Careers Education and Social Mobility Debate

Thank you (name) – it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship.

I beg to move that the House has considered the role of careers education in improving social mobility.

Social Mobility is a term used widely and, in many contexts, – but perhaps it is worth me setting out what it means.  The Social Mobility Commission defines it as the link between a person’s occupation or income and the occupation or income of their parents.  Where there is a strong link, there is a lower level of social mobility. Where there is a weak link, there is a higher level of social mobility.  For a long time, the focus often centred on moving a select few from the ‘bottom’ to the ‘top.’  However, this is now moving from a one size fits all model to a broader view of distinct kinds of social mobility, sometimes over shorter distances, for a greater number of people

This means not only focusing on those with the top grades getting to elite universities and then moving to London to work for top accountancy or law firm. It means celebrating, for example, the child of parents who were long-term unemployed who grows up and gets a job in their local area.

This ‘short-range’ mobility is equally important and should be encouraged which is why the time is right for a renewed conversation about careers education and the role it can play.   Over time we have developed framework of careers education in our classrooms, however this framework is there to be challenged and improved upon, and I look forward to us debating this further today.

A report released towards the end of 2024 by the ONS showed that around 872,000 or 12% of young people aged between 16-24 were not in education, employment or training, we know in many cases this is not because young people necessarily are not willing or wanting to work but because they have perhaps lacked the opportunities or support to pursue it.

Evidence shows, the earlier the intervention we can make in a young person’s life, the greater chance they are given to succeed. We know that students who were on Free School Meals are less likely to move into work, education or have an apprenticeship when compared to their peers. Part of the reason for this is unequal access to the information and guidance that enables young people to develop their ambitions and make informed choices in relation to their studies.

Those from a lower socioeconomic background are less likely to feel ‘career ready,’ less confident talking about their skills in job applications, do not always have the necessary support at home and elsewhere to make the crucial and important decisions about their own futures.

Crucial to the skills aspect of these job applications are those that are too often not spoken about but often make a significant difference. They are the essential skills of effective communication, problem solving, the ability to plan and adapt, leadership skills and effective teamworking. Sometimes referred to as soft skills.

Often taken for granted the reality on the ground tells us a much different story.  A 2024 study, from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), found that up to 7 million workers may lack the essential skills they need to do their jobs by 2035.

Almost 90% of the 2.2 million new jobs expected to be created between 2020 and 2035 are set to be within the professional sector.  We need to send school leavers out with the mindset that these skills are just as important as their technical or academic qualifications, and just as crucial when it comes to progression in their chosen profession.

It is therefore vital that when it comes to careers education, we should seek to ensure that soft skills education becomes common practice in educational institutions and other environments across the UK, as suggested by the Skills Builder Partnership, we could look to achieve this by adopting a common language for essential skills that would introduce a national standardised framework for the teaching and assessing of these  skills, starting at a young age with clear milestones.

Ambition is something we want all our young people to have in abundance, however, too often it is the case that it is frustrated not by talent or ability, but by a postcode or someone’s background. When we think of careers education, including our own experiences, we will probably be more likely to remember it as being part of our secondary or further educational experience.

But it has become increasingly clear that attitudes towards ambition and achievement are often being set much earlier at primary school age or sometimes before. Evidence also tells us that children begin to form ideas about their futures when they are as young as five or six. By the age of 10, many young people have already made career limiting decisions, which can be set in stone by the age of 14.

When asked as part of the Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities Survey, 16- and 17-year-olds from low income/ “never worked” households were more likely to agree that “people like them “do not have much of a chance in life, particularity amongst those in £19,000 or less net income households.

The Social Mobility Foundation found that parents and their social networks are the key source of careers advice for 76% of young people. As they rightly put it, such reliance on parental support risks replicating existing networking and employment structures, where the parents and their individual networks are more likely to have sector knowledge, therefore making parent-child career replication far more likely.

This is also further compounded by geography – rural areas are less likely to have the same diversity of employers and sectors than that of a city. Reducing opportunity and crucial interactions that we know can have an incredible impact in broadening horizons.

One part of the solution to this can be found in Wales. Here careers and work-related experiences known as CWRE, cut across the Curriculum for Wales from the age of 3 onwards and continues to the age of 18. Its aim is to ensure that from the offset, children develop the attitudes and behaviours that support them in the overcoming of barriers, related to employability. The Rofft Primary school, in Wrexham, reported that it supported the development of children’s self-growth, confidence and employability skills and authentic, purposeful world of work experiences.

