Clearing for university

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/21/quarter-of-students-still-to-gain-a-university-place

Please take time to look at the above article on clearing. The article states that 52,023 students are still waiting to hear about confirmed university places. 

If you look at the figures at the bottom the article it gives a good break-down of students who have been accepted into university, found a place through clearing ,those still waiting for a decision and those who have withdrawn their application. The overall figure of those who have secured a place is fairly high but number of students still waiting is higher then those who have obtained a place through clearing. This wait for some students may be longer then expected as some universities don't start their terms till October. 

If you are someone who is going through the clearing process best of luck and please be patient and hope you get onto a course you will find enjoyable and it impact well on your future happy clearing!!

Government's plans to help boast Youth Empolyment

"The Education and Skills Act 2008 increased the minimum age at which young people in England can leave learning. This requires them to continue in education or training to the age of 17 from 2013 and to 18 from 2015. Young people will be able to choose whether to stay in full-time education, undertake work-based learning such as an Apprenticeship, or part-time education or training if they are employed, self-employed or volunteering for more than 20 hours per week." (Poltics.co.uk website)

This quote above demonstrates some the changes the government want to make in order to decrease the current unemployment situation amongst youngsters today but will increasing the age help or hinder our current unemployment situation for those aged 16-24? I have spoken about the subject of youth unemployment before in posts. If you haven't read these please see posts dated Sunday 20th November 2011 and Friday 24th February. 

What ever your thoughts about this subject we all know someone who falls with this age category and know someone who is struggling to find or seek steady employment. The government thinks rising the age will help reduce the number of NEET's in the UK. Which means those who are not in education and training. I am sure that this will help some young people stay on and obtain more qualifications. However will it alter the situation of unemployment among the youth today?

Take a look at what Nick Clegg has to say about the increase of age in education and training.

Sitting at home with nothing to do when you're so young can knock the stuffing out of you for years. It is a tragedy for the young people involved - a ticking time bomb for the economy and our society as a whole. This problem isn't new, but in the current economic climate we urgently need to step up efforts to ensure some of our most troubled teenagers have the skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed."

This quote came from Clegg after the government decided to put in some extra funding to help 16 and 17 olds who are currently NEETs. What's interesting for me as an adviser about what he says here is how he assumes some of these teenagers are troubled. Yes this could true to some extent as I have worked with many NEETs and yes some of them are troubled. However has Mr Nick Clegg spend time with some of these teenagers to see what they are really like and understand why we have NEEts in the first place? In some cases young people see the unemployment system as a cool thing so they don't have to work. I am not generalising here as many of them want to work but if they know they can claim JS9 for up to 6 months from 16 and still not have to be in education and training where is the real motivation to find work really.

The government have all these great plans, rising the school age, extra funding for NEETs, apprenticeships, welfare to work etc. All unique and they all have pros and cons but shouldn't they be looking at why all this has happened in the first place. Yes they should be thinking about solutions definitely but if they don't go back to the root of the problem youth unemployment how can they actually help these young people. Yes the recession may have contributed to the high unemployment figures we have in the UK, not just amongst young people but amongst everyone.However its not the only reason for our high unemployment rates.

How about the fact that a large number people within the UK have poor levels of basic numeracy of literacy. There is a large number of young people who are in FE colleges who are doing level 2 courses who don't have a c or above in English or maths. These are essential subjects and some this effects how well they do on the level 2 courses. Many get stuck in a zone where they can't even pass their level 2 courses. Wouldn't it wiser to let them retake their gcse english and maths and in addition do a course they are interested in? This is also affecting employment rates because employers want to hire competent people who have the essential basic skills required to do work effectively.

http://www.skillsforlifenetwork.com/half-all-young-people-cities

Please see the above link about the number of people without gcse maths and English. The skills for life website also says this will impact young peoples future. So yes the government have all these incentives but I think they also need to look at how they can support those who aren't academic the average students who don't always get a A in Maths. What happens to them? If we have the best of the best what about everyone else. Stricter rules need to put in place so that we have better literacy and numeracy levels. Which ever way you look at this I think this is a factor that effects employment.

