Short Abstract

Skills Development Scotland places young people’s voices at the centre of careers policy through collaborative research projects that inform service design and national agendas. Goal is to translate insights into meaningful impact across Scotland’s Careers Information and Guidance system.

Description

Many young people today navigate increasingly complex and uncertain pathways from education to employment. At Skills Development Scotland (SDS), we recognise that their voices must be central to shaping the policies and services designed to support them. This session will explore how SDS’s programme of research with young people has developed and grown to inform decision making, influence careers policy, drive continuous improvement across our SDS services as well as the wider Careers Information and Guidance (CIAG) landscape in Scotland.

We will outline the details of our research programme with young people which includes three projects:

• Pupil Voice

o Young People aged 11-14

o Young People Aged 14-18

• Young People Career Ambitions

o School leavers 16+

We will discuss how we have ensured that these research projects generate actionable insight, including:

• Building a mechanism for collaboration and a common evidence base;

• Analysis and reporting - replacing long reports with a range of accessible and engaging outputs such as infographics, visuals, briefing papers and webinars. We tailored our findings for diverse audiences including policymakers, practitioners, delivery teams, and internal colleagues.

• Dissemination and action – we worked colleagues and with partners and stakeholders involved in CIAG services to advocate for young people and influence services.

The session will outline examples and case studies of how research evidence is embedded within SDS decision-making and service transformation processes, influencing key areas such as service design, equality and inclusion, and practitioner training and development. Internally, we co-design research with service delivery and service design teams to ensure outputs meet operational evidence needs.

We will outline our approach to collaboration with the wider careers system which has underpinned our goal of achieving influence at the national level. We have created an external research group which includes Scottish Government, NHS Workforce development, SQA academics and partners and stakeholders across the economic development and CIAG system in Scotland.

We will use a case study approach to describe how we have achieved policy impact via our engagement with Scottish Government policy and analytical teams. We will illustrate how evidence and young people’s perspectives are shaping national policy agendas. We will also outline how we are shaping the work of other organisations through our research, such as NHS workforce planning.

We will reflect on the challenges of achieving impact, such as resourcing, balancing multiple stakeholder and partner requests, maintaining relevance in a fast-changing policy landscape, and tracking the longer-term influence of research.

Key takeaways will include:

the importance of co-design and collaboration in producing a shared, common evidence base

strategies for making research accessible and actionable and the value of visual storytelling in strengthening young people’s voices and translating research into impact.

being aware and informed on policy relevant and emerging issues/themes so that these can be integrated into research projects.

How the Session Will Be Delivered/Format

This 20-minute presentation will combine practical examples, case studies, and reflection on what we have learned about translating evaluation findings into impact.