Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children who took part in work experience through their schools in each of the last five years.

The government’s careers statutory guidance sets out that all schools and colleges should use the internationally recognised Gatsby Benchmarks of good career guidance, to develop and improve their careers provision. The benchmarks define eight elements of an excellent careers programme, including experiences of workplaces and personal guidance.

Careers leaders in England can measure how well their school or college is doing against the benchmarks by using Compass, a digital tool provided by the Careers and Enterprise Company. This data is published annually by the Careers and Enterprise Company, most recently in the Trends in Careers Education report, published in December 2021.

Gatsby Benchmark 6, experiences of workplaces, states that every pupil should have first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience to help their exploration of career opportunities and expand their networks. The criteria for achieving the benchmark are that every pupil should have an experience of the workplace by the age of 16, with a further such experience by age 18. Compass data shows the proportion of schools (including special schools and alternative provision) that had either achieved or partially achieved benchmark 6 in each of the last five years:

• End of 2020/21 academic year - 92.76%
• End of 2019/20 academic year - 96.16%
• End of 2018/19 academic year - 95.51%
• End of 2017/18 academic year - 64.11%
• End of 2016/17 academic year - 67.8%

Gatsby Benchmark 8, personal guidance, states that every pupil should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a careers adviser, who could be internal (a member of school staff) or external, provided they are trained to an appropriate level (guidance which can be found on page 38 of: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1002972/Careers_statutory_guidance.pdf). The criteria for achieving the benchmark are that every pupil should have at least one such interview by the age of 16, and the opportunity for a further interview by the age of 18. Compass data shows the proportion of schools (including special schools and alternative provision) that had either achieved or partially achieved benchmark 8 in each of the last five years:

• End of 2020/21 academic year – 92.98%
• End of 2019/20 academic year – 91.38%
• End of 2018/19 academic year - 91.08%
• End of 2017/18 academic year - 69.94%
• End of 2016/17 academic year - 65%

Recent data is affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, which made it more challenging for schools to deliver their careers programmes. The Careers and Enterprise Company supported the delivery of virtual activities.

The level of school access to a professional careers adviser is good. According to Trends in Careers Education 2021, Gatsby Benchmark 8, personal guidance, continues to be the strongest performing benchmark among schools and colleges. 80% of secondary schools reported providing most of their students with an interview with a qualified careers adviser by the end of year 11.