Annual Conference 20/10/2026
We are delighted to announce the date and venue for our annual conference:
Tuesday 20 October, Vincent Building, Cranfield University
We invite education leaders, careers leaders, employers, further and higher education providers, and independent training providers (ITPs) to register their interest in attending.The conference will provide an opportunity to network, share best practice, and explore key developments across education, skills and careers provision.
Register your interest today. A full agenda, booking link and further event details will be shared in due course.
Careers guidance and access for education and training providers
The Department for Education’s updated statutory guidance reinforces the importance of high-quality careers education, underpinned by the Gatsby Benchmarks, to support all young people to make informed decisions and successful transitions into learning and work. Key updates include:
- Workplace experiences: From September 2026, all schools expected to reform work experience programmes in line with the guidance and the Government’s work experience ambition.
- New digital features: Enhanced Compass+ functionality, including OnTrack+ for identifying learner support needs from Year 7, and Your Child’s Future – questionnaire to strengthen parental engagement in careers education.
- Ofsted inspections: Updates to Ofsted’s approach to inspecting careers guidance under the revised Education Inspection Framework.
- Policy alignment: The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review and reforms to 16–19 qualifications.
The recording of the Monday 29/06/26 webinar Careers Education in England: Understanding the updated statutory guidance webinar is available here Watch the webinar recording
Further CEC Guidance is available here:
Summary of statutory guidance for schools
Summary of guidance for colleges
Summary of guidance for independent training providers
Full statutory guidance and guidance doc (gov.uk)
Inclusion Conference 01/07/2026
Yesterday we welcomed over 75 delegates to our annual Inclusion Conference, which took place at King’s House, Bedford. This included a range of stakeholders, including special school and Alternative Provision (AP) Careers Leaders, mainstream SENCo’s and their Careers Leaders, employers, FE SEND teams and local authority representatives.
The jampacked agenda included:
- Amanda Wright from Whole School SEND and nasen, providing a thoughtful overview of the schools white paper and its impact on careers education and preparation for adulthood
- Jo Ward from Young Enterprise, discussing their programmes for SEND learners, along with students Dylan and Calen from The Woodlands School in MK sharing the impact the programme has had on them
- Ady Cicceri and David Gillings from the DWP sharing information about the Schools Adviser offer and Access to Work
- Sophie Holmes from Skills Builder UK providing an overview of their offer and how it can support settings
- Olivia Dams from the Careers Hub facilitating a brilliant session on modern work experience through a SEND lens
- Tom Cliffe from Cafe Track – TRACK NN CIC and Issured who delivered fantastic training for employers on engaging with young people with SEND
The event reinforced an important message: collaboration is key. By working together, sharing experiences, and learning from each other, we can create even better opportunities and outcomes for our young people, especially those with SEND.
You can find the full slide deck from the day here, and links our SEND padlet and Work Experience Toolkit here.
If you haven’t already, please remember to share your feedback as this will help us shape future events.
Updated Careers Impact Maturity Model
Many of you will soon be preparing to complete your annual Internal Leadership Review (ILR), either at the end of this academic year or at the beginning of the next.
The CEC have refreshed the maturity model to help strengthen how it supports schools, specialist settings and colleges to:
- use a more consistent structure to underpin Internal Leadership Reviews (ILRs) and Peer-to-Peer Reviews
- engage in reflective, non‑judgemental dialogue about their current position
- connect careers leadership more clearly to whole-setting priorities (e.g. inclusion, engagement, transitions)
- identify realistic, high-impact next steps
The updated model is available here – this is a digital guidance document and is not intended for printing. An updated printable version will be available in Compass+ from September.
2026-7 Peer to Peer Review opportunities
Next academic year we plan to host larger peer to peer review days where 2-3 peer to peer reviews (6 – 9 schools) will take place on the same day. This will offer additional networking opportunities and options to collaborate across our six local authority areas and across different institution types (Special schools, FE and mainstream).
Our first peer to peer day will take place on Monday 28/09/2026 at a central venue. To reserve your place please let your careers consultant know asap.
“It was a great opportunity to bring people from different contexts together, and share similarities/differences. I enjoyed learning how school context can really influence careers provision and the considerations at play e.g. what works in a mainstream, what works in an AP and the geographical context of the school setting.
Shana Iqbal, Challney High School for Girls
Post P2P: SLT are much more receptive and can see the value in careers being embedded in strategic structures. Framing is now more on return on investment, not just compliance
Even better if: Headteacher’s are cc’d into correspondence – helps to gain buy-in and understanding from the beginning”
“Having the meeting in-person made a real difference, allowing for open, honest and transparent conversations. The professional challenges and insightful questions from the critical friends were valuable and it was beneficial to gain an understanding of developments in other areas and the differences across the local authorities.
Josh Bell, Academy of Central Bedfordshire
Post P2P: Lots of internal discussions and opportunities for careers to be integral in 2026/27 wider school planning/staff training
Agreed EBI: Headteacher informed and involved”
Your Childs Future
Great news! Your Child’s Future – a questionnaire for parents and carers, is live in Compass+.
