Spotlight: What the 2024/25 Future Skills Questionnaire tells us – and how your school can use its own insights
The South Midlands Careers Hub Career Readiness Insight Briefing draws on the largest dataset we’ve ever had: 12,418 learners across 51 schools took part in 2024/25, giving us unprecedented insight into how young people understand pathways, develop essential skills, and shape their aspirations as they move through secondary education. The regional trends continue to show:
Career readiness improves with age, rising from 48% in Year 7 to 59% by Year 11.
Understanding of apprenticeships more than doubles from Year 7 to Year 11 (37% → 78%).
Essential skills develop unevenly, with creativity and problem‑solving strengthening over time, but teamwork, leadership and listening dipping in KS3–KS4.
Aspirations change significantly post‑16, with large increases in interest in research/science, health, finance and professional services.
A notable proportion of learners still select “none of the above,” signalling the need for continued exposure to diverse pathways.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU AS A CAREER LEADER
While the regional analysis provides helpful context, it’s your individual FSQ data that can directly shape meaningful improvements in your school. Here are some practical ways to use your dashboards:
1. Identify where career readiness dips or accelerates
Look at patterns across year groups to target support where it’s needed most.
2. Understand how essential skills are developing
FSQ provides clear insight into Skills Builder competencies.
3. Align aspirations with local growth sectors
Compare your learners’ top job/sector interests with the South Midlands priority sectors.
Where sectors show lower interest, you can plan targeted encounters, curriculum links or employer engagements.
4. Tailor your support to key groups
Use filters for SEND, pupil premium or individual year groups to spot patterns.
The report shows SEND learners consistently below national benchmarks, so personalised support may be particularly valuable.
5. Use FSQ as evidence to strengthen your strategic careers plan
Your findings can feed directly into: Gatsby Benchmark priorities, Provider Access Legislation (PAL) planning, curriculum development, SLT and governor reporting, employer and alumni engagement plans.
The FSQ provides a powerful evidence base to support schools in designing a careers programme shaped by the needs, aspirations and skills of their learners, enabling them to develop both a strong universal offer for all students and targeted interventions for those who need additional opportunities.
Thank you to those of you that joined us for our latest CPD session BM5 & BM6: Engaging Employers Through Building Trusted Partnerships . A link to the recording is HERE and presentation available to download below.
Compass, compass, compass – as we are sure you are all aware we are fast approaching the end of our spring compass self evaluation window. Please ensure you complete this before the end of term. Reminder that you can copy across your previous evaluation and then make any changes to update it. Yvonne has recorded a handy 60 second demo of how to do this here We have also updated the South Midlands careers Hub question by question guidance which can be found here.
One of the most frequently asked questions we had when supporting autumn self evaluations was around sustained and longer term destination data – we have added some guidance and resources linked to this here
| Navigating DfE Destination Data | How to find and use KS4 and 16-18 performance tables to evaluate your careers programme | Video |
| Navigating DfE Destination Data | How to find, create and use sustained and longer term destinations data to evaluate your careers programme | Video |
| Using destinations data to evaluate your careers programme | Reflective questions to consider when using destinations data to evaluate your careers programme | Resource |
Inclusion Conference
1st July 2026
Sponsored by
South Midlands Local Skills Improvement Plan
South Midlands Careers Hub Inclusion Conference – Wednesday 1st July 2026
We will be hosting our second Inclusion Conference on 1st July 2026 at King’s House, Bedford. With inclusion and impact for every young person embedded throughout the Gatsby Benchmarks, the conference will focus on what effective inclusive practice looks like across our settings.
We will also explore the Department for Education’s “Every Child Thriving and Achieving” White Paper and consider its implications for Careers Education and Preparation for Adulthood.
The conference is open to Careers Leaders in SEND and AP settings, SENCos from mainstream settings, FE SEND Departments and employers. Careers Leaders from mainstream are welcome to join their SENCo as a plus one if they wish.
Registration link for Careers Leaders in SEND and AP, FE SEND Departments and employers – South Midlands Careers Hub Inclusion Conference Registration Form
Registration link for Mainstream SENCo’s – South Midlands Careers Hub Inclusion Conference Registration Form for Mainstream SENCo’s
📍 King’s House, 245 Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9AZ
🗓 Wednesday 1st July 2026
🕘 9:30 AM – 14:30 PM
Career Impact System – Internal Leadership Review & Peer to Peer Reviews
One of our key learnings so far is the importance of involving key stakeholders as part of the ILR process rather than completing this in silo. To aide facilitation of this Catherine Holt, Queensbury Academy has created a sharable presentation that can be shared with staff beforehand so staff can add their initial reflect on where they feel your school is using their allocated colour marker.
