At its best, careers education is a critical part of a young person’s secondary and further education, beginning early and continuing until a learner leaves compulsory education or training. Real world learning, knowledge, inspiration, and advice is gained through multiple employer and workplace engagements, exposure to further and higher education, as well as through the curriculum and in one-to-one personal guidance.
Compass
Compass helps you understand how your provision’s career education and guidance compares to best practice. By completing a Compass evaluation, you can identify strengths and discover areas for improvement. Compass can support training providers to self-assess their provisions offer, and support them to track their progress to ensure they are offering a high-quality careers provision.
The language within Compass is designed to meet the Gatsby Benchmarks and follows statutory guidance for schools and colleges and therefore clarification may be needed around terminology for training providers to ensure its relevance in an appropriate and applicable way.
Please note: Where the term Careers Leader is used, this is a statutory role for schools and colleges and refers to a senior person who has strategic responsibility for careers within the institution.
The following Gatsby Benchmark guidance applies to ITPs when completing a Compass evaluation for Post 16:
- Benchmark 1 - A stable careers programme is an embedded programme of careers education and guidance that is known and understood by learners, parents/carers, teachers, employers, coaches, pastoral staff and other agencies. The programme should be progressive, inclusive, planned with intent and informed by data and evaluation.
It is recognised that an ITP careers strategy is more likely to be approved by board of directors/trustees instead of governors. In relation to evaluation of the careers programme, providers should consider how they evaluate the wider careers education offer of which Matrix accreditation may be a part. - Benchmark 4 – The training provider should create a centrally coordinated curriculum framework for careers which details careers learning outcomes. It should set out how learners on different courses can easily see the link between what they are learning, and the world of work and potential career options.
- Benchmark 5 – Where a learner is undertaking an apprenticeship, the employer will count as one employer encounter. Simulation/virtual activities can be used for additional encounters however they must include some form of interactive two-way conversation between the employer and the young person and meet the meaningful framework. Further examples of best practice can be found in Building good practice in careers education - Insights and guidance for training providers.
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Benchmark 6 – where a learner is undertaking an apprenticeship, the employer will count as one experience of the workplace. Further examples of how to provide additional experience of the workplace can be found in Building good practice in careers education - Insights and guidance for training providers.
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Benchmark 7 – Training providers should promote the full range of ‘next step’ learning opportunities for all their learners even where a pathway appears to have been decided, such as those on an apprenticeship, to ensure informed choices can be made on future pathways. This could include, Apprenticeships (including Higher/Degree apprenticeships), supported apprenticeships/inclusive apprenticeships for learners with SEND and training, a recruiter with a training element. Higher level technical education, e.g., foundation degrees, HNCs, HNDs, Bachelor’s degrees and training with their current employer for continued professional development (CPD).
- Benchmark 8 - Personal Guidance can be crucial in supporting a young person to be informed to take their best next step and is seen as best practice across many training providers. In the best examples, larger training providers employ career development professionals who are CDI registered and have completed Level 6 careers qualifications (e.g. the Qualification in Careers Guidance or the work based Diploma in Career Guidance and Development), subscribe to the 12 ethical principles in the CDI Code of Ethics and have a valid DBS check. For smaller training providers and those without their own careers professionals, this service can be accessed via the National Careers Service.