experience with Connexions will be, most will say

"Well they came and did a talk at our school about jobs and their website said I should be a lollypop man"

and thats probably about it. Connexionsd do help people but usually only when the young persons social worker has told them to go see connexions...what about all those people who don't have social workers?

They do good but they miss the vast majority of the social spectrum.

@Compaq - That isn't really true Connexions Advisers often work closely with the senior management and teaching staff at schools.
My wife is Connexions Personal Adviser and she is referred many at-risk young people from teaching staff and senior management across the school. The service she provides is so vauable in addressing issues and giving advice to local young people who, as you say, may not have social workers or statemented/identified problems. This is the same across Surrey and we see it working so effectively, often in partnership with other local youth agencies.

We're really hoping that Connexions advisors remain in our locality as the service provided has been fantastic. I manage a youth charity in the area and have only good things to say.

This is merely the final nail in the coffin for a service that has been hacked to death over a number of years. A victim of successive governments experimentation that took a good comprehensive guidance service and ruined it.

As a careers adviser who started work in the early 1990s, the rot started when John Major's government privatised the old careers service, which led to the amalgamation of local and regional delivery on the pretext that this would lead to efficiency savings and more comprehensive delivery, but instead led to more, not less, top-down decision-making. This was compounded when New Labour brought in Connexions, alongside the privatised services, doubling up on bureaucracy, and forcing the latter to play the tune of the former. It was a recipe for utter chaos.

Effectively, this mis-conceived remit turned careers advisers into social workers, no longer focused on careers guidance for the majority, but on those with extensive problems with things like housing, crime, broken homes etc. expecting us to resolve the ills of society, whilst at the same time, removing the few opportunities, such as apprenticeships, that many of the NEET relied upon. It was a nonsense.

And whereas careers advisers had extensive and relevant training that was on an equivalent level to that of teaching, i.e. a year full-time study followed by a year on assessment, the new service came up with some mickey mouse train-as-you-go scheme where some staff got as little as 9 days formal training and an accompanying, but meaningless NVQ assessment.

The result of all this was a service that had lost its character with staff with an existential crisis servicing an increasingly disparate clientele that, more often than not, was offered nothing more than tea and sympathy.

I took redundancy some years back, when the privatised service decided to make a number of experienced staff redundant because it was cheaper to retain and employ new, lesser trained staff. The service basically now existed just for the sake of it.

One of Connexions major failings was its inability to see the importance of employer work, i.e. seeking partnerships for jobs, possible training opportunities, labour market intelligence etc., which careers service saw as part and parcel of its role.

The irony is, of course, with next to no jobs for young people, those unable or uninterested in remaining in full-time education, have even less hope than ever before - since they won't even get tea, biscuits and sympathy.

Like a previous commentator, I too have been a Careers Adviser since 1990 and I went into the service as a mature graduate followed by a post grad qualification.
However I am now a Personal Adviser in Connexions. I went into careers because I wanted to make a difference to young people. (At school in the 60s, we only had the Youth Employment Officer who said as I was a girl I could only go into secretarial, teaching or nursing..)
I was determined that students were informed of all their choices and was consequently upset by the govts highlighting of specific targets (the NEET) forgetting that the majority needed support too, especially the very bright who had so many choices they were in danger of not progressing.
Young people are not all the same.. advising on line or phone, as is being suggested by some Local Authorities, does not work for everyone..This is from practical experience as I have worked on both these ways of advising students. Many students prefer the face to face interview and for a trained adviser it is the body language as well as the words that help us support students.. And who will offer impartiality.. certainly not schools no matter how well meaning individual teachers may be.. they are under pressure from either the Head or Head of 6th.And the same can be said of Colleges too.
My hope is that someone will finally see sense.. by the way has anyone asked the students what they want?

Access to impartial,upto date,career, education and training advice delivered by trained practioners with access to relevant labour market info should be hardwired into the DNA of all education,advice & guidance providers for young and all.

It is a Governmental crime if that imperfect access which currently exists is to be withdrawn. Both Cameron and Willets are on record (pre-election) as recognising the importance of access to a new all age advice service e.g within the Contract for Young People.

I hope that there is no secret government agenda to bat the young and older career advice seekers towards an online net. The unemployment figures could spiral towards double digits as more young people hit the unemployment queue and the unemployed casualties from many sectors combust/combine together. Many career advice seekers will not access online advice & guidance for reasons such as a lack of self confidence or absence of a motivated personal network/social capital. It is these sort of folk that the Connexions and Jobcentre staff frequently provide a stelluar customised support service.

