This report is concerned with the key transition support system of school-based career education. We argue that long-standing deficiencies in career education require a new framework to address young people’s needs. We discuss exploratory research with two schools on how career management competencies can be put into practice to provide this new framework. We suggest that career management competencies have the potential to be a transformative “core service” in career education. They can re-invigorate the direction of schools and sharpen the focus for the New Zealand Curriculum principles and vision of young people becoming confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.

The Research Programme on Education Employment Linkages is a collaborative project of the AERU Research Centre of Lincoln University and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research in Wellington. Both organisations gratefully acknowledge substantial funding support from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology that has made the research possible. We are also grateful for ongoing support and guidance from our External Reference Group, nominated by the Ministry of Youth Development, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education, the Department of Labour, Te Puni Kōkiri, the Tertiary Education Commission and Career Services.