Sarah Hathaway, chair of the Professions Week steering group and head of ACCA UK (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) told Parliamentarians, professionals and others in attendance, including former Education Secretary, Baroness Gillian Shephard, currently deputy chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, that while the government, employers and third sector organisations were focusing on helping young people be more socially mobile and making the professions more accessible, a sustained and coordinated approach was needed.
In launching Professions Week last night Sarah Hathaway said: “We invite and expect government to work with us to ensure world class advice and guidance is available for all young people, regardless of background. We call on ministers with portfolios for schools, further education and higher education to meet with us early in 2014 to set out a new agenda of collaboration between policy makers and professional bodies – and this agenda will be about action and transformation.
“The 15 bodies that have delivered Professions Week represent nearly a million members and students. That’s an incredibly powerful army of professionals who we want to mobilise to get out there and talk to young people. Few of those who come from a disadvantaged background have a professional in their network or circle as a role model. We can’t change that but we can make advice accessible and complete.”
Hathaway called on professionals at the event and beyond to use that status and inspire others to choose a professional career. “Be ambassadors,” she told attendees at the event in Parliament last night. “And once they are inspired, let’s ensure they know what to do next.”
To mark the launch of Professions Week, the 15 professional bodies involved in the initiative have produced a report Life as a Professional: what do 14-19 year-olds think? which is based on a survey of 1,200 14-19 year olds from across the UK gauging their awareness of different careers and how much young people knew about professional occupations.
The study found that three-quarters of young people felt it was unlikely they could become a professional in the legal, business, learning development, financial, engineering, communications and construction fields. The reasons respondents gave were not being suited, lacking wrong qualifications or it was too difficult.
Perhaps the most concerning finding of all was that 40% of those surveyed had not had any sort of careers advice in the past 12 months. Of the 60% who had received it, a further quarter said it was not helpful. The research implies the lack of careers advice means young people are not making informed choices about their future.
The founding professional bodies involved in creating the Professions Week are:
• Association of Accounting Technicians
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
• Association of Taxation Technicians
• Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments
• Chartered Institute of Taxation
• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
• Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
• Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• Chartered Management Institute
• Chartered Institute of Legal Executives
• Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
• Institute of Leadership and Management
• Institute for Learning
• International Association of Book-keepers
Find out more about Professions Week at http://www.professionsweek.org/