Career guidance and social exclusion: a cautionary tale

The relationship of career guidance to public-policy interventions designed to address social exclusion is examined. The nature and origin of the conc ept of social exclusion are analysed, and the roles of career guidance in r esponse to it are reviewed, particularly in relation to young people who ha ve dropped out of formal education, training and employment or are at risk of doing so. It is suggested that such strategies need to take account of t he subjective frame of reference of such young people, including understand ing the work in which they are already engaged within the informal economie s. The issues raised by such considerations provide a rationale for the par tnership arrangements-with, for example, youth workers and community mentor s-which have characterised these strategies. Within this context, the devel opment of the new Connexions Service is critically examined. It is argued t hat it contains fundamental design flaws, from which a number of problems h ave stemmed. It is concluded that while career guidance has an important co ntribution to make in strategies to address social exclusion, this should b e secondary to its role in supporting individual progression and developmen t within the societal structures to which inclusion is being sought.