We explored the perspectives of career guidance educators from the UK and Pakistan on the training of new career professionals. A qualitative cross-case comparative design, a functional equivalence sampling approach and telephonic unstructured interviews were used. We identified diverse ways in which cultural-contextual variables were linked in…

Purpose: Self-initiated international placements by students have been largely ignored in the literature on outward mobility in higher education. The support given to self-initiated international placement students, if any, has received even less attention. This study aims to address this lacuna. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on insights…

This article reports the results of a qualitative study which explores the personal and professional identities construction journey of a migrant teacher of English as a second/additional language from Hong Kong, following her arrival in the United Kingdom. Grounded in a theory of language teacher identities and drawing upon Mikhail Bakhtin's…

Career guidance appointments in UK Higher Education Careers Services are being made shorter, in an attempt to see increasing numbers of students with the reduced resource. In this research, I explore the impact this is having on practice. Career guidance is found to be effective, but negatively impacted by these time constraints. The shortening of…

The rapid worldwide expansion of enrolment in higher education (HE) has led to greater diversity among students, with more first-generation learners, HE returnees, and disadvantaged groups. Yet, inequalities in participation persist and have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of flexible learning pathways (FLPs) can help HE…

Purpose: This paper aims to report on a project re-imagining of a Level 1 English-model broad vocational curriculum for low-attaining youth. The project, funded by Rothschild, has sought to develop a knowledge rich and engaging curriculum, which is more consistent with notions of social justice than contemporary low-level vocational curricula.…

First-in-family students make up a majority of young first-degree students yet face a number of challenges. So they are now the focus of many specific interventions in the UK and the USA. This report looks at the pros and cons of using first-in-family as a key measure of disadvantage. It argues that, while it is an appropriate metric for low-level…

A new 'Work & Skills' initiative is needed for people who are long-term unemployed. Next year there could be between 1 to 1.6 million people who have been out of work for 12 months or more. This could be the highest since the 1980s and will have drastic implications for families and whole communities across the United Kingdom (UK). There needs…

In the UK, the concept of employability is influential in current conceptualizations of career development. It is an example of a discourse underpinned by faith in individual transformation as a response to unstable labour markets, a position that is not unproblematic when structural factors are taken into account. This article introduces an…

Governments recognise that careers guidance, underpinned by accurate labour market information, can help learners make post-secondary education choices that match their interests, aptitudes and abilities, and lead to rewarding employment. For this reason, they have invested in building linked education/employment information systems and other…

This article analyses qualitative data gathered from a survey of career practitioners on the issue of career image (n = 355, 75% female, 89% white and 78% from the UK). Findings reveal three key themes which represent how career image relates to practitioners' values and beliefs, how practitioners make decisions about whether to address the topic…

Less-advantaged students are under-represented at prestigious universities, but can we infer that they actively avoid them? This research measured university applicants' knowledge of 115 UK universities. Using card-sort tasks within an interview format, 56 Year 13 students from different types of 16-19 education described how they chose five…

The OECD Career Readiness project makes use of quantitative evidence to investigate how teenage career-related activities and attitudes are associated with better adult employment outcomes. Review of multiple national longitudinal datasets confirms 11 indicators of better outcomes linked to the ways in which teenagers explore, experience and think…

This paper reveals findings from a small-scale research project which explored how university careers advisers experience their role in guiding clients within a labour market where barriers to social mobility prevail. The research discovers that advisers' daily work gives them a depth of insight into social mobility. The professional turbulence in…

This paper explores contested notions of the purpose of education and careers work. The research for the paper examines public sector employee reactions to notion of a psychological contract breach, when cuts in funding put their jobs and careers at risk. It argues that, in this environment, the search for career fulfilment can be marked by…