On Friday 5 January the government updated its statutory careers guidance for schools (external link)
The updates to this document are designed to bring it in line with the government’s new careers strategy (external link)
built around the so-called “Gatsby Benchmarks”. Some of the “core” initiatives schools are now required to provide as part of this new initiative include:
- a “stable” programme for careers provision, including a published strategy which demonstrates “how the school is responding to meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks”;
- provision for all pupils, by the age of 14, to “have “accessed and used information about career paths and the labour market to inform their decisions on study options”;
- a careers programme which addresses individual pupil needs, including taking into account the needs of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those with specific barriers to success (such as disadvantaged young people);
- an approach which integrates careers guidance into the curriculum offer;
- regular “encounters with employers and employees” and “further and higher education” providers;
- the opportunity for all pupils to access “personal guidance interviews with a qualified careers adviser whenever significant study or career choices are being made”;
- the requirement to have a named individual as the designated “careers leader” in each school by September 2018.
As part of this initiative, those governing need to ensure that the school has published a careers programme, and provide “clear advice and guidance to the headteacher on which he/she can base a strategy for careers education and guidance which meets the school’s legal requirements”. The government also expects governing boards to ensure that the careers strategy “is developed in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks and informed by the requirements set out” in the statutory guidance document.