Benchmark 1: A Stable Careers Programme

Every school 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.

Key points

  • A planned, progressive and embedded careers programme

  • A school or college website that provides accessible careers information, that meets the needs of students, parents/carers, employers and teachers

  • Schools and colleges use feedback from all four identified groups to improve the effectiveness and impact of their careers programme

Website

The ‘Careers Guidance and Access for Education and Training Providers‘ statutory guidance and Careers guidance’ states that schools and colleges should publish information about the careers programme to help pupils, parents, teachers and employers ‘understand the offer’.

From September 2018 schools and colleges must publish:

  • The name, email address and telephone number of their Career Leader

  • A summary of the careers programme, including details of how learners, parents, teachers and employers may access information about the careers programme

  • How they measure and assesses the impact of the careers programme on their learners

  • The date of their next review of the information published

  • In addition, under section 42B of the Education Act 1997 schools should include a policy statement on provider access, otherwise known as the Baker Clause

Students

Students need to be able to view the programme they will follow and the opportunities it provides for them.  They need clear information on the options processes at key transition points and guidance on and links to helpful websites that provide:

  • Careers and labour market information (National Careers Service, icould)

  • Information on post 16-options (apprenticeships, local college and training provider websites)

  • Information on Post-18 options (UCAS and other higher education websites)

Parents

Parents need access to all the information available to students so they can support their child in their decision-making, along with clear concise explanation of the student information provided and of the opportunities available to them to find out more about career choices and options.

Employers

Employers should be made aware that the school/college welcome their support in providing employer encounters and ways in which they can support careers learning of students e.g. work experience, work visits, speed networking, etc.

The careers programme should include all these employer encounter opportunities. 

Teachers

Teachers need to be able to access the careers programme and may find it useful to use some of the website links provided for students and parents/carers.   The guidance states that information for teachers needs to be on the school website. 

Increasingly school and colleges are identifying careers learning opportunities in subject schemes of learning and all subject teachers need access to these.  There is a range of resources available to help subject teachers develop careers learning through their subject areas.

Evaluation

Schools and colleges need to continuously evaluate the impact of the careers programme, analyse destinations data, track student progression after they leave school or college and take into account student, parent/carer, employer and teacher views.

Why?

Students, parents, teachers and employers should be given the opportunity to provide regular and systematic evaluative feedback on their participation in activities via questionnaires, surveys and focus groups. This feedback is then used to inform decisions about the future development of the programme and feeds into the whole-school process of evaluation.

Evaluating the impact of the careers programme, in-depth leaver/exit surveys and focus groups can help gain an insight into the effectiveness of  careers programmes.  Students can be given the opportunity to reflect on how well they believe the five or seven years of careers learning has prepared them for the next stage of their career pathway.

How?

There are many ways that a school can gather feedback from all it’s audiences, such as:

  • Quantitative analysis using a survey through tools, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms

  • Qualitative analysis through student voice groups

  • Enterprise Adviser to meet and discuss the careers programme with representative groups of students