A guide toGatsby Benchmark 5
Encounters with employers and employees
Summary:
Every pupil should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes.
Benchmark 5 criteria for schools
- Every year, from the age of 11, pupils should participate in at least one meaningful encounter* with an employer.
* A ‘meaningful’ encounter is one in which the student has an opportunity to learn about what work is like or what it takes to be successful in the workplace.
Summary:
Every learner should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities, including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes, and should include learners’ own part-time employment where it exists.
Benchmark 5 criteria for colleges
- Every year, alongside their study programme, learners should participate in at least two meaningful encounters* with an employer. At least one encounter should be delivered through their curriculum area.
- Colleges should record and take account of learners’ own part-time employment and the influence this has had on their development.
* A ‘meaningful’ encounter is one in which the student has an opportunity to learn about what work is like or what it takes to be successful in the workplace.
Successes and challenges
To ensure they meet Benchmark 5 many schools and colleges have had to bolster their existing relationships with employers. Many started from the point of already having a regular careers fair or talks with employers, so their challenges revolved around ensuring high-quality and comprehensive pupil engagement. They began by enhancing their existing events to reach students in all year groups. They also looked at ways to personalise employer interactions so that students found these discussions relevant for their future and not just generic careers advice. The schools and colleges who really embraced the Benchmark created innovative opportunities for students to meet local employers. One school organised for employers to judge an “Apprentice-style” event in which students had to pitch their business ideas. This scheme had an amazing impact on some students. One parent of a Year 10 girl from a pilot school, said “My daughter won this [Dragons’ Den] for nail art. She borrowed money from school to set up and pays it back by charging at school fun days. She has paid all of this back, is still doing this and making money. She wants to do this as a job.”
Those looking to enhance an existing careers fair started by tackling the major problem of attendance from both employers and students. Schools contacted employers by mining alumni, parents and contacts from teachers across the school. They also worked with organisations such as The Careers & Enterprise Company to help locate employers who supply Enterprise Advisors. Some schools wanted to put on sector-specific events. To make this worthwhile, they teamed up with other local schools ensuring a good turnout of pupils and employers. Looking for who you can collaborate with is key to enhancing a career fair.
Tap into your networks and try to expand them to find employer contacts. The cadet programmes at Nissan came from alumni and family contacts who helped build the relationship.
Careers Leader at Excelsior Academy
The most successful careers fairs also got smart about ensuring parent attendance. The King Edward VI School engaged parents right from the very beginning, opening up the careers fair to them as well as to students. The school sent text messages and social media posts to parents reminding them of the event right up until the day. They also updated them when new employers were added, so they felt involved in the event all the way along.
Smaller-scale events can also work well. Castle View Enterprise Academy organised “business breakfasts” where two employers came in and spoke to students over breakfast. Prior to starting this programme, the careers team surveyed students to see which employers they’d be interested in hearing from. They then matched these responses with the employers invited and made sure students were sent personal invitations to events that would interest them. Employers who attended have included Nike, Gentoo, Pets as Therapy, Northumbrian Water and the Army. These smaller events helped gauge student interest, feeding back information that then focused future activity. For example, after a visit from a scientist from Sunderland University, female students who were particularly interested were invited to the university to take part in a science taster day designed specifically for girls.
Many employers run short-term programmes for students aimed at teaching them about a specific industry. Nissan have run a Cadet programme with Excelsior Academy and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy aimed at students who might be looking for apprenticeships in the future. The programme ran over 5 days during term-time, which initially seemed like a large amount of time away from lessons. To help gain buy-in from staff and pupils Excelsior had representatives from Nissan come into the school and give a presentation about the programme and the work students would be doing. At St Joseph’s, Nissan began by running evening workshops, with the most engaged students were chosen to take part in the full programme.
Jump to Benchmark
Benchmark 1
A stable careers programme
Benchmark 2
Learning from career and labour market information
Benchmark 3
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Benchmark 4
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Benchmark 5
Encounters with employers and employees
Benchmark 6
Experiences of workplaces
Benchmark 7
Encounters with further and higher education
Benchmark 8
Personal guidance
Advice for SEND
Good career guidance ensures that all young people, whatever their needs, background or ambitions, know the options open to them and can make the informed choices needed to fulfil their potential. This is particularly important for the more than one million young people in England recognised as having SEND. Far too often, these young people can be held back by negative stereotypes and assumptions about their limitations.
Publications
Good Career Guidance: Perspectives from the SEND sector (2019)
Good Career Guidance: Reaching the Gatsby Benchmarks handbook (2017)
Good Career Guidance: Benchmarks for Young People in Colleges (2014)
Good Career Guidance: Appendices (2014)
Good Career Guidance report (2014)
Good Career Guidance: Benchmarks for Schools (2014)