Careers Services: History, Policy and Practice in the United Kingdom

From the pre-war Juvenile Employment Service to the diversity provided by Careers Scotland, Careers Wales, Connexions and Guidance Partnerships for Adults, David Peck analyzes the origins and development of careers guidance over the past one hundred years. Each new development in U.K. careers services is related to wider changes in social, education and economic policy, with references made throughout to major political figures with an interest in career choice, from Winston Churchill to Tony Blair. Particular attention is paid to the growth of a professional ethic among careers advisers: their training, qualifications and practice. This is the first ever published work to cover the history of the careers services in the U.K. Wide-ranging and meticulously researched, this book will make a significant contribution to the increasingly urgent debate on the future of career guidance, and for the first time calls the professionals to examine their past in order to improve and inform the future of careers services and their clients. Practitioners working in schools, further and higher education or with adults and young workers, student careers advisers and their tutors, should find this book an essential and comprehensive resource.