Secondary schools will be expected to report their progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks for careers provision at least once a year under planned changes to the statutory guidance, the Department for Education has said.
The department has also revealed that the government will publish a Strategic Action Plan for Careers in 2024, and create a digital “front door” this autumn to make it easier “to navigate and source information and advice on careers and opportunities”.
The DfE made the announcements in its response to the Commons Education Select Committee report on careers education, information, advice and guidance.
In its response, the department rejected proposals by the committee to pilot a programme where careers advisers would be funded directly through the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC).
The DfE said that it was not appropriate to ring-fence funding in this way and that schools and colleges were best placed to determine their own arrangements for working with careers advisers.
Strategic Action Plan for Careers
The government said today that it intends to publish a Strategic Action Plan for Careers in 2024, which will allow it to set out clear, measurable outcomes and dates by which these should be achieved.
The DfE said that the plan will “underline our intention to cement the progress already made across the careers system and further support continuous improvement”.
The committee had also recommended in its report that the DfE should either work with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that the National Careers Service website has content appropriate and accessible to young people under 18 or create an alternative to the site.
In response, the DfE said that it was due to establish a single starting point for careers and skills in autumn 2023 that it called a digital “front door” to help young people “find the trusted impartial careers and skills information that they need“.
And it said it was also in the process of making the National Careers Service website more accessible, increasing content that is more appropriate to young people.
In addition, the committee advised the DfE to update its statutory guidance to make reporting progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks through the Compass+ evaluation tool compulsory for all secondary schools and colleges.
The Gatsby Benchmarks provide a framework for organising and assessing the careers provision at schools and colleges.
While the DfE said that the Gatsby Benchmarks were not designed as an accountability framework, it agreed that it should update the careers statutory guidance and set a “clear expectation” that all secondary schools and colleges should self-report progress against the benchmarks at least once during every academic year.
It said it would recommend the Compass+ tool for this.
The government response to the committee’s report also revealed that the CEC is to establish a training module for special educational needs and disabilities coordinators (Sendcos) this autumn.
The DfE has said that the training will demonstrate how the role of the Sendco and the careers leader can better align to support all aspects of a young person with SEND through their careers education programme, including links to the education, health and care plan process and key stages of transition.
Education committee chair Robin Walker said that the committee welcomed the government’s response and that it looked forward to ministers following up on the proposal of a national platform for work experience placements, both virtual and in-person.
