Youth Access

Youth Access response to the DCSF’s IAG Strategy

28 October, 2009

The DCSF has launched a new strategy for Information, Advice and Guidance - Quality, Choice and Aspiration - A strategy for young people's information, advice and guidance. The Government’s ambitions are “to modernise careers education to not only make it accessible for today’s generation of young people, but also to keep pace with a rapidly changing economy, and to make sure every young person, whatever their background, can aim for the top”.

Youth Access has broadly welcomed the strategy and is pleased the DCSF has responded to young people’s concerns about the quality of IAG on careers and learning. It hopes that the strategy will go a long way to improving services and also to ensuring that those working with young people have the right skills and most importantly the knowledge to provide this much needed advice at critical decision-making points.

While this is clearly an IAG strategy focused on careers and learning, it is important to recognise that young people, especially the most disadvantaged, have a broader range of IAG needs. While the strategy makes brief mention of these other needs, it is important in local Integrated Youth Support Services that the term IAG does not simply become shorthand for careers and learning IAG at the expense of young people’s wider IAG needs. There remains a need to ensure that the kinds of personal and social IAG services delivered by Youth Access members –services dealing with the kinds of problems which are too often the barriers to young people’s participation - do not get squeezed out in the local implementation of this strategy.

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