Careers Hubs: pilot of a place-based school improvement network in England

The Careers Hubs pilot (2018–2020) tested a place-based network model designed to facilitate English schools and colleges delivering career guidance, measured primarily by adherence to eight benchmarks of good practice. Using a standardised measurement tool, career guidance in hub schools was observed to improve faster than a matched comparison group (estimated at +1.0 benchmarks for Wave 1 hubs, effect size 0.4, n = 1,948, p < 0.001). Results are robust to a range of modelling techniques, control variables and adjustments for possible selection effects, suggesting that the networks did support self-assessed school improvement. A qualitative evaluation identified collaboration between Careers Leaders, leadership support, employer engagement, and regional strategy alignment as key drivers of progress.