Rethinking Careers Education in Northern Ireland: Why Schools Must Adapt for Modern Work

Recently, as a business mentor on a start-up programme, I had a conversation that has stuck with me.

I spoke with a man in his early thirties exploring opening a coffee shop in Belfast. His career path was far from straightforward: he first studied pharmacy at Queen’s University Belfast, qualified as a pharmacist, worked in community pharmacy, then returned to university for a master’s in software development. Now a software developer, he's considering entrepreneurship due to AI advancements.

This journey was impressive but costly in time, money, and uncertainty. When asked about his early career decisions, he revealed that poor careers advice at school had shaped his path. We discovered we attended the same grammar school in Ballymena, and his experience sounded familiar: most advice revolved around filling out UCAS forms, with little discussion of interests, strengths, or diverse career options. He was even discouraged from pursuing his preferred courses.

A few weeks later, a colleague shared a similar story: her son found school careers advice poor and focused only on which A-levels would look best on university applications.

While two stories aren't scientific evidence, they reflect a widespread issue: careers advice in Northern Ireland schools, especially grammar schools, often feels outdated, narrow, and overly focused on university pathways.

In many schools, careers education has become university application support—guiding students through GCSEs, A-levels, UCAS forms, and personal statements. These skills are useful but don't help young people think seriously about their life goals.

This problem is partly structural. Schools operate in an accountability system that rewards academic results above all else. League tables, parental expectations, and institutional reputation revolve around GCSE and A-level performance and university entry rates. Success is narrowly defined: a school sending many pupils to prestigious universities is seen as successful. Pupils pursuing apprenticeships, technical training, or entrepreneurship may succeed in life but don't boost the school's league table position. Incentives push schools toward a single pipeline: strong grades, A-levels, and university entry.

However, the modern labour market no longer works linearly. In the past, career paths were predictable, with people often staying in one field for life. Today, it's common to have multiple careers—starting in one profession, retraining, moving into management, or starting a business later. The young man I met exemplifies this: pharmacy, software development, and now potential hospitality and entrepreneurship. This isn't failure; it's adaptation. Yet, careers guidance still treats career choice as a single decision made at seventeen, an increasingly unrealistic assumption.

In The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, economists Lynda Gratton and Andrew J. Scott argue that longer life expectancy will reshape work and life. Instead of a three-stage life (education, work, retirement), many will experience "multi-stage" lives, retraining and moving between careers. In this context, careers education should help students develop curiosity, resilience, and adaptability for a longer, more complex working life.

Another structural issue is that many careers teachers aren't specialists. In most schools, careers guidance is an additional responsibility for teachers with limited time and exposure to the rapidly changing labour market. The formal careers system in Northern Ireland, under the Department for the Economy and Careers Service Northern Ireland, is often accessed briefly or late in school, with most guidance happening within schools.

A cultural factor is rarely discussed: many teachers move from school to university, into teacher training, and back to school, spending their professional lives within education. While insightful, this can limit detailed guidance on careers in unfamiliar industries.

This issue may be acute in selective systems like Northern Ireland's grammar schools. Grammar schools excel at academic preparation, producing strong exam results and sending many students to university. But this focus narrows the definition of success. Pupils selected for academic ability are channelled toward degree-based professions like medicine, law, engineering, or accountancy—valuable but representing only a small part of the modern economy.

Northern Ireland's schools, especially grammar schools, are exceptionally good at preparing young people for exams. But exams alone aren't enough for a working life lasting fifty years or more. In a world where industries evolve rapidly and people retrain multiple times, careers education must evolve. As Gratton and Scott argue, the future belongs to those who can adapt, learn, and reinvent themselves.

Our schools shouldn't just prepare students to complete a UCAS application. They should prepare them for the longer, more unpredictable journey beyond it.