Our aim is to weave employability through the curriculum. We define employability as a set of skills, knowledge, understanding and personal attributes that make a person more likely to choose, secure and retain occupations in which they can be successful and happy. We see it as equipping boys with skills for life beyond Eton. In doing so, the Career Education department seeks accreditation biennially through the awarding body Career Mark to attain the Quality in Careers Standard (QiCS). In Nov 2022, the department was revalidated as making good progress towards this national standard and won a Gold Award through Complete Careers.
Eton Futures introduces boys to the significance of employability and encourages them to develop this throughout their time at Eton. Employability is the set of skills, knowledge, understanding and personal attributes that make a person more likely to choose, secure and retain occupations in which they can be happy and successful.
Eton Futures has put in place a wide range of opportunities, activities and support to help its learners progress to the next step of their career journey.
Career Mark Quality in Careers Standard assessment report 2018
We calibrate our success against the eight Gatsby Benchmarks, fundamentally a description of what good career education, information, advice and guidance should look like.
1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each boy
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experience of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance
Eton Futures was first awarded the prestigious Quality in Careers Standard in 2018.
We have two level-7 qualified career coaches who hold the Qualification in Career Development (QCD) awarded by the Career Development Institute. As such, our progress is reviewed regularly against the CDI Framework (April 2021) along the following six dimensions of employability:
a. Growing throughout life
b. Exploring possibilities
c. Managing career
d. Creating opportunities
e. Balancing life & work
f. Seeing the big picture
From the early stages of their time at Eton, learners are encouraged to think about understanding themselves and then thinking about their futures and how they need to develop employability.
Career Mark Quality in Careers Standard assessment report 2020
The department ensures that boys receive age appropriate guidance, information and advice through a planned programme of career, employability and enterprise education delivered via a variety of agencies and partners. The general programme includes assemblies, parent meetings, regular Focus on Careers newsletters as well as access to at least weekly VocSoc speaker meetings, sector-specific networking events, and other co-curricular society meetings focussed on the professions.
We run Business Insight Days, immersing groups of boys in a company or a sector for a whole day, exposing them to the culture of a business and acquainting them with some of the many career tracks that exist within it. We utilise the Shortlist.me platform to allow boys the opportunity to practise asynchronous interviews, a widely used selection tool. There is an extensive range of information and advice available on our internal platform Firefly and boys also have access to a wide range of other online platforms and services such as Morrisby, Unifrog, Shortlist.me, EtonX, EClips, SACU and Cappfinity Strengths Profiling.
In principle, career education is made available to all blocks (year groups), but the following timeline indicates particular events and opportunities available for boys in each block:
F Block (Year 9)
- ‘Morrisby Aspirations’ Profiling
- F Block baseline survey
- ‘Career Education at Eton’ tutorial
- ‘World of Work’ tutorial
- ‘Introduction to Unifrog’ tutorial
- ‘REED Virtual Work Experience’ programme
E Block (Year 10)
- ‘Personality Profile’ exercise
- ‘Morrisby Aspirations’ Profiling
- ‘Labour Market Information research exercise’
- University/other pathway exploration in SACU
- Research volunteering opportunities
- One-to-one meetings with Career Education
- Extensive Business Insight Day programme
D Block (Year 11)
- ‘Post 16 Intentions’ tutorial
- ‘Morrisby Profile’ and independent advisor meeting and report
- ‘CV Writing module’ (EtonX)
- ‘Values’ exercise
- Volunteering planning
- Work experience planning
- Business Insight Days
- One-to-one meeting with Career Education
C Block (Year 12)
- ‘Strengths Profile’
- ‘Interview Skills module’ (EtonX)
- University/Other Pathways tutorial
- ‘Personal Statement’ tutorial
- Promotion of MOOCS
- CV and cover letter support
- Volunteering planning
- Work experience planning
- Gap Year advice and Fair
- Workshop programme including LinkedIn, Financial Trading and Finance
- ‘Ten Top Tips to get you Hired’
- Commercial Awareness
- Business Insight Day programme
B Block (Year 13)
- BMAT, UCAT and LNAT training via EtonX and other providers
- Revisit ‘Strengths Profile’
- ‘Applications List’ tutorial
- LinkedIn workshop
- Personal Brand workshop
- ‘Ten Top Tips to get you Hired’
- Commercial Awareness
- CV and cover letter meetings
- Asynchronous Interviews – ‘Shortlist Me’
- ‘University Interview Skills module’ (EtonX)
- Gap Year Planning and Support
Contact Information
George Fussey RCDP, PGDip, QCD
Director of Career Education, g.fussey@etoncollege.org.uk
Cathy McKenna RCDP, PGDip, QCD
Deputy Director of Career Education, c.mckenna@etoncollege.org.uk
General Enquiries to career.education@etoncollege.org.uk
