The Careers and Enterprise Company

The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) is a government funded organisation that works with all Local Enterprise Partnerships in England. Its role is to support education establishments and businesses to work collaboratively, and shape careers activity in schools and colleges. The CEC uses the Gatsby Benchmarks as a means of assessing careers activity in a school/college. The CEC is a therefore a key partner for the Greater Lincolnshire Enterprise Adviser Network (EAN). 

The Gatsby Benchmarks

The Gatsby Benchmarks are a set of guidelines which help Careers Leaders to plan the careers strategy for their school or college. There are eight benchmarks covering a range of themes. 

The benchmarks are used by Ofsted to assess the quality of careers education and provision. 

It has been proven that if a school or college meets all 8 of the Gatsby Benchmarks, students from that institution will be nearly 10% less likely to be NEET (not in education employment or training) upon leaving formal education. 

Take a look at some useful links at the bottom of this page which explain more about the Gatsby Benchmarks, and how you can make plans to improve careers education in your school or college. In particular, the Gatsby Benchmark toolkit gives you access to case studies of best practice in schools, as well as tips and practical suggestions for successfully implementing the eight themes.
 
If you are an Enterprise Adviser, or you support schools and colleges with their careers programme, the links below will also be helpful in explaining more about why each of the benchmarks are important. 
Useful Links