The eight Gatsby Benchmarks outlined by the Gatsby Foundation are a framework that schools and colleges can use to improve career guidance, better preparing students for life after education. In this series, we look at each benchmark and offer advice for putting it into practice.
Benchmark 3: Addressing the Needs of Each Pupil essentially says career guidance should be tailored according to a young person’s age and individual needs, while promoting equality and diversity. To support this, the Gatsby Foundation recommends:
- A careers programme should actively seek to challenge stereotypical thinking and raise aspirations
- Schools and colleges should keep records of advice given (which all students should have access to)
- Schools should collect data on each pupil’s education, training or employment destinations for at least three years after they leave school
Benchmark 8: Personal Guidance is related, outlining that every student should have access to guidance interviews with a trained careers advisor whenever they need to make significant study or career choices. Practically, that means every school pupil should have at least one such interview by the age of 16, and the opportunity for a further interview by the age of 18; while college learners should have at least one interview by the end of their study programme.
Why is it important?
Wage premiums of 10-20% for young adults have been linked to teenage participation in career guidance, which has also been linked with more positive attitudes towards school and better maths scores. In the interests of equality and diversity, personal guidance is especially valuable for disadvantaged young people, who are less likely to receive guidance from family or other social connections. In these cases, having someone take an interest in and support their individual professional development can make a huge difference to their aspirations and prospects.
"Throughout school I was always changing my mind on what I wanted to do as a career. From midwifery to event planning, I was never sure on what these roles would look like and how I could even access them. I feel that having personal guidance at school would have really benefited me as it would have helped me to access relevant work experience and shaped the direction of my career." – Visionpath’s former apprentice, Laurel
How should it work?
Connect
Give all students the opportunity (and encouragement) to meet with a careers advisor, particularly before making decisions that might impact their future career – for example, when choosing GCSE subjects in Year 9, and when applying to university or apprenticeships in Year 13.
Don’t rely on students to take the initiative: instead, arrange a welcome meeting where they can get to know their careers advisor and begin setting goals, so they feel more comfortable arranging and attending follow-up meetings. Keep parents and relevant teachers or tutors in the loop, so they too can encourage attendance and engage with outcomes and progress.
Advise
Consider each young person’s individual strengths (and areas for improvement), interests, and – often as yet underdeveloped – career goals. What makes them light up? In what kind of role would they thrive? What do they want to achieve in terms of financial goals and work-life balance? And how much learning, training and development are they willing to undertake?
Using this information, help them identify suitable options and plan strategies on how to achieve their goals. The GROW coaching model and SWOT analysis are useful tools in helping students to map out where they are now, where they want to be, and how they’re going to get there. Revisit these resources in each meeting to help guide and support students with their decision-making while promoting reflective learning practices.
Record
Record meetings so parents and teachers or tutors have visibility over students' ambitions and career planning and can support them effectively, and so students can reflect on their progress.
Recording data on destinations for three years after a student leaves your school or college not only allows you to measure the effectiveness of and improve our career guidance; it can also demonstrate to current students what success looks like, motivating them to take ownership of their own career goals.
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Personalised career guidance that addresses the needs of each student supports an inclusive approach to future-planning, raising the aspirations of young people from socially diverse backgrounds. Embedding transparency and accountability helps foster support from parents and relevant staff, while capturing insights that can improve your careers guidance in the future.
With more than a decade of experience inspiring young people to think about their professional futures, Visionpath could be the ideal partner to support your careers lead in creating a programme that makes a real difference for students entering the workforce. Check out how we work with schools, or get in touch.
To read more about the Gatsby Benchmarks, check out our posts on A Stable Careers Programme and Experiences of Workplaces.
