Why undertake a Careers Impact internal leadership review.
An internal leadership review is based on the Careers Impact Maturity Model, which provides a shared language of how careers can be positioned as a driver for school, special school and college improvement.
Undertaking an internal leadership review supports the quality assurance of your careers provision and encourages continuous improvement aligned to your whole institution's priorities.
Within your annual evaluation process, undertaking a Careers Impact internal leadership review will:
- Engage Leaders through informed and impactful SLT and governor engagement in and vision for sustainable and strategic careers leadership
- Align priorities through intentional distributed leadership of careers as a driver for whole institution improvement
- Embed best practice through Improved understanding of best practice in careers leadership and of meaningful and sustained achievement of the Gatsby Benchmarks
- Celebrate success through recognitions of strengths in and impact of careers leadership and provision
- Sustain quality and impact through internal quality assurance and impact evaluation of careers leadership and provision.
The process focuses on the following 6 themes, which are rooted in the Gatsby Benchmarks:
The Careers Impact Maturity Model used in the internal leadership review process has been tailored to different institution types:
Please note: PDFs have been intentionally added above to ensure that the models are not edited during the review process. This will ensure that the models are engaged with consistently across all institutions when completing internal leadership reviews.
Preparing to complete a Careers Impact Internal leadership review.
A Careers Impact internal leadership review needs a collaborative approach and is a reflection on the maturity of careers leadership across a school, special school or college.
Who should take part?
All those involved in the distributed leadership of careers should be involved in the review process e.g.
| Headteacher/Principal | Careers Leader |
| Link Governor | Careers Coordinator |
| Enterprise Adviser | Careers Adviser |
| SLT; Pastoral, Personal Development, Curriculum, Progress, Teaching & Learning | SENCo/Head of SEND |
| SLT; Vice Principal/Assistant Principal | Head of Inclusion |
| Head(s) of Year/Head(s) of Department | PSHE Lead |
| Central Strategic Careers Leader | Student Support/Student Services |
What does a review involve?
The review involves colleagues reflecting on a range of statements in the Maturity Model, then selecting those that best describe the practice in their institution. Colleagues consider the statements and the responses, which indicate progressive maturity within each of the six themes. Colleagues should do this ahead of coming together to discuss and agree a final response for each statement that represents their institution.
Please see the Evaluation section Overview article to gain more understanding of when we would recommend completing an internal leadership review.
How can you make the process collaborative?
The internal leadership review process provides a structure and shared language for leaders to collaborate and discuss careers at a strategic level.
The examples below show how different Careers Leaders have approached their internal leadership review.
Example 1 - Internal leadership review - SLT discussion including Headteacher.
The Careers Leader downloaded the Maturity Model and highlighted where she felt best fit statements were positioned using a colour coded approach – green for Careers Leader current assessment, blue for currently not in place and red for any queries.
The Careers Leader, who is also Assistant Principal with responsibility for Student Development, then led a session within an SLT meeting, where colleagues around the table discussed different themes in pairs and then fed back to each other.
- Careers Leader introduced Careers Impact System value and purpose (5 minutes)
- Careers Impact System Animation shown to SLT to bring process to life (2 minutes)
- Careers Leader introduced internal leadership review and handed out different themes (colour coded and printed on A3) to different colleagues e.g:
- Theme 1 to Headteacher and Senior Deputy Headteacher
- Theme 2 to Careers Leader and Data and Outcomes team
- Themes 3 & 6 to SENCo and Inclusion Lead
- Themes 4 & 5 to Teaching & Learning and Curriculum teams (5 minutes) - Discussion in pairs/small groups focused on if they agreed with Careers Leader current assessment (15 minutes)
- Feedback on each theme with a focus on how senior leaders can enable progress through the maturity model.
“It was so nice to hear other people genuinely caring about careers and how we can make it better – from their perspectives – outcome team from a data perspective, teaching & learning team from a T&L perspective. The animation was really useful to set the scene in 2 minutes and opened up the discussion with different colleagues looking at different themes. We’re doing quite well on the benchmarks and we have Career Mark – we have the basics and this is how we continue to develop.”
Example 2 - Internal leadership review - Careers Leader led, thematic approach.
The Careers Leader downloaded and printed the Maturity Model and divided into themes. Different colleagues were asked to highlight best-fit statements on the theme allocated to them and feedback to the Careers Leader.
The Careers Leader produced short video guidance to support colleagues to complete the task. Challenge and comments from different colleagues were welcomed to ensure a true best-fit statement was decided upon for all components of the Maturity Model.
The Careers Leader kept a record of comments and associated actions in order to demonstrate progress when repeating the process. Here is how the Careers Leader divided the Maturity Model into different themes for different teams/colleagues:
- Theme 1: SLT Link (Careers), Principal
- Theme 2: SLT Link (Careers), Head of years, SEND, Inclusion
- Theme 3: SLT Link (Careers), Enterprise Adviser, Head of Faculties, Head Of Year 9, Head Of SF
- Theme 4: SLT Link (Careers), SLT Curriculum Lead, Head of Faculties
- Theme 5: SLT Link (Careers), Principal
- Theme 6: SLT Link (Careers)
Watch the short video below that explains this approach to completing an Internal leadership review:
Here are further examples of how different institutions have approached the review process, to bring the appropriate colleagues together and achieve agreement on the statements that best reflects practice:
Example 3:
“As a team, we took a three-stage approach to completing the process. Firstly, as a careers team (Careers Leader and SLT Careers Leader), secondly inviting our wider Senior Leadership team including our SENCo to feedback on our responses, and thirdly our Headteacher and SLT Careers Leader met to discuss and agree best-fit responses. This approach created the opportunity to raise awareness of careers, to share the potential of careers contributing to wider school improvement aims and to quality assure decisions from the viewpoint of other leaders within the school.”
Example 4:
“We initially completed the self-evaluation process as a team of two (SLT Careers Leader and supporting Careers Leader) and were keen to position ourselves firmly in column 1. We then discussed with the wider Senior Leadership team which has helped to raise the profile of careers and gain further buy-in from the Headteacher and SLT. Inviting SLT to contribute to best-fit responses prompted actions and also highlighted that our existing approach is more strategic and stronger than we originally thought.”
Example 5:
“A core group of us met together (Careers Leader, Trust Central Strategic Careers Leader, Careers Link Governor) and we agreed the ‘best-fit’ statements through discussion and debate, with elements requiring us refer to evidence to justify our decisions with each other.”
Example 6:
“As the Careers Leader, I completed the process and then met with the Headteacher to discuss this. Where there was a difference of opinion, I was able to explain my judgement and we discussed and were then able to agree on the ‘best-fit’ response.”
How to use the Careers Impact internal leadership review feature on Compass+ to get the most out of the review process.
The digital feature allows you to centrally record responses agreed in your internal leadership review discussion.
You will also have instant access to a summary of your institution's responses, including a visualisation showing a snapshot of your institution’s indicated areas of strengths and priority action areas.
Signposting to support and resources for each theme area is provided to drive continuous improvement. You will also be able to share this visualisation and recommendations for support with colleagues involved in the distributed leadership of careers.
Each time you complete a Careers Impact internal leadership review, you can record your responses and compare with previous reviews to track your progress.
- Log in to Compass+ with your email address and password - https://auth.careersandenterprise.co.uk/compassplus
- Follow our guidance on How to access the internal leadership review on Compass+
- Once you have completed a review, find out How to access internal leadership review responses on Compass+
- For additional guidance, read our Overview - Internal Leadership Review
- You can also view our latest webinar recording on how to prepare and record an Internal leadership review > Watch previous Compass+ webinars
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