16 October 2025
Invest in careers infrastructure to support the skills revolution
Following Government announcements at the Labour Party conference, Dr Deirdre Hughes writes in FE News setting out the argument for greater investment in career development.
With the Prime Minister changing the target from 50% of young people going to university, to two-thirds gaining higher-level skills via university, further education or apprenticeships, there is a welcome shift in education, training and skills policy.
However, Dr Hughes argues that without greater investment in career development infrastructure, young people will struggle to make sense of the complex pathways to gaining skills, understand the new options opening up to them – such as Technical Excellence Colleges – or recognise the opportunities the new shift affords them. This is especially important for young people with backgrounds that haven’t traditionally engaged with higher education.
The article lays out a clear argument for careers to be seen as integral to this developing skills revolution, saying ‘We need a funded strategy to recruit, train, and deploy careers advisers in numbers that match the scale of ambition’.
Read the full article from Dr Deirdre Hughes.
With the Prime Minister changing the target from 50% of young people going to university, to two-thirds gaining higher-level skills via university, further education or apprenticeships, there is a welcome shift in education, training and skills policy.
However, Dr Hughes argues that without greater investment in career development infrastructure, young people will struggle to make sense of the complex pathways to gaining skills, understand the new options opening up to them – such as Technical Excellence Colleges – or recognise the opportunities the new shift affords them. This is especially important for young people with backgrounds that haven’t traditionally engaged with higher education.
The article lays out a clear argument for careers to be seen as integral to this developing skills revolution, saying ‘We need a funded strategy to recruit, train, and deploy careers advisers in numbers that match the scale of ambition’.
Read the full article from Dr Deirdre Hughes.
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