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International delegation visits North East England to see positive impact of Gatsby Benchmarks on careers education

A group of international careers leaders from Hong Kong have visited North East England to see how the good career guidance benchmarks have been successfully embedded within the region, and how they are improving outcomes for young people across the North East.

Organised by The Gatsby Foundation in partnership with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP), the visit saw career leaders, school principals and education experts from Hong Kong spend one week visiting schools and employers across the North East to see the good career guidance benchmarks in action.

Developed by The Gatsby Foundation, the good career guidance benchmarks are a set of eight benchmarks that serve as a framework for world-class careers provision. The North East region hosted the original Gatsby Benchmarks pilot between 2015 and 2017. In 2017, the Benchmarks were adopted as part of the government’s Careers Strategy for schools and colleges in England.

The recent visit from the Hong Kong delegation follows the implementation of an adapted set of 10 benchmarks. In Hong Kong, an initial pilot involving six schools has now expanded to 110 schools; approximately 25% of all schools in Hong Kong.

The group of careers leaders were invited by The Gatsby Foundation to see how deep rooted and embedded the Benchmarks are in the North East, and the positive impact this is having on the aspirations and career outcomes of the region’s students.

The visit will also form part of an international case study that will support Gatsby’s work on their ‘Good Career Guidance: The Next Ten Years’ report.

Ryan Gibson, Senior Adviser for Careers at The Gatsby Foundation and former National Facilitator of the Gatsby Pilot in the North East said “It was a pleasure to welcome career leaders, school principals and education experts from Hong Kong to England to learn from the excellent practice in our schools and colleges.

“The Benchmarks are based on international evidence of what works, and they represent a world class standard of careers provision. We are delighted to now be inspiring approaches in other countries.”

L-R Ryan Gibson, Senior Adviser for Careers at The Gatsby Foundation and Stephen Yip, Director (Schools) for the Hong Kong Benchmarks programme

Matt Joyce, Regional Lead: North East Ambition at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Having delivered the original pilot, and now in our role supporting all schools and colleges in the region to achieve the good career guidance benchmarks, the North East LEP is in a unique position to show others how successful the Benchmarks can be in creating an institution-wide approach to delivering high quality careers education and guidance.

“As well as showcasing the great work happening in schools and colleges here in the North East, it’s been fantastic to learn from our international colleagues about the work they are doing in Hong Kong.

“A really important part of this visit has been demonstrating how the good career guidance benchmarks fit with the wider skills agenda; supporting students to be work ready and delivering the talent and skills employers need.

“It’s been a pleasure to host the delegation and show them the transformational impact of the good career guidance benchmarks.”

Stephen Yip, Director (Schools) for the Hong Kong Benchmarks programme said “This visit brings the next generation of career leaders to North East England to learn new ideas, strategies and the effective whole institution approach needed to effectively achieve the good career guidance benchmarks.

“Schools and colleges in North East England have taken a remarkable step up across all benchmark areas over the last three years. Such a leap is achieved because of both frontline practices and the overall infrastructure provided by the North East LEP careers hub; to ensure youngsters in the region receive the best careers education for future paths.

“We are all inspired by the best practices demonstrated by the visited schools and will implement them to our contexts with little hesitation. Perhaps the most impressive part of the journey is the confidence and the sense of agency shown by the students upon their career-related future. This is indeed the power of The Gatsby Benchmarks.”

Joanne Maw, CEO of Aspire North East Multi Academy Trust, said: “It was a privilege to welcome the careers professionals and school leaders from Hong Kong to Southmoor Academy and have the opportunity to share our whole school approach to careers education.

“Staff benefitted greatly from the opportunity to showcase their work and answer a range of thought-provoking questions. It was inspiring to meet such a dedicated team of leaders who are deeply committed to a holistic approach to student progression.”

To illustrate the importance of employee engagement in delivering the Benchmarks, the North East LEP arranged a visit to international energy company, Equinor, which has a base at the Port of Tyne in South Tyneside.

Tom Nightingale. North East Stakeholder Manager at Equinor, said: “It was fantastic to support the North East LEP and host the delegation from Hong Kong at Dogger Bank Wind Farm operations and maintenance base. Sharing knowledge around skills initiatives with other countries is essential to develop knowledge around areas such as Gatsby Benchmarks, where the region is already leading in delivery.”

