Quo vadis?

My eldest grandson is just starting his last year at school. Next summer he will take his A-levels, and then...? He knows what subjects he enjoys, and what subjects he is good at, but translating that into a career plan is quite another matter. I was surprised and concerned when I asked him what his careers adviser at school had to say, to be told that there wasn't really any such person. Apparently as a group they get occasional very general careers advice - which really amounts to no more than common sense - but there is no real attempt to provide information or advice on a personal level tailored to the needs of individual students. And then coincidentally, there was an article in my paper the other day quoting a survey which found that some two-thirds of teachers considered that getting their students good exam results was their job, and that preparing them for life after school was "not central to their remit". Regular readers of this blog (are there any?) will know that I have little time for targets, but it seems to me that if you want to measure the worth of a school, then rather than what percentage of pupils get how many of what GCSEs or A levels, a better indicator would be what percentage of pupils go on to get a worth-while job. Of course, like any target, it would be subject to manipulation, but perhaps it would concentrate schools' minds on just why they are doing what they are doing, and on liaising with employers so as to to turn out employable youngsters with some idea of where they are going.