Cameron/Clegg need a motivated army of skilled advice practitioners to enable the young and older (walking wounded) unemployed/advice seekers to seize the most appropriate pathway that is available during this bloody economic war.

In addition to the reduction of those not in education, employment or training,Connexions Services in England have statutory duties to provide careers education,information advice and guidance.These duties also include the provision of assessments for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities.Are cybermentors or telephone chat lines seriously being suggested as substitutes for these requirements?
David Cameron also said this lunchtime,that studies have shown(please publish these,by the way) that Connexions has not been a great sucess and has not proved value for money.If so,will he make good the promise of setting up the well funded,national, all age careers service proposed by both parties before forming the ConDem Alliance?

In response to XC Anderson, I don't entirely recognise the Connexions service as you describe it, which is possibly because you left as soon as you could?
I particularly find offensive your ridicule of the training undertaken by Connexions personal advisers which I have found rigorous and relentless on the whole!
The standard appears to be (across authorities) that as well as traditional careers guidance qualifications (a diploma for example) the Connexions PAs have had to undertake additional training to extend and enhance their repertoire of skills, these are not 'mickey mouse qualifications' by any means but full level 4 programmes of study taking at least 12 months to complete, some trainee PAs have had to do more than one qualification to fulfill the criteria for the post, particularly those who were not already graduate teachers or social workers / youth workers. These new professionals of course offered a great deal more than 'tea & sympathy' as they were well qualified to deliver a variety interventions along with excellent assessments and referrals to other agencies. All of this is on top of continuing to deliver outstanding impartial careers information, advice, guidance & counselling, which is professionally appraised/evaluated annually to ensure standards. I have worked in two counties and find that the traditional careers work - and that includes employer work as you describe, is still a priority focus, it's just that now PAs have more many more strings to their bows and in a team a good skill mix is required.
The problem Connexions faces is that it is not an all age service and serves a group of the population (young people) that doesn't have a voice. Those young people, their parents and carers and the teachers, social workers, SENCOs, GPs, therapists et al, who all refer to Connexions and receive referrals from us, know the value of the service and are beginning to realise the consequences as we are decimated and obliterated. I fear that their protests alongside ours are being completely ignored.

My experience of Connexions is that is only really targeted towards people at risk of severe problems. The information is poorly presented and poorly marketed.

What about people who are over 19 ? What about people with disablities (including AD(H)D, aspergers syndrome, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc) ?
Do they know about those conditions ?

Highly intelligent people need support, a poor person who has a high IQ is going to struggle because services are tailored towards pregnant teenagers etc ?

Careers advice is poor in the UK.

Sorry Redruthie, the Personal Advisor qualification that you refer to was a course that trained you for nothing in particular since without a specific additional qualification such as the Diploma in Careers Guidance, or Qualification in Social Work, it had no usefulness as a standalone. It is true that some qualified careers advisers, social workers and youth workers took the PA qualification, but as did many others without any background or specific qualification in these areas. In pre-existing careers centres, new staff took the PA diploma alongside a 9-day careers module, and were then deployed alongside skilled careers advisers, social workers and youth workers, which made a complete nonsense of the latters' skills, pre-existing qualifications and experience.

However, the worst thing about the PA qualification and role of personal adviser itself was that all staff were expected to deliver the same job, irresepctive of prior specialism, the nature of which was a complete mish mash, but tended to default to social work.

I might add, that people became careers advisers to help the majority of young people make decisions about their education, training and employment opportunities, not to spend 90% of their time trying to sort out housing, social security, youth offending issues for 10% of young people. And even then, PAs were not able to enforce social services, or resolve housing disputes etc, since these agencies operated independently of the Connexions Service and were not bound by such third party advocacy.

Connexions undermined the value of proper careers guidance and assumed that the vast majority could find their way without impartial intervention by listening to the partial, if well-meaning, advice offered within schools, colleges and universities. The blind now led the blind.

Connexions killed careers guidance. This is just the long overdue funeral.

We found connexxions in our area to be totally useless, but I do think that some sort of program is needed and clearly it depends on where you are located, I am sure there are some good people within the program.

I find it appalling that so many students have few goals and direction in the UK, I am often shocked they can't decide if they want sixth form or not, higher education to so many seems like a mountain to climb, that is ridiculous.

