Study title: The role of parents and carers in providing careers guidance and how they can be better supported

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Investigators: Dr Sally-Anne Barnes, Professor Jenny Bimrose and Professor Alan Brown, Dr Sally Wright, Dr John Gough, University of Warwick

Introduction

You are invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide, you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take the time to read the following information carefully. Talk to others about the study if you wish. Please ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part.

Who is organising and funding the study?

The University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research will undertake this study with the support of the Gatsby Foundation and the JP Morgan Chase Foundation.

What is the study about?

The aim of this study is to understand how parents and carers can be better supported by schools and colleges to feel more informed and confident with their advice to their children about their career choices. Career guidance is important for young people making informed decisions about their educational and learning pathways. Ensuring that young people have access to career guidance and up-to-date information is essential, but parents and carers also need this information in order to be informed. The study will examine evidence from the UK and internationally, as well as speak to those involved in supporting parents and carers.

What would taking part involve?

If you are willing to take part after reading this information sheet, please complete the consent form included and return to the named researcher who contacted you. At this point, your name, telephone number and email address will be requested for the interview, but this will not be passed on to any third parties: it will be kept securely in a password-protected folder at the University of Warwick for the purposes of this study and will only be accessible to the named researchers. We will then contact you to arrange the interview to ask you about your own views on the research topic. The researcher will call you on the date and time agreed. The interview should last 45-60 minutes and will be recorded if you agree. Recordings will be stored securely and used by the researcher to write up a detailed summary of your interview (with quotes) and deleted at the end of the study. If you would prefer not to be recorded, the interviewer will take notes during the interview.

Do I have to take part?

No, participation in this study is voluntary and choosing to take part or not to take part will not affect you in any way. You can also choose to withdraw your participation at any time, without giving a reason by contacting one of the research team. Further details about withdrawing from the study are provided later.

What are the possible benefits of taking part in this study?

Your views and experiences will contribute to the evidence we are collecting identifying good and interesting practice with parents and carers, determining what approaches works, barriers to support, as well as identifying new ideas and initiatives. It will help to identify interventions and approaches that could be developed and piloted within schools and colleges to support and engage parents and carers in career guidance activities.

What are the possible disadvantages, side effects or risks, of taking part in this study?

There are no anticipated disadvantages, side effects, risks, and/or discomforts of taking part in this study as the interview focuses solely on your own experiences.

Expenses and payments

There will be no expenses or payments available for participating in the interview.

Will my taking part be kept confidential?

We will not report your name or anything that would make you personally identifiable in any outputs from the research and all best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in any publications are anonymised. All participants will be given a pseudonymised title for the purposes of reporting, and any identifying information will be removed to ensure confidentiality. For example, the report may describe interview participants in the following way: ‘Practitioner 1, North East’. Your interview data will be stored safely in a restricted access folder at the University of Warwick and will only be accessible by the research team. Contact details will not be stored in the same file as your interview data. The IER and its data storage procedures are fully compliant with GDPR. Please see the privacy notice below for more details about the personal data we will collect from you and how it will be used.

What will happen to the data collected about me?

As a publicly-funded organisation, the University of Warwick has to ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally-identifiable information from people who have agreed to take part in study. This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, such as this, we will use your data in the ways needed to conduct this study.

We will be using information from your interview to inform and build on evidence we are collecting during the study. We will act as the data controller for this study and are committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with data protection legislation. Interview recordings will be kept until the end of the study and then securely deleted. An anonymised summary of your interview will be kept for 10 years and reviewed to determine whether it needs to be retained or whether it can be deleted.

Your rights to access, change or move your information are limited, as we need to manage your information in specific ways in order for the research to be reliable and accurate. The University of Warwick has in place policies and procedures to keep your data safe. These data may also be used for future research, including impact activities following review and approval by an independent Research Ethics Committee and subject to your consent at the outset of this research study. For further information, please refer to the University of Warwick Research Privacy Notice or by contacting the GDPR at warwick dot ac dot uk.

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on being part of the study?

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Refusal to participate will not affect you in any way. You can also choose to withdraw your participation at the time of the interview or up to two weeks after your interview, without giving a reason. Please note withdrawing participation is separate to withdrawing data that has already been collected during the study. If you withdraw from the study, it will often not be possible to withdraw your data, which has already been collected after it has been anonymised. To safeguard your rights, we will use the minimum personally-identifiable information possible and keep the data secure in line with the University’s Information and Data Compliance policies.

In order to withdraw, please contact Sally-Anne dot Barnes at warwick dot ac dot uk, or telephone number +44(0)24 76574397.

What will happen to the results of the study?

The results of the study will be published in a final report. Peer-reviewed articles may also be prepared for publication in an academic journal. If you do not wish for your data to be included in an academic publication, please indicate this while completing the consent statements or at the time of the interview.

Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by the University of Warwick’s Humanities and Social Science Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC). HSSREC approval was given on 13 September 2019, Reference number: 160/18-19.

Who should I contact if I want further information?

If you have any questions about any aspect of the study, or your participation in it, not answered by this participant information sheet, please contact, Sally-Anne dot Barnes at warwick dot ac dot uk, or telephone number +44(0)24 76574397.

Who should I contact if I wish to make a complaint?

Any complaint about the way you have been dealt with during the study or any possible harm you might have suffered will be addressed. Please address your complaint to the person below, who is a senior University of Warwick official entirely independent of this study:

Head of Research Governance, Research & Impact Services, University House, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 8UW

Email: researchgovernance at warwick dot ac dot uk Tel: +44(0)24 76 522746

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter: DPO at warwick dot ac dot uk. If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Thank you for taking the time to read this participant information.