Quality in Careers Standard

The Quality in Careers Standard is the national quality award for careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) in secondary schools, colleges and work-based learning. The Standard is applicable in England, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and is fully aligned with the Gatsby Benchmarks. The Department for Education's (DfE) Statutory Guidance for careers guidance in schools and colleges states:

"We strongly recommend that all schools and colleges work towards the single national Quality in Careers Standard to support the development of their careers programme." p.13

The Consortium has four licensed awarding bodies to act on its behalf to offer national coverage. These awarding bodies assess, accredit and award the Standard.

To achieve the Standard, secondary schools, colleges and work-based training providers must provide evidence demonstrating that they meet all the national accreditation criteria in their careers provision. Accreditation assessments are carried out by external, specialist assessors and between them Quality in Careers Standard awarding bodies have over 100 assessors dedicated to the accreditation of the highest quality careers provision. Find out more about getting started with the Quality in Careers Standard.

For primary schools, the Quality in Careers Standard Consortium offers a National Endorsement scheme to recognise awards provided by awarding bodies to primary schools. The endorsement recognises excellence in primary school careers education.