I had to set up my own little connexxions for a bunch of teen boys who were never going to grab more than two or three GCSE's. I sat them down, I asked them what they liked to do, what they loved to spend time doing, presented sixth form pamphlets and we moved on from there. I showed them what they could achieve, I put up a blank paper on my kitchen wall and handed them markers and told them to draw, write anything they wanted. I have six rolls of six foot long paper saved, they went through them so fast, the paper on the wall became a goal, not only for the boys but I began to find teens I never met before asking to see the wall.

Now, two are in apprenticeships, one is a chef in a pub, two have found local work, all found confidence to move forward. They had to retake GCSE's but once they saw a direction they flew. I was beyond angry to think these boys, labeled as not underachievers by their teachers, the head, the team leaders were simply got out of the system and dismissed.

That is no way to run a society, the entire education system needs immediate changes.

Just wanted to add, once in sixth form and away from the hand holding secondary, these kids loved the idea that they were in control. Also, some very good sixth form teachers who encouraged and told students to apply for apprenticeships, which are few and far between, keep trying, don't get discouraged. I can't stress enough how good so many sixth form teachers are in encouraging development, something that is sorely lacking in our secondary which hinders development at all levels.

I was moved up a year at school. Having received my GCSE advice from Connexions a year late (as they were going by my date of birth), I informed them that my twin brother and I were actually a school year above what they had in their records. So, I was not overly impressed when I received all the advice about A-Levels/going to university etc a year late as well. Fortunately my mind was pretty made up, as their inability to make a simple change to our records didn't fill me with too much confidence.

I do, however, appreciate that the people in charge of the databases are not necessarily those giving advice and other posts here suggest the advice was valuable.

I am a Personal Adviser based in Suffolk and have been for the past 7 years. My role is to support young people aged 14-19 (up to 25 for those with disabilities) regardless of academic ability and social status. I work in a special needs school for young people who have been excluded from mainstream school and also have a caseload in a rual town where transport issues stop young people accessing services.

You dont need a social worker to access Connexions......anyone can!

I have read through all of these comments and most people understand what the service is and how we work. We are a universal service that can be accessed by all young people wanting advise ranging from help to do a cv, complete an application form, support to make a phone call and looking for work and trianing options. We are here to empower and motivate ALL young people. Some require more support and guidance than others and that is what we do, we signpost them to the appropriate services to help them to achieve their goals however big or small they might be.

The office I work in has a very diverse workforce we have all previously worked for other services which gives individuals the knowledge and experience to be better equipped to support young people.

We are under treat of losing jobs through budget cuts and this is a very uncertain time for alot of Connexions office up and down the country. We are keeping as motivated as we can as we still have a job to do and young people to help.

Here's hoping the government realises that without a service such as Connexions the countries young people, the next generation could be affected!

As a careers practitioner, of 22 years standing I feel strongly that this level of cuts will destroy the careers profession. There are a number of staff in my area who are extremely experienced and their loss will have a devistating effect on the advice and guidance young people will recieve. I would continue working in the profession until I am able to claim my pension, if given the chance (even if part-time), but if made redundant at this stage it is unlikely that I will return. I would be more than happy to work in an all-age service if the Government were to make this decision.

Telephone and on-line services are not a replacement for face-to-face guidance. Careers information can be complex and students and their parents (INCLUDING able students) often need help to interpret this and apply it to their own situation and plans. There will be many students who will make poor choices as a result.

Websites can be useful, but are not universally useful for careers information and guidance - they weren't written with that in mind. The careers information websites and computer software that I use relies on Connexions, schools, colleges paying a subscription to the provider. This enables the information to be updated etc.. Will there be enough Connexions services to keep ensure that the publishers of such information continue to provide it? If not, where is the good quality information we are told is so important, to come from?

Teachers, however willing, don't have the time to provide the level of service that students need. In my area it seems that a combined role with youth workers is being considered. We could end up with a service where youth workers are trying to provide careers advice and guidance and/or careers advisers providing youth work. This could be the worst of all possible worlds.

I am praying that Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg recoginise what is happening and make a decision about an all-age service while they still have the dedicated and experienced staff available to make this happen.

The ConDem Coalition might cut - or even abolish - Connexions but young people - with all their strengths and weaknesses - will not go away. Sooner or later a government will have to re-invent Connexions, a service that is uniquely for all young people and is independent of the agendas schools, colleges, employers, training providers, social services etc.

They can reverse these cuts to a vital front-line service now and engage Connexions in fitting young people to contribute to the economic recovery and future international competitiveness or they can watch as an increasing number of misguided and uninfomred young people stumble around making choices in education and employment that are wrong for them and wrong for the country, will all the social ills that will bring.

