The role of brokerage within career guidance: a literature review

This paper reports on the findings from a review of the literature relating to the brokerage role of career guidance services. The review initially identified over 15,000 papers for possible inclusion and a systematic process was applied which sifted these down to only the highest quality research papers with direct relevance to the research question: How is effective brokerage between education and employers organised?The review found that much of the research in this area is based on organisations with a sole remit for brokering the links between employers and education. Their funding and delivery models were, in most cases, quite different to that of the current National Careers Service. The studies also focused on the perceived impact and benefits of the links between employers and educational institutions, with rather less evidence on the pre-conditions for such links or on the ways in which they could best be engendered and supported. Nonetheless, the research highlighted the wide-ranging benefits these links can have for both parties, with impacts on: • Schools, colleges and pupils such as: improved motivation and attainment; contextualisation of learning; reduction in NEET; greater understanding of industries and educational pathways; clarification of career aspirations; and improved transitions into further and higher education, training or the workplace. • Employers such as: the development of company personnel; the building of a positive reputation for organisations and the contribution to business recruitment strategies. Based on this evidence, the review provides some summary guidance on the factors that the National Careers Service should consider in the development of a brokerage role between education institutions and employers.