Matt Joyce continued: “During the visit we were able to demonstrate the impact of the Benchmarks and the crucial role of career hubs in supporting schools and colleges to create world-class careers provision.

“The delegation has left with an understanding of the importance of positioning careers not only as part of education, but as a lever for economic growth.”

Through its North East Ambition programme, the North East LEP is supporting all North East schools and colleges to achieve the good career guidance benchmarks by 2024.

For more information about the good career guidance benchmarks, visit www.northeastambition.co.uk.

Home / good career guidance benchmarks

New report shows improving career guidance in schools and colleges leads to better student outcomes and attitudes, and raises aspirations

Improving career guidance in secondary schools and colleges can lead to better student outcomes, while also raising aspirations and increasing engagement with education, according to the final evaluation of a four year pilot.

The evaluation, carried out by the International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) at the University of Derby, followed 16 schools and colleges in the North East of England as they implemented a career guidance framework known as the Gatsby Benchmarks. Findings within the report include:

  • Student Career readiness scores (a measure of preparedness for work) showed significant increases in all year groups across the four years of the evaluation
  • The greater the number of Benchmarks held, the greater the number of GCSE passes at A*-C/9-4 were achieved by each learner, even when gender, ethnicity, SEND status, FSM status, looked after status and Ofsted rating were statistically controlled for.
  • Between 2015 and 2019, learners at pilot colleges became increasingly more likely to achieve their learning outcomes, compared to learners at local colleges or all other colleges.

As well as this, teaching staff observed real changes in learner’s engagement in class. There was a reduction in learners querying the point of particular subjects or topics because they understood the relationship between knowledge/skills and their future career. Employers supporting the pilot also said that young people were better able to articulate their career ideas and talk about themselves, and were better informed about their options as well as the types of jobs available.

The pilot, begun in 2015, was set up to test how schools and colleges could use the Gatsby Benchmarks for Good Career Guidance and what the impact would be on their students. The North East region was selected, and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership ran the pilot along with the Gatsby Foundation.

Following early results from the pilot, the Government adopted the Gatsby Benchmarks into their 2017 Careers Strategy for all schools and colleges in England, and has recently renewed its commitment to having the Benchmarks as a part of national education strategy in the ‘Skills for Jobs’ White Paper.

Alistair Cummins-MacLeod, Director of Student Experience, Engagement & Wellbeing at East Durham College, said: “The pilot and the Gatsby Benchmarks have helped raise careers education to a new level. Our students have certainly benefited from this. They are more aware of the opportunities and can make really informed decisions about what they want to do next.”

Dr Jill Hanson, Lead Author on the evaluation, said: “Following the pilot schools and colleges for four years has been incredibly exciting. We have watched them implement excellent career guidance programmes and were privileged to be able to see the difference this has made to the schools and colleges, to the staff and most importantly to the students. This pilot has had a positive impact on the knowledge, attitudes, skills and aspirations of students in the North East and it is important that this progress continues across the country.”

Beth Jones, Head of Career programmes at the Gatsby Foundation, said: “Careers guidance should never be seen as an ‘add-on’ to school or college learning. What this evaluation makes clear is the difference made to the lives of students when Careers as a priority.  As schools and colleges around the country continue to work towards the Benchmarks, we hope this evaluation will show them the amazing impact their work can have on their students.”

Michelle Rainbow, Skills Director, North East Local Enterprise Partnership said: “I was so proud when I read the evaluation – to hear the Pilot described as transformational and to know that the North East played such a pivotal role, was such an honour. We’ve always believed that the right careers education can have lifelong rewards for young people to see that has been recognised independently today is fantastic. We continue to keep the Benchmarks at the heart of our North East Ambition programme as a sign of our support and commitment to them.”

Ryan Gibson, Facilitator of the pilot at the North East LEP, said: “It was a privilege to lead the pilot, to work directly with schools and colleges and to see the transformational impact of the Benchmarks. The North East LEP, the pilot schools and colleges and the individual career leaders involved developed an approach that now underpins our national work towards ensuring that each and every young person benefits from world class careers provision.”

Image: Students at Harton Academy learning about careers.