How can and should secondary school teachers be involved inbuilding students’ career knowledge and skills? A Delphi study ofthe expert community

Learning about careers and the world of work supports the increasedengagement and achievement of young people in secondary school,enabling them to make better choices about future pathways and work.While trained guidance counsellors have an important role to play insupporting this learning, most students have limited access to suchcounsellors, and some have none at all. Secondary school teachers arecentral to students’ lives and have the capacity to play an important role inbuilding their career knowledge, but there is little research on theircurrent role in career guidance or what it might ideally look like. Weconducted a Delphi study with 64 international career guidance expertson what an enhanced role in careers provision for secondary teachersmight look like, and what would need to be in place to make such a rolesuccessful. There was strong support for an enhanced role, noting thatsuch a role would require increased attention to careers in initial teachereducation, appropriate professional learning and curriculum materials,a whole-school approach to careers led by a career leader/guidancecounsellor with careers expertise, and changes to systemic priorities andaccountabilities. We discuss implications for policy, practice and research.