The Future of Further education(FE) students!!

Currently Further education in the UK is going through many changes. One of the main changes that has happened this year is lack of funding that FE sector has and this has affected many of courses being run within individual colleges. It has also affected the number of staff, colleges are able to employ and many in the FE sector have faced job cuts and have been at risk of being made redundant .

Working within a few different FE colleges in different areas of London including Havering, Kensington and Chelsea and Newham it has been interesting to see how the mentality of 16-19 years olds in theses colleges differ from those in school sixth forms. Young people in colleges doing Alevels seemed to have a more relaxed attitude towards applying to university and some of them didn't have a proper university plan in place. The contrast for these in school sixth forms is teachers take it as a responsibility to help prepare their Alevel students for the university journey and go through the UCAS process with them at length.

Further education colleges have a vast array of different courses which range from Alevels to vocational and work based learning courses. For example hairdressing, catering, travel and tourism, business etc. Some students who aren't able to get on to Alevels do a level 2 courses which is a 1 year course and after which do a level 3 course a two year course which is equivalent to 2 Alevels. The pattern I saw emerging with many of these students is alot of these students needed a college place and some of them were not actually interested or driven by the subject they picked so what happens then. This applied mainly to subjects like Business,Sports, and Hospitality. Were perhaps the career route seemed more open then subjects Beauty, Catering and Fashion. So why are students sometimes on these courses where there is no future aspirations for them in that field and what can be done about this. Is the need to fill college spaces greater then the aspirations of a young person and how will this affect their future?

As I have mentioned in my previous blogs unempolyment is high in the UK especially for those who are aged 16-25. If the economy is suffering then this age group should have a clearer vision of where they want to be. I am not just talking about being advised my careers advisers but people they are inspired by teachers, parents etc. One of the colleges I worked in had a really good careers team who did progression interviews with the young people a few months before they left the college. This allowed them to see if students would stay at the college or go else where. If they had other plans they could sometimes discuss with them if they already had a college or university place etc. This in theory allows colleges to help prevent the numbers current Neets emerging. This also gives young people some of the structure they need if they want to survive in this current economic climate.

A good website to look at if you are interested into looking at the current changes of Further Education sector is www.http://www.fenews.co.uk/. This website gives a comprehensive overview of what  the government is doing within this sector.

So what is the future for FE students only time will tell. The FE sector for me personally is becoming more vocationally based espeically for young people which leads me to think that those who who will contuine to seek FE in the future will want to do more vocational careers only and those who want to go university will go onto do Alevels. A divide not only in the form of learning for students but a major divide in the social spectrum of this country too.

Free education vs lack of work experience is it a curse in disguise

 I have been lucky enough to work in many contrasting areas of London within different schools and colleges etc. This has allowed me to observe many different types of clients who have had many aspirations for their future. Most recently I myself have started a role which is a non careers adviser post. This has been quite a eye opener. Its made me realize something quite interesting though. Could that free education that students are entitled to after 16 up till their 19 be curse to some young people out there. I am not generalizing but just alone this week I have worked with two young people who said to me when I asked why they choose the course they doing say to me 

'It was something to do, I had to choose something' 

I am not blaming anyone here but what really concerns me is this isn't the first time I have met young people who have said similar things to me in my previous jobs. This free education they get is a blessing and many of them see of it as that. However it seems that many are not given a real chance  to think about what they want to do after their gcses etc finish. In addition to this some people may require specialist help to identity where they want to go and how they can get there. Everyone has a right to plan for their future instead ending up on course just for the sake of it.

Many are not happy with the course they do but the option of getting a job is also bleak because they may not have adequate work experience either!!! I may sound like I am having a go at the system but as someone who is an adviser I am thinking about the number people who aren't given a fair opportunity to explore their future and as a result end up in a course that they don't enjoy.

I am not advocating that careers advice is so wonderful everyone must have it. My point is that many of these young people are very capable and intelligent. A major factor missing from many of them is a lack of motivation because they are not always doing something they truly love That passion to succeed is being killed by a lack of motivation and a lack of interest.

