A Stable Careers Programme
Every school, special school, college or provider should have an embedded programme of careers education and guidance that is known and understood by learners, parents and carers, staff, governors, employers and other agencies.
What good looks like
- Every school, special school, college and provider should have a stable, structured careers programme that has the explicit backing of governors, the headteacher and the senior management team, and has an identified and appropriately trained Careers Leader responsible for it.
- The careers programme should be tailored to the needs of learners, sequenced appropriately, underpinned by learning outcomes and linked to the whole-school development plan. It should also set out how parents and carers will be engaged throughout.
- The careers programme should be published on the school, special school, college and provider's website and communicated in ways that enable learners, parents and carers, staff and employers to access and understand it.
- The programme should be regularly evaluated using feedback from learners, parents and carers, teachers and other staff who support learners, Careers Advisers and employers to increase its impact.
The resources below are designed to support you with Gatsby Benchmark 1. To explore all of the Gatsby Benchmarks in greater depth, download the toolkit that best aligns with your setting.
Funded Careers Leader training via The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) supports with accelerated and meaningful achievement of the Gatsby Benchmarks
Develop a Strategic Careers Plan to ensure that the careers programme has clear backing from the leadership team and integrate into the institutions broader development plan, aligning it with key goals and priorities to give it the necessary authority and resources. Access the Understanding how to create a Strategic Careers Plan resource to support with this.
Develop a careers programme that is responsive to learner needs, with provision sequenced progressively and underpinned by learning outcomes. Access the Understanding how to develop progressive and responsive careers provision (Careers Learning Journeys) resource to support with this.
Make sure everyone knows which way you’re heading – ensure all stakeholders understand your careers programme by using these careers learner journey roadmap templates to present it in a visual way
Gather input from learners, parents and carers, teachers, other staff, Careers Advisers and employers on how well the careers programme is working. Use the CEC guidance on survey creation and access the survey template resources to easily capture stakeholder feedback. Review the feedback and data to continuously improve the careers programme. Access the Understanding how to effectively evaluate your careers provision resource to support with this.
Support headteachers, senior leaders and governors to understand the strategic value of careers provision. Get started today with your Careers impact internal leadership review.
Use the handy Parental Engagement Checklist as a guide to establish and maintain effective parental engagement in your setting. You can effectively record parental engagement in Compass+. Read this Help Centre article to find out how.
Ensure that the Careers Leader and all other relevant staff, including SEND teams, access the free training offer from the CEC.
Education Leaders and Governors:
Education Leaders and Governors: For further information on each Benchmark, to support you in your role, please see the Education Leader, Secondary and College Governor Guides.
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Careers Leader training
Transform your careers programme and develop your skills as a Careers Leader to strategically embed careers in the curriculum.
Careers guidance and access for education and training providers
In this resource you can find the link to the Statutory Guidance and the CEC at a glance guides for schools and college leaders and training providers.
Compass Evaluation
A Compass evaluation enables education settings to quickly and easily evaluate their careers activity against the eight Gatsby Benchmarks.
The Compass evaluation feature was built in partnership with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to help practitioners easily discover their education setting's strengths and find areas for improvement.
The Compass evaluation questions have had some small updates for 26/27 and updated question by question guidance is coming soon to reflect these changes.
Interests and Destinations: Learner Form and Leaver Survey
The Learner Form is a copy of all the data fields from the Interests & Destinations section of a Learner profile on Compass+. The Leaver Questionnaire can help you support learners make successful transitions, and it also records consent for long-term tracking.
Supporting learners at risk of NEET
We have collated key resources and guidance that you can use to effectively support learners who are most at risk of not having a positive destination.
OnTrack+ Practice Guide
OnTrack+ has been designed to help educators identify emerging support needs for learners in Years 7-11, strengthening sustained learner engagement and post-16 transition.
OnTrack+ is available through Compass+, for eligible settings with a compatible MIS connection.
This guidance outlines how to embed an evidence‑informed process for early identification and intervention, ensuring learners receive the right support at the right time while maintaining robust, responsible data practice.
Collecting Intended Destinations
Find out why collecting destination data is so important, and learn about some effective methods Careers Leaders use to capture this information.
Post-16 Changes: What you need to know
Created by the CDI in partnership with Amazing Apprenticeships, these resources explain the Government's recently announced changes to post-16 pathways. The first new courses are expected to launch in September 2027, with further courses being introduced through to 2030/31. Explore everything you need to know about what these changes mean for young people.
Parental Engagement Checklist
We have designed a handy checklist that you can use as a guide to establish and maintain effective parental engagement across your setting.
For settings that have connected their Management Information System (MIS) to Compass+, read the Help Centre article to find out how to use the Activities section effectively to record parental engagement.
Your Child’s Future – a questionnaire for parents and carers
The Careers & Enterprise Company, supported by the Gatsby Foundation, designed Your Child's Future (YCF) to help education settings understand parents’ and carers’ knowledge, confidence and awareness of careers.
Future Skills Questionnaire
The Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ) is a tool to measure learners’ career-readiness. FSQ covers key aspects of knowledge, skills and attitudes that are important for successful transitions. To access FSQ, eligible education settings must connect a compatible Management Information System (MIS) to Compass+.
Support students and key stakeholders to understand all pathways
We have brought together a range of key resources and support to help ensure that students, staff, parents and carers are informed about and understand the full range of education and career pathways available at ages 16 and 18. Explore these resources for clear, at-a-glance overviews of post-16 and post-18 options, including academic, technical and vocational routes.