This paper is an initial response to the proposal for an Adult Advancement
and Careers Service as outlined in Opportunity, Employment and Progression:
making skills work , and is a revision of the earlier NIACE Position Paper
on the Adult Careers Service (November 2007). It outlines what we regard are the
key issues and some possible questions to inform the government’s thinking on
service design.
Trials for the Adult Advancement and Careers service are planned for the next
two years, with the service fully operational from 2010-11. The existing
learndirect advice and nextstep services will be brought together within a new
organisation, which will work in close partnership with Jobcentre Plus and a
range of statutory and voluntary advice services. A policy framework for the
development of the new service will be available early in 2008.
While NIACE remains supportive of the development of an Adult Advancement and
Careers Service, there are some issues about the service as currently outlined
which we would like to explore further, in particular:
 | Previous reforms of Information, Advice and Guidance for adults have been
well intentioned but often not achieved their goals. There are important
lessons to be learned from earlier experiences. |
| While the word ‘universal’ was used to describe the offer of the Adult
Careers Service, we are aware that this is not being so widely used in the
description of the Adult Advancement and Careers Service. We are concerned
that the need to target and prioritise the unskilled, low-skilled and workless
may be at the cost of wider access to a whole range of other adult learners.
We are also concerned that the imposition of systems which apply access
criteria can actually create barriers to the very priority groups they are
intended to favour. |
| Adults frequently seek guidance at a time of crisis, change or transition.
It is important that any entitlement to the new service reflects this. |
| A review of current quality assurance arrangements and workforce
competency requirements will be necessary to meet the needs of the new
service. |
| In order to deliver the government’s vision, planning arrangements should
be based on the views of service participants: users, providers as well as
policy makers (and their intermediary agencies). |