The problem with Connexions is that it was underfunded from the very beginning and has continued to be so until it become an easy target for the cuts. The size of the challenge - to engage, listen to, guide, inform, advise and enthuse all young people - whatever their level of skills and whatever their level of exclusion, disaffection and/or disability - in a working world requiring ever higher levels of technical and people skills was completely underestimated and has been met on the cheap. But that should not be an excuse to close us down. I think we've actually done rather well, considering..

We have had to provide both a "universal" careers guidance service to young people in schools and colleges and in the labour market - including those young people with learning difficulties and disabilities that I personally serve - as well as providing a "targetted" social services-lite style service to guide young people and parents through complex benefits, housing, health, bullying, crime, disability, contraception, gender issues etc. and advocate on their behalf with all the relevant local and national government departments. Young people and the general public expect us to know everythnig from the intricacies of choosing the right university course to how to find emergency age-appropriate accommodation in Tooting at 4.55 pm on a Friday night.

I do sympathise to some extent with XCAnderson. I too hold the Postgraduate DipCG and I joined the ILEA Careers Service in 1982, when many of my current colleagues were as yet unborn. I also underwent the insulting almost Maoist re-education experience of the "Understanding Connexions" course. Change - as ever - has been the only constant (apart from the loss of the rough parity with the pay of teachers). I have been reorganised, privatised, enjoyed -and sometimes endured - partnership working etc. BUT unlike XCAnderson I am still here and I have come - sometimes relauctantly it is true - to really appreciate the diversity of skills and breadth of knowledge, energies and experinece I can now call on in what is for me, here and now, a dynamic, intelligent and increasingly successful and vital service.

These wholesale cuts and redundancies are either evidence of mismanaged government by unintended consequences or a nasty backwoodsman-motivated attack on the most universally unpopular group within adult British Society: young people. Please write to your council and MP and do all you can to oppose them. Liberal Democrats should just hang their heads in shame. Don't ever come canvassing for votes at my door again.

I am a Connexions Personal Advisor in North London. In response to a previous quote Connexions do make a difference to YP, and intervene whether there is a social worker or not. Most of the time we end up bridging the gap and doing the job that other teams should be doing. We are not just careers advisors - we cover a wide variety of other needs, careers guidance is just part of the package. It is unfair to give school teachers or careers coordinators another responsibility on top of what they already have. I truly believe that Connexions should remain, and should continue to help young people in the way that we have.

Alternatively, the could do as they do in the States and put guidance counselors in every school, each student is assigned a counselor for the entire four years of HS that guides, advises and motivates, everything from mental health problems to course work to univeristy guidance.

JoeCrome

I live in Surrey, I saw a Connexions Advisor in 2004, when I had a late diagnosis of a specific learning disability. The lady explained that the service was about helping people at risk and giving people the support they need because the area had the highest rate of pregnancy.

I was ignored because I have a degree and it is doubtful they have the knowledge to support people with disabilities such as asperger syndrome, high functioning autism and dyspraxia.

It is poorly advertised.

It should servere ALL PEOPLE regardless of ability, disability, experience, qualifications, skills and location. It seems to serve the people with few or no qualifications.

A Connexions Advisor visited my state girls' school to offer 1:1 career advise, at the start of the interview he looked me up and down and asked 'what you fancy most, hairdressing or beauty'. ( this was 2000).

I later did some temp work for the local Connexions in a Easter break whilst I was at Uni (didn't take them up on their career advise) , the wastefulness of resources was really quite shocking and that was to an inexperienced undergraduate student. Based on my experience of Connexions; I'm not at all suprised by the government's decision.

We all know that Connexions is utter rubbish, I come into contact with these 'advisors' on a regular basis, most are petty minded simpletons.
Waste of Money.
Good riddance.

We all know that Connexions is utter rubbish, I come into contact with these 'advisors' on a regular basis, most are silly billies.
Waste of Money.
Good riddance.