Your Child’s Future (YCF) is a new feature that helps education settings understand parents’ and carers’ knowledge, confidence and awareness of careers.
Supported by the Gatsby Foundation, Your Child’s Future has been designed to enable education settings to strengthen parental engagement and use their insights to develop more informed, responsive and effective careers programmes that better support young people.
👉 Visit the Compass+ Help Centre to learn more about YCF and how to use it effectively in your setting.
Parents and carers are one of the biggest influences of young people’s career decision making, but their knowledge and understanding of careers is not always up to date and often based on their own lived experience. Recognising this is essential for the development of effective careers provision and for enhancing awareness of careers education among parents and carers. This is also reflected in the updated Gatsby Benchmarks, emphasising greater engagement with parents and carers.
It is increasingly important for educators to assess parents and carers knowledge and understanding regarding careers delivery within their child’s educational setting, to reflect on the effectiveness, reach and impact of current information sharing and support.
Explore YCF this term and plan how to incorporate using this feature into your practice for next academic year:
✅ Meet statutory guidance and achieve Gatsby Benchmark 1 – Careers programmes “should be regularly evaluated using feedback from learners, parents and carers, teachers, subject staff and other staff who support learners, careers advisers and employers, to increase its impact.
✅ Align delivery with the Careers Impact System Maturity Model, in particular Theme 3 – 3.4 Parent and carer understanding of what LMI is and how to make effective use of it – 3.5 Parent and carer understanding of all routes available to learners at key transitions – and Theme 2 – 2.6 Careers impact evaluation: Stakeholder voice.
OnTrack+
OnTrack+ is an early insight feature within Compass + that has been designed help educators identify emerging support needs for learners in Years 7-11, strengthening sustained learner engagement and post-16 transition. Join our webinar to walk through this feature and learn how to use it effectively in your setting.
– Understand why OnTrack+ was developed
– Learn where to access the feature in Compass+ and how to use key functionality
– Explore OnTrack+ data and reporting
– Know where to access further support and guidance.
Keen to explore OnTrack+ now? Take a look at our supporting resources – OnTrack+
Other upcoming Compass+ CPD
Registration link : Compass+ data and reporting
Thursday 2nd July 2026, 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Previous Compass webinar recordings
| Supercharge careers with Compass+ Explore the main navigation bar in Compass+ Learn how to use key features of the product effectively in your setting Understand how different parts of Compass+ work together to power your careers provision Know where to access further support and guidance. View and download webinar transcript |
| The Future Skills Questionnaire – 5 steps to success Understand the value of the Future Skills Questionnaire and how it can help you to build and develop a progressive careers programme. Enable you to prepare effectively to launch FSQ in your setting. Understand the value in exporting and analysing learner responses to inform your future provision. Support you to identify individual learner needs and plan targeted support where required. Know where to access further training and support. View and download webinar transcript COMING SOON! |
| Using Compass+ effectively to support Careers Impact Internal leadership reviews Understand what an Internal leadership review is and how it underpins the continuous development of your careers programme Explore a range of Compass+ functionality that can help you to prepare effectively for an Internal leadership review. Understand how to record Internal leadership review responses in Compass+ or Compass. Know where to access further support and guidance. View and download webinar transcript COMING SOON! |
| Compass+ data and Reporting Understand the range of data and reporting available in Compass+Learn how to download different report types from Compass+Identify the types of reports stakeholders frequently requestKnow where to access further training and support. View and download webinar transcript |
| Using Compass+ effectively to support vulnerable groups Identify key stakeholders in your setting that can engage with Compass+Learn how to use key functionality in Compass+ effectively and how to capture a range of data to share with stakeholdersLearn more about the Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ)Find out about ongoing developments for Compass+ users in SEND settings. Know where to access further training and support. View and download webinar transcript |
| OnTrack+ in Compass+ OnTrack+ helps educators to identify emerging support needs for learners in Years 7-11, strengthening sustained learner engagement and post-16 transition.Understand why OnTrack+ was developed. Learn where to access the feature in Compass+ and how to use key functionality. Explore OnTrack+ data and reporting. Know where to access further support and guidance. View and download webinar transcript |
| Fully optimising Compass+Understand how to use all functionality in Compass+ to create a full careers journey for every learner. Understand how to analyse and export key data, to support strategic decision making. Explore the latest product updates. Know where to access further training and support. View and download webinar transcript |
| Using Compass+ to support compliance with the updated statutory guidance for Careers Get an overview of the updates to the statutory guidance. Understand how a range of functionality in Compass+ can help support compliance. Know where to access further training and support. View and download webinar transcript |
| Getting ready for the new academic year with Compass+ Understand the importance of Compass+ housekeeping. Explore a range of tasks to complete in Compass+ in preparation for the new academic year. Know where to access further training and support. View and download webinar transcript COMING SOON! |