Every school and college should have an embedded programme of career education and guidance that is known and understood by students, parents, teachers, governors, employers and other agencies.
- Every school and college should have a stable, structured careers programme that has the explicit backing of the senior management team and has an identified and appropriately trained person responsible for it.
- The careers programme should be published on the school’s or college’s website in a way that enables students, parents, school or college staff and employers to access and understand it.
- The programme should be regularly evaluated with feedback from students, parents, school/college staff and employers as part of the evaluation process.
- Providers of technical (including higher technical) education, vocational education and apprenticeships should be given the opportunity to engage with students and their parents so that all routes at 16 and 18 are fully understood and so that students can make informed decisions at key transition points.
Resources to help achieve this benchmark:
| Resource | Description | Links & Downloads | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strategy - Careers Statutory Guidance | Careers guidance and access for education and training providers Statutory guidance for schools and guidance for further education colleges and sixth form colleges | Download |
| 2 | Strategy - National Careers Strategy (D & I) | Infographic on the key points of the National Careers Strategy and Statutory Guidance 2018 from Talentino Career Development Company | Download |
| 3 | Strategy - CEC Resource Directory | CEC Gatsby Benchmark 1 overview and links to resources | CEC Resource Directory |
| 4 | Strategy - CEC My Skills My Future (D & I) | This programme has been collated from resources across our partners and network to support young people with SEND under the 2 groups identified in the SEND toolkit. It contains lessons around employability skill development , employer projects and engagement videos all to support young people in their next steps. | Download |
| 5 | Strategy - The SEND Gatsby Benchmark Toolkit (D & I) | Practical Information and Guidance for Schools, Special Schools and Colleges | Download |
| 6 | Strategy - Building a Strategic Careers Plan | An example of a completed strategic careers plan | 1502_Model 1_Strategic Planning Guidance Document FINALKD.docx (live.com) |
| 7 | Strategy - Guidance on completing a strategic careers plan | Word document providing guidance and a range of templates to include strategic plan, SWOT analysis, objectives, action plan and year 7-13 careers programme. | Download |
| 8 | Strategy - CEC Annual Review of Careers Programme Checklist | Template for an annual review | Download |
| 9 | Strategy - Additional Evaluation Resources | Additional resources to support Career Leaders implement meaningful evaluation of the school Careers delivery including Annual Checklist, How to evaluate gathered information & an example of an evaluation of parental engagement. | Download |
| 10 | Strategy - Governor Presentation | If you are looking to get greater Career Governor support, then download the suggested template for a Career Governor Meeting. | Download |
| 11 | Strategy - BM1 How you evaluate your Careers Programme with Parents and Carers | A Leading The Way case study provided by Mel Avery, Keswick School. | Download |
| 12 | Strategy - Diversity & Inclusion Careers Health Check (D & I) | Inclusive (SEND) Careers Health Check Checklist | Download |
| 13 | Strategy - Compass for special schools guidance and questions (D & I) | This offline version of the Compass for special schools questions can help you to gather the information you need. The online tool allows you to save an evaluation and return to it later. At the end of the evaluation it will also show you a breakdown of your results by Gatsby Benchmark. | Download |
| 14 | Strategy - Feedback/Evaluation form templates | A suite of 5 downloadable Feedback/Evaluation questionnaires for use with Employers, Parents, Staff & Students. | Download |
| 15 | Strategy - Impact Evaluation Toolkit | Careers Leader Impact Evaluation Toolkit - This is a resource for Careers Leaders, and their colleagues, in schools and colleges to evaluate the impact of career programmes. It guides Careers Leaders on how to approach evaluation and covers the different types of impact evidence, how to use this insight to identify successes and challenges, engage colleagues and improve quality as part of a cycle of planning, delivering and reflection. The resource signposts readers to practical off-the-shelf tools as well as to further guidance on gathering impact evidence for those with time and interest. | Download |
| 16 | Preparing for OFSTED Webinar | Listen to Rachel Green from the Careers and Enterprise Company give an overview of how Careers fits into the Ofsted Inspection Framework as well as sharing the latest experiences from schools and colleges recently inspected. | Listen |
| 17 | The Role of a Careers Leader | A video describing the role of a Careers Leader at Queen Elizabeth School | Watch video |
| 18 | Careers at Lunesdale Trust | Cathy Harrison and team explain in this video how the Lunesdale Trust deliver their careers education programme | Watch video |
| 19 | SEND Careers Conference for Careers Leaders 2021 (D & I) | Including 28 presentations ranging from Effective Transitions, Supported Traineeships, Inclusive Apprenticeships, Increasing Employer Engagement, Developing Employability skills in Early Years and the MORE programme showcasing ‘Billy Mill’s inspirational life story’. Password to access sessions: TNT21 | Watch |
| 20 | Benchmark Brew - GB1 | Review the slides used within the Cumbria Career Hub BM Brew session delivered on 5 May 2022. It covered the sub benchmarks, evaluation etc | Download |
| 21 | NGA Careers Guide for Governing Boards | Providing an effective careers programme - the role of governing boards in the secondary phase | Download |
| 22 | Web Audit Resources - Parent/Carer Information | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
| 23 | Web Audit Resources - Employers Information | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
| 24 | Web Audit Resources - Staff/Teacher Information | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
| 25 | Web Audit Resources - Provider Access Statement | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
Subscribe & be updated
Sign up to our newsletter for information on news, events and more.