From my observations many sixth form students are actually better off. The structure of school is still quite prominent there and students are encouraged to talk to staff who have specialized knowledge and can apply to ucas, jobs etc. It would be interesting to observe how many students from FE colleges are given the same level of support. Yes colleges are more relaxed and many lecturers don't feel it's their responsibility to handle this etc. However with such a bad market for youth employment shouldn't more FE staff be encouraged to at least help these young people think about their futures. Because if people are encouraged I see may young people adding value to youth unemployment and increasing employment rates.

I am not saying free education is a bad thing it is something which many people are grateful for but in time where education and lack of employment ring together the need for choosing a suitable post 16 route for young people is more important then ever. Just having a qualification for someone with a structure in place i.e they know their next route whether it be university a job etc is great. However many don't know their destination and if we as a nation want to support people we need do help them realise their ambitions. 

University and Empolyablity!!

When I saw this article on guardian my first thought wasn't surprise but concern!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/apr/16/students-criticise-universities-careers-advice

Many of my posts have been about employability linking to graduates this is an issue that isn't going away. Yes there is a world wide recession but as this article states when universities themselves are almost failing to give sufficient careers advice and empolyablity training to students what can be done.

Surely in a time where the economy is doing poorly you would think the government would help universities invest not only in careers advisers but people who actually could actually help them gain jobs and learn about those vital empolyablity skills I spoke about before.

I think this article is particularly interesting because it comes from the perspective of the students not being happy with the empolyablity advice their universities give them. As mentioned before the white paper reforms hope to tackle this very soon. As this is an area that really needs to be looked at. 

Empolyablity is a hot issue for graduates and if you are graduate at the moment always keep thinking about ways of building on those key empoluablity skills. This could be doing an internship,shadowing and getting a part-time job. Please refer to my previous post dated  Tuesday 6th December as this features my article about empolyablity. For for indepth advice and information about empolyablity skills.

Career cake TV

Please check this website out its a really good website. There are many different videos on here with tips to help anyone who is currently job hunting. Really good advice and its very professional. Aimee Bateman is a recruitment consultant herself so the tips she gives are very useful and there are also a  range of videos from other professionals too!! http://careercake.tv/

If you want to contact her yourself you can also email her for any tips and advice as I have done this myself and felt her advice was very helpful.  

What's your USP(unique Selling point)

This may not seem like an obvious one but I really think in a time where the digital era is thriving and as employment is sinking you as graduates need to think about what makes you unique. Or as the lovely abbreviation goes your USP(unique selling point). It may sound gimmicky but when you go to an interview or put your CV online its not just you competing out there!! What skills, experience and talents do you have that make you unique.This is a marketing term but thought it would be cool to think about how you as graduates can market your individuality as well. You have to make your self more innovative and one of ways to do is to think a little bit out of the box sometimes.

A Grad who has done an Engineering degree for example but didn't obtain that dream job he wanted. May also have an interest in Djing.  A USP could be demonstrated to a potential employer by him saying how he landed gigs to pay off his student debt. For example he used a contact he had to connect him to music clubs who be willing to take him on for a trial and then he landed some paid work. The selling point here could be seen as persistence and thinking about the people you know who could help etc. . This person's main ambition may still be that he wants to be an engineer so what could he do after that. If he can then look into internship to sample if its for him and then utilize the experience he had from his Djing work to demonstrate his lack of commitment to something different. This shows he did it so that he could achieve what he really wanted. This will demonstrate to a potential employer someone who is mature and willing to put in long hours so hard working etc. It also represents an individual who has faced certain challenges along the way but has kept at it!! Ultimately a problem solver and this could be another potential selling point.

The other example is an indication of not just one selling point every individual has more then one thing they can offer to a new employer. Its about you thinking about what you can do, so the skills you already have and using appropriate examples where you have communicated with others and been challenged etc. Communication skills are vital for any role you go into and if can demonstrate your strengths and keep on developing your unique self you should be able to obtain that one job you love. If you haven't you can still learn from even the worst of jobs patience is a virtue as they say so keep at it. You also need to know what is best for you. Not everyone is a office type person some people like managing and others want practical jobs it is always a good idea to research and understand what you want.