STRATEGY SPOTLIGHT
Change in the proportion of schools/colleges fully achieving
each benchmark, among repeat Compass submissions
First submission
Most recent submission
A stable careers programme
Learning from career and labour market information
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experience of workplaces
Encounters with further and higher education
Personal guidance
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
Source: State of the Nation 2019, The Careers & Enterprise Company
For Armstrong, extra money would enable
careers leaders to offer a wider range of
innovative, immersive activities. He cites
Medical Mavericks as an example of an
innovative organisation available to support
schools’ careers programmes.
Aiming to inspire the next generation of
medics and scientists by taking real medical
and sports science equipment into schools,
colleges and events all over the UK, its health
experts provide engaging activities (such as
mocking up an operating theatre), giving young
people “a tantalising taste” of a career in
healthcare, “to drive their ambition and inspire
them to find out more”. “I’d love to do more
immersive careers work like that,” he admits.
“Having a budget was associated with
achieving a higher number of benchmarks.”
Joyce is confident that “protected funding”
for careers leadership, especially to offer
personal guidance “would undoubtedly
be beneficial”.
Thain admits that funding for careers support
is “challenging, given the current climate”. But
she adds that headteachers are “now prioritising
adequately funding and resourcing the role of
careers leader to lead this work”.
young people who have a special educational
need or disability, and Mowbray caters for pupils
with a wide range of needs including moderate,
severe and complex learning difficulties and
autistic spectrum conditions.
“We assume that children will continue their
learning, but it’s not always with that pure
academic focus,” he says. “Being a valuable
contributor to society is important for us.”
The school has embraced the Gatsby
Benchmarks and has a farm and wildlife area,
providing students with farming skills – highly
sought-after by employers in this largely rural
county. It also has its own shop, to offer
experience of the retail sector to its pupils, while
If a few people
are careers
ambassadors,
everyone else
can have a
tendency to say
‘it’s not my
problem’
local authority internship placements are being
explored as another way of boosting students’
employability. “All this is part of our routine
curriculum because we believe it’s the right
thing to do,” says Wilford. “It gives pupils the
chance “to get that foot in the door” with future
employers “and show that they can”.
He believes that connecting a school’s ethos
and curriculum to careers support can be
replicated within mainstream settings (in which
he previously worked for 20 years). “We are
finding out what the children can do, what
interests them and what they might want to do
in future, as opposed to delivering an abstract
curriculum,” he explains.
FUTURE TALENTED // 17