Career Education and Guidance and Race (In)Equality in England

Abstract

In this chapter I explore the links between careers education and guidance, neoliberalism and race inequality through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Employing the example of careers guidance policy for secondary schools in England, I analyse recent government guidelines from the Department for Education. Drawing on insights from CRT, a theory of structural racism which originated in the US but which has been employed by education scholars in the UK to examine the way in which racial inequality is maintained by education policy, I argue that career guidance policy in England fuels neoliberal race inequality.English career guidance policy does this in a number of ways: it promotes neoliberal narratives of colour blindness and meritocracy; it promotes the myth that young people's barriers to success on the labour market are due to low aspirations, stereotypical thinking and a lack of resilience and hard work, rather than racial structures and white supremacy; it calls up longstanding stereotypes of cultural deficiency among ethnic minority populations; and it devalues minority groups' social and cultural capital and legacy of resistance to racism in the education system and labour market. I conclude by considering what career guidance policy and practice might look like if it were informed by insights from CRT. Neoliberalism and education, learning and workWe are living in neoliberal times. Since the oil crisis of 1973 and the global recession it provoked, 'the new capitalism ' (Sennett, 2006) has transformed economic and social conditions. Neoliberal policies promote economic competitiveness rather than the welfare of citizens as the primary task of governments. Neoliberalism transfers wealth from the poorest to