Research library

This online library provides a comprehensive repository of the different and effective approaches to employer engagement and careers education. Developed over the last decade it brings together the latest thinking with selected research published over the past 40 years for the benefit of researchers, academics and policy makers.

Free to access and searchable by keyword, it features summaries of a wide range of studies with abstracts and links to the full reports. With research articles and reports from leading figures and education bodies, you can examine issues such as employer-led learning, youth employment, career related learning in primary schools, and social mobility, as well as information on gender, ethnicity, and specific subject study such as STEM.

The main library is complemented by an extensive online video collection and a physical library. The video collection comprises over 150 videos of researchers discussing their work and its implications for policy and practice, together with conference presentations and seminars.

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Those furthest from the labour market: An inquiry into best practice that helps young people furthest from the labour market into employment

February 26, 2018

By the All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and Youth Employment UK This report, by the All-Party Parliamentary Group, sought to understand how many young people would be included in this group; what are the main barriers; evidence and examples of working with young people ‘hidden’ from the official statistics; and what support is most effective in […]

How to improve student educational outcomes: New insights from data analytics

February 26, 2018

By Mona Mourshed, Marc Krawitz, and Emma Dorn (all McKinsey & Company) In this, the first of a series of reports by researchers writing for McKinsey & Company, the authors explain how they have applied advanced analytics and machine to identify factors that play a critical role in student achievement. Using data from the OECD’s Program […]

When job training is not enough: The cultivation of social capital in career academies

February 1, 2018

By Michael Lanford and Tattiya Maruco In this article, published in the American Educational Research Journal, the authors used a qualitative data set of 52 academy coordinators and teachers as well as 41 students from a single American school district to examine social capital in career academies and the factors that potentially make them viable […]

London Ambitions Research: Shaping a Successful Careers Offer for all Young Londoners

February 1, 2018

By Zoe De Clayes, Tami McCrone and David Sims This NFER and London Councils report identifies emerging promising practice in the delivery of careers education and guidance (CEG) through ‘London Ambitions’ careers strategy. The report used 22 semi-structured interviews with staff and five focus groups with young people in case-study visits to four schools and one FE […]

Career guidance for social justice: Contesting neoliberalism

February 1, 2018

Edited by Tristram Hooley, Ronald Sultana and Rie Thomen This edited collection examines the intersections between career guidance, social justice and neo-liberalism. Contributors offer an original and global discussion of the role of career guidance in the struggle for social justice and evaluate the field from a diverse range of theoretical positions. Drawing on education, sociology, […]

User insight research into post-16 choices: A report by CFE Research with Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE

February 1, 2018

In this research paper, commissioned by the Department for Education, the authors (CFE Researchers and Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE) set out to test the hypothesis: given the current complexity of the post-16 educational landscape, learners can experience difficulties making fully-informed choices and navigating technical education routes in particular. The aim of the conducting the survey was […]

An analysis of the duration and achievement of apprenticeships in England

February 1, 2018

By Matthew Bursnall, Vahé Nafilyan and Stefan Speckesser In this new paper by researchers at the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) the authors aim to provide evidence about starts, achievement rates and duration for a recent cohort of UK apprentices. For the cohort of all 516,880 intermediate and advanced apprenticeships starting in England in 2011/12, […]

‘I’m good, but not that good’: digitally-skilled young people’s identity in computing.

February 1, 2018

By Billy Wong Computers and information technology are fast becoming a part of young people’s everyday life. However, there remains a difference between the majority who can use computers and the minority who are computer scientists or professionals. Drawing on 32 semi-structured interviews with digitally skilled young people (aged 13–19), this paper explores their views […]

The changing nature and role of vocational education and training in Europe. Volume 1: Conceptions of vocational education and training: an analytical framework.

February 1, 2018

In this two-part research paper developed by Cedefop, the authors provide an overview of the changing nature and role of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe. This first volume assesses the multiple attempts in academic literature to define or explain vocational education and training and to develop a theoretical model to analyse national definitions […]

Peer effects and social influence in post-16 educational choice

February 1, 2018

This paper investigates whether the educational choices that young people make after the completion of their GCSEs (at age 16) are influenced by their peers. More specifically, it takes advantage of the variation in peer groups that arises when students move from primary to secondary school in order to isolate the impact of secondary school […]