I've been a careers adviser for over 3 decades, in both the public & private sectors, across all age-groups, education environments and with all educational levels. My specialist roles have included Higher education advice, adult guidance, university careers service, redundancy counselling and currently, e-guidance and telephone guidance in a private sector careers service catering for 14-early 20s, via a membership fee.
It's ironic that we are talking about inventing an 'all-age service' ; when I started in the late 70s, in a London careers service, we WERE all-age & all-ability then. We had specialists for every type of client from special needs to long-term unemployed to Higher education aspirants- but age/need was no barrier to anyone who wanted to call in & see us. We also worked across schools & colleges, providing extensive careers education programmes & events -espec designed to challenge 'inequality of opportunity'.
I learned how to work with adults (a different scenario to working with youngsters) in this service; had to learn a different knowledge base & hone certain skills such as 'challenging'. I also learned that adults, just as youngsters, can have 'fantasy ideas' ie a career idea not backed up by any educational/interest/skill base but simply plucked out of the air because they like the sound of it.
From my adult clients I learned much about bullying in the workplace, misery in childhood, disadvantage, mental ill-health & the huge effects such issues on career choice/development.
What is the most important thing that careers advisers do for clients? We LISTEN to them; listen impartially, objectively and with empathy; we then work with them to put in place a pathway/next steps, to go forward, whether that be a course/a job/an interview or something else like assertiveness training.
We provide an ESSENTIAL service to those who need us- when they need us.

I've been a careers adviser for over 3 decades

time for a career change mate.

Well done, terrymiles, your post is astute and intelligently conveyed and I couldn't have put it better myself, so I won't!

As for Nickski...

Posting a comment about a range of professionals and individuals across the country that you nothing about as being "petty minded simpletons" is quite simply petty minded!

Nickski,

May I ask what job you do that brings you into contact with Connexions advisors?

I came into the Connexions service fresh from University as a trainee in 2005 and still work for the organisation (albeit in a different Borough) to this day.

I came into this work as I have a passion for working with young people and want each and every one to "fulfil their potential" (an early catchphrase of the service.)

I am very aware of the criticism of Connexions and I have tried my best to be the best Personal Adviser I can. Despite pressure from senior managers, I do my absolute best to see every young person in Year 11 and offer them an hour interview to really give the best quality IAG I can. The fact is, funding has been deteriorating in the service for a good few years so the Personal Advisers have increased caseloads with less time. So of course, we have to prioritise and see those young people who are more likely to be struggling with their options. Obviously, this isn't right but it is the reality of the Service and it is the Government(s) who are to blame for that, yet they turn around and seem to criticise the service every 5 minutes!

I can't speak on behalf of anyone else but I feel that I deliver a really good service in my schools and that is because I go above and beyond what I am expected to do. I am also learning everyday and try to develop my practice.

I just wanted to put a positive (biased of course!!) view across as they seem to be lacking.

Let us all be honest, Connexions Services could be better! ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................If they where funded correctly, weren't used as a political tool, where supported better by other services (anyone who has worked with connexions knows what little respect / support we generally get from schools, social services, etc), only used qualified staff, had managers who actually understood the role - how many PA's are line-managed by people who are not qualified or have any experience in careers guidance. Personally I'm aware of 3 Connexions services who have no-one above PA level who has any qualifications / experience in careers guidance - its all just very badly managed!!!

Generally Connexions is full of good, dedicated staff, who are poorly managed and poorly supported. If the government do have a plan, tell us what it is, as the grass could well be greener.

Deirdre,

What’s going on?

The facts are startling. Fewer than one-in-fourteen of children get private schooling. But that seven percent produces: -

32% of the commons
45% of top civil servants
54% of top journalists
55% of solicitors
62% of peers
68% of barristers
70% of finance directors
75% of judges

Nick Clegg, son of a Banker, Cameron, son of a Stockbroker, Osborne, Baronet - and it goes on (this kind of feature is visible for ALL the mainstream parties). They're ‘all in it together’ for themselves and people like them and it’s clear that they are experts in ‘opportunity hoarding’. These are the people who have their own unique ‘connections’…

This situation reflects the indifference and arrogance, especially of the Tories, who don't, usually, have to worry about money. They are the natural representatives of rich, privileged sorts of people who don't understand in the least what its like to be under financial threat or to be unemployed/ made redundant (with all the misery/ hardship that goes with it). They resent the nature of the previous government (or of any Labour/ ‘New Labour’ government) and, enabled by the Lib Dems, they are waging an ideological campaign to demolish significant aspects of the state and its remaining public services.

