Independent Careers Impact System evaluation by Chrysalis Research

During 2022-23, The Careers & Enterprise Company, funded by Department for Education and Gatsby Foundation have piloted and externally evaluated a system to test the effects of peer and expert review on the continual improvement towards and quality assurance of achievement against the Gatsby Benchmarks.

On 12 December 2022, Sir John Holman set out nine strategic principles as recommendations for the future of careers guidance in England. Strategic principle 5 sets out the ambition that:

“For both young people and adults, government should have robust procedures to assure the quality of delivery of careers guidance.

I recommend that government now looks at ways to increase the independence of quality assurance of careers guidance in schools and colleges. Effective quality assurance in education often involves peer and expert review. This approach is collaborative and, through challenge and support, can provide unique insights by identifying areas for improvement and capturing effective practice."

The pilot involved 82 diverse cross sector educational institutions with different geographies, levels of engagement with careers guidance and Careers Hubs, and with widely differing scores against the Gatsby Benchmarks.

An external evaluation conducted by Chrysalis of the pilot of the Careers Impact System has found that the system works and is ready to be scaled nationally. The pilot and evaluation have proven that:

1. The quality and robustness of self-assessed Benchmark achievement can be assured institutionally and nationally using the careers impact system.
2. The Careers Impact System includes a maturity model which includes validation, stretch and challenge which contribute to continual improvement towards Gatsby Benchmark achievement.
3. The system is valued by education leaders, Careers Leaders and Careers Hubs and is shown to stimulate positive action, improvement and improve standards irrespective of the starting point of the institution.
4. The system aligns careers guidance to educational improvement and successfully positions it within whole school, college and special school improvement and development priorities.
5. The maturity model shows education leaders how to pursue excellent practice.

The system has been tested and proven to be capable of:

• Strengthening assurance of the quality of careers provision
• Raising the quality of careers provision
• Providing a nationally scalable model of continuous improvement and quality assurance across the careers guidance system.

Read the evaluation