Upcoming Peer-to-peer review days – Our last two Peer to Peer review weeks are running weeks commencing 4th May and 8th of June. Contact your careers consultant to get booked in.
T Levels: what are they and who are they for?
a free CPD opportunity for teaching and support staff across the South Midlands to gain a greater understanding of T-Levels. 24th April 15.00 – 16.30 Book here
University of Northampton Teachers & Advisers Conference
Open to Carers leaders, teachers and advisers across the South Midlands. Friday 24 April, 9.30am-3.15pm, Free to attend. Venue, University of Northampton Waterside Campus. Teachers and Advisers Conference 2026 | University of Northampton
Includes a workshop focusing on Gatsby Benchmark 7: Meaningful Encounters with FE & HE Discover what makes encounters with FE and HE providers genuinely meaningful and compliant with the Gatsby Benchmark criteria. This session shares best‑practice examples, clarifies the requirements of the Provider Access Legislation (PAL), and ends with a practical round‑table to help you plan high‑quality encounters that meet Benchmark 7.
Introducing On Track
Dedicated OnTrack+ training webinar: 25th March | 3.30pm
OnTrack+ is an early insight feature within Compass + that supports sustained learner engagement and Post-16 transition. The feature has been designed to better support early identification of young people from Years 7 to 11 who may be at risk of disengaging from learning and ultimately becoming NEET (Not in Education Employment of Training).
FSQ data analysis & reporting
Growing Learner Voice – FSQ data analysis and reporting – Mar 24, 2026 03:30 PM
Join this small interactive group session to meet with our expert Compass+ trainer to:- – Understand the benefits of using the FSQ reporting feature – Learn how to analyse the data effectively, selecting specific criteria and learner characteristics – Identify how to use FSQ responses to track progress for individual learners and demonstrate how careers activities are having an impact on careers learning – Understand how to identify individual learners who may require more targeted support and intervention – Know where to access further training and support. You can ask our expert any questions you have about FSQ, you may find it helpful to be logged into your Compass+ account during the session. These meetings are offered on an invitation only basis and will be small groups, to allow attendees to have active discussion and sharing of best practice.
Sign up here – Meeting Registration – Zoom
Careers Hub events – Summer Term
| CPD Session BM4 – Careers in the curriculum | 12.30 – 13.15 | 15/04 |
| Term 3 kick off | 3.15 – 16.00 | 20/04 |
| FSQ for Send masterclass | 15.30 – 16.15 | 21/04 |
| North Northants CL network meeting | 14.00 – 16.00 | 23/04 |
| Wex employer showcase | 15.30 – 16.30 | 29/04 |
| Opportunities on your doorstep (Beds, Luton & MK) | 17.30 – 19.00 | 12/05 |
| FSQ & Evaluation | 15.30 – 16.15 | 14/05 |
| Creating Alumni for send | 15.30 – 16.15 | 19/05 |
| Summer provider showcase | 12.30 – 13.30 | 20/05 |
| West Northants CL network meeting | 15.00 – 17.30 | 17/06 |
| Bedfordshire CL network meeting | TBC | 24/06 |
| MK CL network meeting | 8.30 – 11.00 | 25/06 |
| Inclusion Conference | 9.00 – 14.30 | 01/07 |
| Parental engagement | 05.30 – 16.15 | 15/07 |
Latest Resources
Small Business Summer Toolkit
Brand new careers campaign brought to you by Amazing Apprenticeships and supported by Edge Foundation. The aim is to support young people in years 7-13 to increase their awareness of small businesses in their local community, and to understand the unique benefits of being an apprentice in a smaller organisation. Resources can be chosen and adapted depending on your cohort needs, or can be used to support going out into the community and spotting local businesses (Benchmark 2). Resources for schools and colleges can be found here – Small Business Summer – For Schools & Colleges – Amazing Apprenticeships
My Skills, My Future (SEND)
The CEC’s ‘My Skills, My Future’ resource has been recently updated by IncludED Careers to reflect the updated Gatsby Benchmarks, and include links to the Equalex Framework. It is designed to give young people with SEND the tools, experiences, and inspiration they need to prepare for work and adulthood. Fully mapped to the equalex framework, it helps learners build confidence in their skills, explore future pathways, and connect classroom learning to real-world opportunities The resource collection includes:
- Lesson Materials – Building workplace skills and knowledge in the classroom.
- Projects & Employer Briefs – Opportunities for learners to create, develop, or design something based on a real or simulated employer brief, linking skills to career pathways.
- Workplace Engagement Videos & Role Models – Inspiring stories and sector insights to raise aspirations Access resources for free here – My Journey, My Future | CEC Resource Directory