Earlier this year, sixteen experts in the field of careers and developers of digital careers tools attended a labour market information (LMI) workshop, hosted by the Department for Education (DfE).

The aims of the workshop were to:

• Inform and update delegates about the LMI for All service.
• Provide a forum for careers experts and developers to share their views and experience.
• Encourage the development of user-friendly careers tools, which can be used in a tailored way with people who are less confident using digital tools.
• Explore how the LMI for All service and DfE could better support the needs of current and prospective developers.

The workshop started with Sally-Anne Barnes and Jenny Bimrose from the Institute for Employment Research (IER) at the University of Warwick giving a presentation about the LMI for All service. They explained the role of LMI in careers education and guidance before providing an overview of LMI for All. For all delegates, this was an opportunity to find out about the datasets which are used and upcoming activities. After a question and answer session, delegates discussed how they currently use LMI and how they could start or continue to use LMI for All.

After lunch, Rebecca Towner, Medway Youth Trust spoke passionately about the careers information that students are accessing, the issues they face and what changes can be made to meet their needs. From further discussions after the talk, the group agreed that careers tools should provide real life examples and context, whilst having a clear audience and encourage exploration. The group also agreed developers should be aware of avoiding confusing language and of creating online only resources, as this may limit who can use the tools.

Delegates provided useful feedback about how LMI for All and DfE can better support them to develop and use high-quality careers information tools. The feedback given at the workshop has been used to inform the re-design of the new LMI for All website to make it as accessible and user-friendly as possible and improve IER’s stakeholder engagement.

Blog post written by Amy Hams from the Careers Policy Unit, Department for Education