At the heart of the justification for their actions is the re-emergence of a disturbing phenomenon called Social Darwinism, which first gained widespread acceptance in the late 19th century. The phrase "the survival of the fittest" was actually coined by Herbert Spencer, not by Charles Darwin. Spencer maintained that it would be disastrous for the state to do anything to protect the weakest in society. Nature should take its course, strengthening society. (For ‘survival of the fittest’ these days read ‘survival of the wealthiest’.)
This is a deeply pessimistic political philosophy, allowing no room for a benign state enabling the disadvantaged to improve their well-being. It is a rejection of the post-war consensus that the poor and women have the same potentialities as the rich and men.
Spencer was, I believe, widely read and feted in the US as well as the ruling elite in this country. He was at his most popular when the gap between the richest and poorest was three times greater than today. Prominent US/ British businessmen and politicians frequently used him to justify this.
We may like to think that was then, this is now. Think again. The wealth of the wealthy has massively increased since the introduction of neo-liberalism in the late 1970s and onwards from the 1980’s and beyond. There has been no increase since then in the average real wage for most people in the western world at all; no ‘trickle-down’ affect whatsoever. What a great advert that is for those wishing to gain a decent/ half decent job or career during such a time, or even to those advising and guiding people in how to make the most of their abilities to be able to participate within such a curious system!

Meanwhile Connexions, a public service that has run for a long time in various guises and identities (careers advice, vocational guidance), aims, amongst other things, to help young people get access into the work, career or learning of their choice.
Ultimately, in this type of society, if someone wants to survive and flourish, what else is more important than what career or job you do? Unless, perhaps, you've access to a wealthy trust fund inherited from family as well as some useful family ‘connections’...
This being the case why would anyone want to create the conditions to allow this type of service to become under funded and understaffed leaving it to, very likely, become ineffective?

If you think what I am suggesting is a little alarming, especially concerning the present governments agenda, consider the following paragraphs from the book The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein: -

“Only a crisis- actual or perceived- produces real change. When that crisis occurs the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around…"

“The kind of crisis Milton Friedman had in mind (to be able to impose neo-liberal policies more effectively) was…economic. What he understood was that in normal circumstances, economic decisions are made based upon the push and pull of competing interests- workers want jobs and raises, owners want low taxes and relaxed regulation, and politicians have (ideally!) to strike a balance between these competing forces. However, if an ‘economic crisis’ hits and is severe enough- a currency melt down, a market crash, a major recession- it blows everything else out of the water, and leaders are liberated to do whatever is necessary (or said to be necessary) in the name of responding to a ‘national emergency’. Crises are, in a way, democracy free zones- gaps in ‘politics as usual’ when the need for consent and consensus do not seem to apply…”

I'm sorry for any young person who has had poor careers advice from Connexions. If you are a young person you should know the following. Ten to fifteen years ago careers advisers/Connexions advisers were recruited on the bais of their life experiences. The fact that you might have worked for a multinational company, a small factory, taught English abroad, did office jobs in HR/Accounts etc was counted as a positive virtue because you could bring the experience to bear in your work. Nowadays Connexions companies tend to want recent graduates because they are cheap, and because they are young, the companies that run Connexions think they will have more of an impact (positive) on young people when they are pregnant, taking drugs, commiting crimes etc. They are not interested in recruiting people who GENUINELY understand different working environments and who have had different careers. What they want are people who ring you up all the time to find out what you are up to They reason they do this is so they can record everything on their database. If staff don't meet their targets then they get disciplined. Companies that run Connexions lose their contracts if they don't meet their targets for ringing you up/interviewing you. Once you could have walked into a Careers Centre as was and asked 'Who is your expert on careers in Art and Design, or in Engineering, or careers in Biochemistry?' You'd have found someone. Now you won't. Staff used to be able to spend time really researching their stuff for you. Now they can't because they are not allowed to because they have to meet their targets. You might think this is bonkers but the goverment thinks its great because each month its gets its statistical analysis of what Connexions gets up to... and guess what? Connexions always meets its targets so they ARE NOT a failing service! They meet every target set them by government. So the government was happy... until it ran out of money. This is the way government improves services my friend.

Perhaps they'll be replaced by "Connections", which would be a step forward in both literacy and clarity?

Meantime they'll have to manage change while extending access, championing personal develoment oportunities, and focusing on those actions that are most critical to the delivery of their vision... innit.

Thatcher sold the careers service.

Standards fell when the NVQ Level 4 in Advice and Guidance was introduced and it became possible to work as a Careers Adviser without a degree or A Levels or even GCSEs. Why can't young people in England have professional (graduate level) careers advisers? Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have maintained standards - time for England to revert?

Who will advise young people if Connexions goes

?

Um....teachers? Parents? The internet?

There are far more sources of information now for kids than ever - with or without connexions. No loss.