Looking at work experience, it is very welcome that in its’ Get Britain Working White Paper, the Government has set out a vision for a Youth Guarantee which includes an entitlement to two weeks or 50 hours of work experience for all school and college students. However, we must ensure that with quantity also comes quality and that for every young person it is both worthwhile and impactful towards their prospects. A way of ensuring this could be through a national platform for work experience that enables virtual opportunities and schools to select opportunities that fit the needs of their pupils, removing a large part of the administrative burden that can so often emerge.

Funding is of course also crucial.  When asked, almost half of schoolteachers in the state sector, wished to see more resource and funding allocated to careers guidance in schools.  Notably in the recognition of remuneration of those working as career leaders, giving them more time to focus on it. Private schools are estimated to invest up to 4 times more in careers education than the state sector.  If we do not act and take practical steps to close this gap it risks further educational divides – and entrenching low social mobility outcomes.

I have spoken about work experience in the school years, but it is equally as important to look at what it can offer to our young people who for whatever reason education may have not worked out or they have fallen through the gaps.

 We Mind the Gap, based in Wrexham, works with ages 16-25 in North East Wales and North West England. Known as Gappies, those taking part engage in an 18 month long, fully funded programme that offers work placements, a paid sixth month work placement and a mentor that is with them every step of the way. The results and effects on young people’s lives have been transformational. As an example:

Vicki finished college and had been on Job Seekers’ Allowance for nearly a year when her adviser suggested the programme. She spoke of being shy and withdrawn and her life not having a focus. “Going for interviews then and never heard anything back – by the end I was far more outgoing and could not stop talking, thanks to all the support I received from the charity. I enjoyed all my placements, especially the Ramada Plaza Hotel. I got a job at the end of the programme, but the biggest change was that I started to draw again. I did a placement at Glyndwr University, who took me to their Art Department. Laura encouraged me to show them my drawings. After all these years of being told I cannot draw I found that people like what I do, and people call it a talent”

Sophie was 16 when she found herself living in a hostel in Wrexham. Her supporter at the hostel said she should apply for the programme at WeMindTheGap.  “Looking back, I must have been horrible. If I did not like doing something I would say so, loudly; if things went wrong for me, I did not know how to try again. I liked all my placements, but my favourite part of the week was Essential Skills. We always started with a maths quiz, and I would win easily. I had GCSE maths and Pam helped me think about getting more qualifications. I asked the team to help me apply for an Apprenticeship in a Bank or Finance office because even I realised I was good at numbers.”

“I got nervous at the end of the programme about leaving but Laura and Diane said they would still be there for me. I had no other work experience and was just 18 and it was hard getting a job. All the other gappies on my course got something and I felt if I wasn’t careful, I could slip back into my old habits. So, I asked if I could come into Moneypenny and volunteer over Christmas. I had so much fun and loved being part of the team. Diane told the Finance Director how good at numbers I was and after a couple of months, I was offered a permanent contract! Diane got in touch with Coleg Cambria and got me on an Apprenticeship accountancy course to help me alongside”

“I am Moneypenny’s first Finance Apprentice. I completed my course in June 2019. I work 4.5 days in the busy finance team and am responsible for looking after client accounts, reconciliations, and debt recovery. I have a much better relationship with my family – they are proud of me. I’ve also been on my first holiday abroad. I participate in We Belong sessions, I love meeting new gappies “

These are but a few of many We Mind the Gap success stories, but there is a wider general message that if we meet young people where they are, recognising circumstances, their own hopes, and aspirations, we give them a greater chance to succeed. With fewer than one in five 16–21-year-olds feeling they have had sufficient guidance, …there is a clear need to rethink how we support young people during these pivotal years. Rather than expecting them to navigate an often complex and unequal system alone, we must invest in personalised, compassionate guidance that acknowledges their lived experiences. This means more than just providing opportunities—it means building trust, offering consistent mentorship, and creating environments where every young person feels seen, heard, and believed in.

To summarise, there is a lot to be proud of when it comes to careers education, the fantastic work being done by career leaders in schools to guide young people, the many organisations opening doors and broadening horizons, it really has come a long way. Nonetheless, we still need to be more ambitious, and I have set out a few of the areas in which I believe we can be, and I look forward to hearing colleagues’ contributions. One of the overarching aims of this Government is to break down the barriers to opportunity, so let us be ambitious and put careers education at the heart of achieving that and improving social mobility.