Careers provision is no longer a nice-to-have — it is statutory, and with the 14+ technical-education reforms it is about to carry more weight in inspection. The framework schools are measured against is the Gatsby Benchmarks.
What the benchmarks ask for
The eight benchmarks cover a stable careers programme, good labour-market information, personal guidance, and — the hardest to evidence — real encounters with employers and experiences of workplaces. The Careers & Enterprise Company sets out the detail.
Why evidence is the bottleneck
Most schools deliver plenty of activity but struggle to prove it at inspection. Encounters happen; the audit trail does not always follow.
Turn activity into an evidence pack
StudYear's school careers tools compute live Gatsby coverage from the employer encounters, business projects and work experience your staff log — and export an inspection-ready pack in one click. It pairs with the student Career Passport so pupil and school data line up. See how it works.
FAQ
Are the Gatsby Benchmarks statutory?
Every English secondary school must have regard to the eight Gatsby Benchmarks and is measured against them, so in practice they function as a statutory standard for careers provision.
Which Gatsby Benchmark is hardest to evidence?
Benchmarks 5 and 6 — encounters with employers and experiences of workplaces — are usually the hardest, because the activity happens but the evidence trail is often incomplete.
How does StudYear evidence the benchmarks?
It computes coverage automatically from the encounters, projects and work experience staff log, then exports an inspection-ready evidence pack.