Our associate education expert, Lorraine Petersen, helped us to write this article. Also see page 82 of the Governance Handbook.
Who this applies to
The Department for Education (DfE)'s statutory careers guidance applies to:
- All maintained schools, including maintained special schools and pupil referral units (PRUs)
- Academies and free schools (including alternative provision (AP) academies and free schools)
The requirements don't apply to non-maintained special schools and independent schools.
Your school's duties
Your school should have a strategic careers plan
This should be developed in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks (see below) and the DfE’s guidance.
It should show how your school’s careers programme will be:
- Implemented
- Measured - including how your school will assess the impact on pupils
Previously this was only required for pupils in years 8 to 13, but as of 1 September 2022, schools need to provide this to year 7 pupils too. This