1. State of the Nation Policy and practice in careers and enterprise 18th October, Pavilions of Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Tristram Hooley

2. The Careers and Enterprise Company: Our work
Enterprise Advisers
Mentoring
Investment Fund
Research
Enabled at the local level

3. Towards a career strategy?
Brexit
‘Just about managing’ (JAM)
T-levels
Higher education reform
Industrial strategy
Careers strategy
New statutory guidance

4. History
2014 – The Gatsby Foundation publish the good career guidance report – The 8 Benchmarks are proposed. The benchmarks become popular with policy makers and schools
CEC in collaboration with Gatsby develop COMPASS the career benchmarking tool
2017 – State of the Nation report uses the first year of Compass data for the most thorough understanding of careers and enterprise provision in schools to date
2017 – A rebooted compass tool is launched (more on this
The Gatsby benchmarks became popular and schools were informally auditing their provision. We created the compass tool for them.

5. Good career guidance
Summarises existing evidence and frames them as eight benchmarks.
Presents it in a way that can be understood by policy makers and acted on by school leaders.
Has achieved wide support amongst policy actors and practitioners alike.
The influential 2014 report

6. The Benchmarks – a quick recap
1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning and careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

7. The Compass tool

8. State of the Nation 2017
Based on responses from 578 secondary schools gathered through the Compass self-assessment tool in 2016/ IThe scope of the data is broadly comparable with data collected as part of the original Gatsby Good Career Guidance research in 2014 allowing us to see how provision has changed over time.

9. Number of benchmarks achieved by schools
Average = 1.87 benchmarks out of 8
But Schools are achieving around 50% of the questions that contribute to the benchmarks.
Currently conducting case studies with the small number of really high achievers.

10. How is York & North Yorkshire doing?
8 schools in York and North Yorkshire completed Compass last year (out of c.70). On average these 8 schools were better than the national average. They hit 2.5 benchmarks (national average is 1.87). But, we would be able to provide much better data if more schools engaged with the tool.

11. Benchmarks achieved, partially achieved and not achieved - nationally, n=578
But on this measure we can see much more progress. Some benchmarks are easier to achieve than others

12. Progress since 2014
In 2014 schools achieved an average of 1.34 benchmarks In 2016/17 this was 1.87
16 schools even reached 6, 7 or even 8 which we didn’t see in We have 4 case studies in the report from these schools.

13. An example question?
You can see from here what is achievable an what is more difficult. But perhaps what is more, there are some easy wins here. 60% of schools could get a little bit closer by providing some information about their programme on their website.

14. What matters?
No relationship between the characteristics of the school or the labour market in which it is situated and the number of Benchmarks.
There is a relationship between the number of Benchmarks achieved and the region in which the school is located.
There is a relationship between schools’ performance against the Benchmarks and whether they have a sixth form.
There is a relationship between getting a higher Ofsted grade and meeting more indicators that make up the Benchmarks.
There is a relationship between schools which hold the Quality in Careers Standard and those which meet more Benchmarks and sub-Benchmarks.

15. 5 ways to get your school moving in the right direction
Start early (e.g. year 7).
Engage all stakeholders, including parents and employers.
Update your website with information about your careers programme.
Join the Enterprise Adviser Network.
Complete Compass every year.

16. COMPASS (www.compass-careers.org.uk)
Its new, it’s slick, it’s intuitive. Lots of user testing. You can save and return, update old surveys.

17. 5 substantial initiatives to improve your programme
Develop careers content in all subjects, not just PSHE.
Take advantage of labour market resources and make them available to all students and their parents.
Provide ALL students with information on ALL routes.
Provide experiences of workplaces for all students.
Adapt existing systems to track destinations and careers and enterprise activities.

18. References
Gatsby Charitable Foundation. (2014). Good Career Guidance. London: Gatsby Charitable Foundation. The Careers & Enterprise Company. (2017). State of the Nation 2017: Careers and Enterprise Provision in England’s Schools. London: The Careers & Enterprise Company.

19. Contact details
Tristram Hooley Director of Research, The Careers & Enterprise Company Also at