In Sir John Holman’s 2014, Gatsby report he said that there was no “silver bullet” that would of itself transform the quality of careers advice in schools. Instead, he said schools needed to provide a series of measures to a high standard.
His views are based on extensive research in the UK, Canada Germany, Holland, Finland, Ireland and Hong Kong. The English government has welcomed the eight Gatsby Benchmarks believing that they provide an important framework of activities and philosophy of what good CEIAG looks like.
The Benchmarks cover all aspects of CEIAG, from achieving a stable careers programme and making this known and understood by students, parents, teachers, governors and employers to providing personal career guidance, best provided by a qualified and registered career adviser. There are also benchmarks for learning from LMI, encounters with employers, FE, HE and other learning providers, work experience and linking curriculum learning to careers.
Career professionals will applaud the focus but for hard worked career coordinators and career leaders, the level of expectation, planning, management and organisational skills should not be under estimated. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was asked to calculate the cost of providing such services and estimated it would be £207 million in the first year and £173 million a year thereafter, or just under £45,000 per secondary school in England. Professional career guidance and management and admin skills of this breadth do not come cheaply.
At Grofar, we cannot of course offer a silver bullet but what we can do is help schools achieve many of the objectives set out in the Gatsby report, as the table below shows:
| Gatsby Benchmark | How Grofar Supports This Benchmark |
| 1. A stable careers programme: Every school and college should have an embedded programme of careers education and guidance | Easily create a professional school Careers Plan with templated information
Action Plans can be created for students |
| 2. Learning from career and labour market information: Every pupil, and their parents, should have access to good quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities and the support of an informed adviser to make best use of available information. | Specific portals for different users
One to One Meeting Organiser will help facilitate face to face careers advice to build confidence and motivation. Careers Noticeboard Resources Library – will provide access to online tools. Destination Data collection tool |
| 3. Addressing the needs of each pupil: Opportunities for advice and support need to be tailored to the needs of each pupil. | Careers Dashboard
Individual Student Passports Student Target Groups Individual Student Action Plans Caseload manager One to One Meeting Organiser |
| 4. Linking curriculum learning to careers: All teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. | Schools can link to curriculum information in Careers Plan in order to determine and plan curriculum integration activities |
| 5. Encounters with employers and employees: Every pupil should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. | Business Database, Business Comms and Business Signup to record contacts
Alumni Database, Alumni Comms and Alumni Signup to record contacts |
| 6. Experiences of workplaces: Every pupil should have first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience | Work Experience Organiser linked to Student Action Plans will offer high quality work experience linked to Student studies
Work Experience Placement Manager to manage process |
| 7. Encounters with further and higher education: All pupils should understand the full range of learning opportunities (academic and vocational) that are available to them. | Event Planner to help organise higher education events
Action Plan to allow recording and planning of Students Careers focus and direction. One to One Meeting Organiser will help facilitate face to face careers advice to build confidence and motivation. |
| 8. Personal guidance: Every pupil should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a career adviser. | Student Action Plans to record student aspirations
One to One Meeting Organiser will help facilitate face to face careers advice to build confidence and motivation. Resources Library – will provide access to online tools. |
Grofar offers a complete careers administration system from just £495 per annum for a school with under 800 students, making it an extremely cost effective option for schools who want to improve the careers service they offer to their students and relieve their staff of much of the admin burden.
For further information about Grofar, including the features of the Grofar Careers Plan and the Grofar Careers Solution, please email [email protected] to speak to a member of our friendly team and to sign up to a no obligation free trial.