Submission on Input into the Co-design of the National Careers Institute
The National Careers Institute is a welcome initiative. An effective and coordinated national approach to careers development will more effectively serve students and job seekers with better information and advice throughout their life. A well-informed careers market will also improve the chances of skill needs being met, and that the investment made in education and training is more effective.
ACCI sees one of the key opportunities of the National Careers Institute would be to create a ‘clearance house’ where information is deposited, exchanged and accessed (essentially a wholesale shop for careers advisers) between industry and career practitioners and other key stakeholders such as schools. Particularly within a federated environment, maintaining direct links between industry, schools, careers advisers, employment services and other key sources of career information is practically impossible without some platform for exchange. In establishing the National Careers Institute, it is also useful to clearly delineate its role at the outset, commencing with ensuring that the definition of career is succinct in a way that focuses on work and learning. The NCI then needs to operate with proper advice, particularly from industry, and within a structure that connects it to its key stakeholders including all governments, industry, schools and career sector stakeholders.