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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Amazing Apprenticeships Resources
Amazing Apprenticeships is a leading organisation in the education sector, working with schools, colleges and employers, tackling misconceptions and promoting the benefits of apprenticeships and technical education.
They work closely with the Department for Education and a wide range of other partners and stakeholder organisations in England and internationally, to ensure that more individuals and businesses can access the benefits of apprenticeships.
Animated film explaining what apprenticeships are and their benefits, watch here!
All About Me
Developed by Green Corridor College this resource is part of the My Skills My Future (MSMF) programme.
AET and Tesco: Careers in English resources
These resources have been created by curriculum subject experts from Academies Enterprise Trust through collaboration with Tesco, to engage and support students in learning by placing teaching points in the context of the world of work.
AET - Let’s Talk Futures
This resource was created by AET to equip parents to have informed career conversations with their child by providing ongoing access to resources, guidance and key sources of information that will support them.
Advancing Access Initiative
Help more of your students progress into the UK’s most competitive universities by using these free CPD resources, developed by the Russell Group.
Understanding how to effectively evaluate your careers provision
This resource helps Careers Leaders effectively evaluate their careers provision using feedback from learners, parents and carers, subject staff and other staff who support learners (including Careers Advisers) to increase its impact. This resource also supports Careers Leaders to:
- Collect, maintain and use accurate data for each learner on their aspiration, intended and immediate education, and training or employment destinations to inform personalised support (Benchmark 3)
- Use longer-term data (including destinations data) as part of their evaluation process (Benchmark 3)