Is Career Guidance Effective? Evidence from a Longitudinal Study in England (Report) (Case Study‪)‬

International, European and UK policy documents have recently drawn attention to the strategic importance of career guidance for lifelong learning and the labour market. However, there are gaps in the evidence relating to its positive impacts. A five-year research study is currently underway in England, which is examining the exact nature of effective guidance and how it affects clients' lives. Fifty in-depth case studies have been completed (2003-2004) and clients are being followed up over a four-year period (2004-2007). Client perceptions of guidance have been compared with practitioner perceptions and those of a third party (an 'expert witness'). Strategies and skills used by practitioners have been scrutinised, together with the structures of service provision. The first follow-up has examined the impact of guidance on clients one year on. Findings presented in this paper are based on the initial two phases of the study (2003-2005). Changes in the labour market (like globalisation and developments in IT) have challenged the relevance of the traditional, narrow view of career transition as a one-off event at an early stage of an individual's development, replacing it with a broader understanding of how these transitions--into, through and within education, training and employment--are more complex, more prolonged and often span lifetimes (Young & Collin, 2000, p. 5). Recent documents have tried to capture the implications of such changes for guidance. For example, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2004) and the Council of the European Union (2004) have both argued that guidance is comprised of a range of activities and is necessary for individuals over a prolonged time-span to support multiple transitions.