The Stable Careers Programme Gatsby Benchmark 1
AKA The SLT & Governors now have a duty to support the careers programme
This is the last of my commentaries on the 2025 Statutory Guidance for Careers, Whew it’s been a busy week. However, this is the one that pulls it all together. Benchmark one is the scaffolding that makes all of the benchmarks effective.
The Key points from the guidance
Every school, college and ITP should have an embedded programme of careers education and guidance that is known and understood by learners, parents and carers, staff, those in governance roles, employers and other agencies.
Every school, college and ITP should have a stable, structured careers programme that has the explicit backing of those in governance roles, the headteacher, leadership and the senior management team, and has an identified and appropriately trained careers leader responsible for it.
The careers programme should be tailored to the needs of learners, sequenced appropriately, underpinned by learning outcomes and linked to the whole-institution development plan. It should also set out how parents and carers will be engaged throughout.
The careers programme should be published on the institution’s website and communicated in ways that enable learners, parents and carers, staff and employers to access and understand it.
The programme should be regularly evaluated using feedback from learners, parents and carers, teachers, subject staff and other staff who support learners, careers advisers and employ
The Programme
If you’re from a teaching background you’ll probably call this the scheme of work. It covers every year group and just to make things that little bit tougher on the careers leader, all subjects along with all drop down days and activities. It can be in many forms, your institution may well have it’s preferred form. In a nutshell the programme needs to be:-
Underpinned by learning outcomes
Gives all learners a chance to achieve and thrive
Has clearly defined staff responsibilities
Is evaluated regularly to ensure effectiveness
Helps learners develop essential skills for future pathways
Enables learners to make informed decisions about their future pathways
Linked to the whole school development plan
Importance of SLT and Governors
I’ve mentioned this in the other blogs and make no apologies for it being accentuated again. As highlighted in the CEC document Understanding the role of the careers leader
A Careers Leader needs to have the authority to influence the development of strategy and implement the programme. Careers leadership is most effective where the Careers Leader is on the senior leadership team or has a clear reporting line to the senior leadership team. He or she should also have a link governor and report regularly to the governing body.
The statutory guidance goes further in saying :-
DfE expects careers guidance to have the support of senior leaders in every institution. Those in governance roles are responsible for: providing strategic oversight of the institution’s legal and contractual requirements for careers guidance holding senior leaders to account for delivering against those requirements
Headteachers, principals and those in governance roles should all be actively engaged in setting the direction for a whole-institution approach to careers guidance. They should all give explicit backing to the institution’s careers programme
I make no apology for copying directly from the guidance, it’s a vital point. However, I’ll add here a link to my 2 side primer The Gatsby Benchmarks for SLT which can be downloaded free from my Google Drive.
The role of the careers leader
As outlined in the excellent Careers Leader Handbook by Prof Tristram Hooley and my mentor and teacher David Andrews OBE the role of the careers leader is to Lead, Manage, coordinate and network. (I gain no financial benefit from recomending this book, IMHO it’s a vital purchase for all careers leaders)
So one can see it’s a huge role and one that can fit into the school’s leadership in many ways. The organisation MUST appoint a named careers leader but the guidance points out that the person appointed must be appropriately qualified to develop and direct the careers programme. Therefore the guidance recommends schools engage with the Careers and Enterprise Company’s free training programme which includes training for careers leaders and the wider education workforce including governors, SENDCos, teachers etc.
Engaging parents and carers
One of the major changes in this incarnation of the guidance is the vastly increased importance of the engagements of parents and carers. There should be a cleear approach to engaging parents and carers as they are one of the biggest influences on their child’s education and career decision making. They should be :-
Given relevant, current careers information
Supported to make use of current information
Encouraged to get involved in opportunities offered.
Again further training and resources are available via the CEC
Publishing information about the careers programme
Schools must include in their school website:-
The name and contact details of the careers lead
A summary of the careers programme
Details of how stakeholders including parents & children can access information about the careers programme
How the school measures and assesses the programme
The date by which the school will review the programme and information
Ok, that’s it from me. This is what I’ll be doing for the rest of today
