Skills Development Scotland (SDS) plays a central role in helping young people in Scottish secondary schools develop clear, long-term career plans by combining in-school advisers, digital tools, curriculum links and employer engagement.
Every state secondary school has access to SDS careers advisers who deliver personalised career information, advice and guidance (CIAG), helping pupils from S1–S6 build career management skills and make informed choices about courses, work experience and next steps.
SDS’s online platform My World of Work gives pupils self-directed tools to explore occupations, map skills, create CVs and search courses and apprenticeships. These complement SDS’s face-to-face guidance that supports sustained planning across school years.
In practice SDS supports long-term planning by: (1) embedding career management skills in school activity so young people learn to research sectors and plan transitions; (2) offering impartial one-to-one guidance to align strengths, learning and labour-market demand; and (3) Working with partners to link pupils with employers and apprenticeship pathways so plans are realistic and evidence-based; (4) providing resources for teachers and parents to reinforce planning at home and in the classroom.
Crucially for Scotland’s climate ambitions, SDS has explicit strategies to align careers and skills with the transition to a low-carbon economy: its Climate Change Strategy, Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan and a recent progress report set out actions to grow green skills, influence training provision and support a just transition so learners can access jobs in renewables, retrofit, nature restoration and circular economy sectors.
This work links school career planning directly to Scotland’s legally binding net-zero target for greenhouse gases by 2045, helping ensure young people can prepare for and access the opportunities created by that transition.
By combining school-based advisers, digital resources, employer links and a green-skills focus, SDS helps pupils craft resilient, future-aware career plans that support both individual success and Scotland’s journey to net zero.
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