Check the quality of careers information

What this is really about

Careers information can be accurate yet incomplete. Check authorship, date, regional scope, commercial interests and whether claims about daily work are evidenced.

Your next steps

Work through these steps at your own pace. Good career decisions come from concrete comparisons, not from finding one perfect answer.

• Prefer primary and official sources.

• Compare at least two perspectives.

• Mark uncertainty and regional differences.

• Record the next review date.

Questions for a useful conversation

Take these questions to a careers adviser, teacher, family member or apprenticeship employer.

• Who benefits from this framing?

• Where and when does it apply?

• Whose voice is missing?

Check an opportunity at five levels

Formal validity is only the first level. Then check curriculum coverage, real supervision, working conditions and accessible complaint routes. Add outcomes: do learners stay, complete, develop competence and progress meaningfully? No single metric is enough; interpret it in the context of the audience, occupation and location.

Record whether each claim comes from a contract, official source, employer conversation or one learner’s experience. This preserves serious warning signs without generalising improperly from one case.

A justified quality rating

Never assign red, amber or green alone. Every rating needs evidence, an open question and a next verification method. A missing document may be resolvable; contradictory accounts or missing safe supervision require a different response.

• Standard, contract and accountable body.

• Training plan, protected learning and task coverage.

• Qualification, availability and conduct of supervision.

• Hours, safety, equal treatment and support.

• Feedback, complaints, completion and progression.