Search results

This article reports on research carried out under the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC's) Learning Society Programme. The program comprised 14 projects involving research into the learning society and the ways in which it can contribute to the development of knowledge and skills for employment and in other areas of adult life. The authors outline recent developments in the adult career guidance system in the United Kingdom (UK) on the basis of empirical evidence compiled from related case studies from four different localities. The various sections of the article outline the basic structure of adult guidance services in the UK, summarise the comparative features of the systems in each of the four localities, and discuss some key issues based on case study evidence. These include the provision of adult guidance, funding, the provision of services for disadvantaged groups, and the effect of the privatisation of the Careers Service on adult guidance provision. The authors argue that career guidance services for adults have an important role in an increasingly uncertain labour market and where an individual career pattern characterised by interrupted periods of employment, unemployment, retraining and reskilling is becoming more common. Both vocational and educational guidance require more prominence if participation in a knowledge-based, learning society is to be supported.