Career and Education Decision-Making of Non-Participants and Their Networks

This chapter is an important contribution to the debate about the role of careers education and information, advice and guidance in providing a basis for individuals choosing whether or not to enter Higher Education. The underpinning research was an output from a large scale research project funded by the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Project. The project involved both Quantitative analysis of large scale datasets and qualitative analysis of case studies drawing on semi-structured interviews with mature individuals and their networks of intimacy. The project looked at non-participants in HE i.e. people who are qualified to enter HE but have not done so.

In this chapter, I have drawn on the evidence collected from the 16 social networks investigated in the project involving interviews with about 120 people. The chapter investigates the role of IAG on individuals when they make their decisions on education and career pathways. It considers the experience that people had at school and explores career decision-making engaged in outside the school environment, and beyond the age of 18 years. It discussed the implications that the findings has for educational leaders and managers in schools and universities, as well as policy makers concerned with improving participation rates in all sectors of the community.