A brief history of the Scottish careers service

1973 - UK Employment and Training Act 

• Scottish local authorities to provide free careers guidance and placing services 

What did the careers service first look like? 

• Guidance was given to young people in secondary school (typically via one-to-one interviews)
• Placement function for school-leavers
• Young workers (to a lesser extent) 

What did the world of work look like? 

• Traditional types of industrial work and an emphasis on vocational training
• High levels of unemployment in young people, with less emphasis on academic studies 
• Oil and Gas and Service industries were on the rise

1993 - Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act (TURER) 

• Responsibility for provision of careers services shifts to the Secretary of State for Scotland 

1998 - Devolution

• Career guidance seen as increasingly important to policy-makers

1999 - Duffner Committee 

• Review of the Careers Service 

What did the careers service look like in the 90s? 

• Service delivery was split into core and non-core customers. Services to core customers were free and financed directly by the government, non-core customers weren't covered by direct funding.
• Limited support for young workers

What did the world of work look like in the 90s? 

• Manufacturing jobs in decline
• Increase in youth training programmes

2002 - Careers Scotland introduced 

2008 - Worldwide financial crash 

2008 - Skills Development Scotland formed 

• Bringing together careers, skills, training and funding services

How did the careers service operate in the 2000s? 

• Targeted support was offered for priority groups, including: Under-24-year-olds, pupils and students in secondary schools, most students in FE college, people with disabilities, those qualified to less than level 3 SVQ, unemployed or unwaged people and those in declining industries. 

What did the world of work look like in the 2000s? 

• There was an increase in knowledge based services/jobs
• More young people were in Higher Education than ever before, with a less active labour market
• There was a large focus on academic achievement in comparison to previous decades. 

2011 - Scottish Government CIAG strategy launched

2014 - Scottish Government Youth Employment strategy launched

2015 - Career Education Standard developed 

2019 - Scottish agency partners chart vision for 'A Human Future' and SDS launch Strategic Plan 2019-22'

• The strategic plan set out SDS' aims to enable people, mobilise employers and collectively create a more dynamic, responsive skills system 

What did the careers service look like in the 2010s? 

• Need based CIAG service offer with face-to-face, one-to-one career guidance interventions when making subject choices
• My World of Work launched, providing online career information and advice to anyone at any time. This created better alignment of digital content with face-to-face delivery.

What did the world of work look like in the 2010s? 

• Post-recession high levels of young people in education
• More hybrid types of work and education with more interest and desire for new and enhanced work-based learning routes. 

2020

• Scottish Government's Career Strategy: Moving Forward 
• Coronavirus 
• Brexit
• Sandy Begbie report
• Young Persons Guarantee 

2021 

• The Career Review launches as SDS collaborates with partners and the third sector to undertake a comprehensive review of CIAG services. 

Our current world of work 

• The pandemic has triggered changes worldwide and created the opportunity and need for world leaders / employers to evaluate their approaches to work
• New ways of working are being made permanent (increase in working from home, offices reducing capacity/closing, increased use of technology and new business models).