Future Ambitions: Developing careers services in Wales

Whilst recognising that there is much good practice within the range of provision in schools, FE colleges, Higher Education and Careers Wales, the report identifies the need for services to be more clearly defined and the quality of leadership improved at all levels.

On 9 November 2009, John Griffiths, the Deputy Minister for Skills announced the Terms of Reference for the externally-led second-stage of the Review of Careers Services in Wales. He appointed of Dr. Haydn Edwards, Professor Danny Saunders and Dr Deirdre Hughes as members of the Core Group undertaking this second-stage. Dr. Edwards was appointed as Chair of the Group. The Terms of the Review were amended by Leighton Andrews, the Minister for Children Education and Lifelong Learning in January 2010 to include a decision in principle to establish a unitary organisation for Careers Wales.

The Core Group reported at the end of June 2010.

The Report ‘Future Ambitions: developing careers services in Wales’ sets out a vision for the development of careers services in Wales.

Its sixty recommendations cover many aspects of careers-related provision and embrace a wide range of service providers. They offer pointers as to how the relationships between these service providers might be improved in the interests of the service user by building a more flexible, efficient, coherent and effective system of careers provision.

Taken together, these proposals represent a medium term strategy for the next three to five years. They entail some fundamental and progressive changes in approach which we recognise will take some time to put into effect. They aim to provide a direction of travel which can be geared to the practicalities of change management and the realities of resource constraints.