Future Skills Questionnaire - The development of a tool to measure young people’s career-related learning and skills

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Aran

Future Skills Questionnaire reports the creation of a measurement tool for assessing students’ career-related learning and skills needed to make successful transitions after secondary education and to support positive careers. The process covers consultation with career professionals and sector experts, a large-scale pilot, interviews with careers leaders, and cognitive testing. The latest questionnaire version includes tailored questions for students at key transition points, covering secondary start, GCSE subject choice, Key Stage 4 completion, and leaving school or college at 18/19.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages38

Reading Time1 h 36 min

AccessFree to download

About this report

Introduction

Consultation

Question design

Pilot

Post-pilot versions of the Future Skills Questionnaire

Next Steps

Future Skills Questionnaire: The development of a tool to measure young people’s career-related learning and skills Publication information This paper is published by The Careers & Enterprise Company. It should be cited as follows: Tanner, E. and I. Finlay (2021) . Future Skills Questionnaire: The development of a tool to measure young people’s careerrelated learning and skills. London: The Careers & Enterprise Company. Acknowledgements We are extremely grateful to the careers leaders, students, sector experts and researchers who contributed their time and expertise to the development of the Future Skills Questionnaire. They include the following: • Careers Leaders from 30 schools and colleges who either took part in the consultation, pilot interviews or facilitated student completion of the pilot questionnaires. • 3,500 students from who completed the pilot questionnaire and shared their feedback. • Sector experts who took part in the consultation from the following organisations: Gatsby Foundation, Department for Education, Career Development Institute, Skills Builder Partnership, Edge Foundation, Education Endowment Foundation, University of Derby, Talentino, CIPD, AET academy trust and The Careers & Enterprise Company. • National Centre for Social Research for advising on question design. • Insightful Research for carrying out the cognitive testing. Contents About this report I Introduction 1 1. Consultation 5 2. Question design 8 3. Pilot 11 4. Post-pilot versions of the Future Skills Questionnaire 26 3. Next Steps 34 Future Skills Questionnaire: The development of a tool to measure young people’s career-related learning and skills [careersandenterprise.co.uk](careersandenterprise.co.uk) 1 About this report The Careers & Enterprise Company has created the Future Skills Questionnaire for measuring student progress in the knowledge and skills needed for making successful transitions after secondary education and to set them up for a positive career. This report describes the process of developing the tool, which involved consultation with career professionals and sector experts, a large-scale pilot, interviews with careers leaders and cognitive testing. The latest version of the questionnaire is presented, with tailored questions for students at points of transition: starting secondary school, choosing GCSE subjects, finishing Key Stage 4, and leaving school or college at 18/19 years. Future Skills Questionnaire: The development of a tool to measure young people’s career-related learning and skills [careersandenterprise.co.uk](careersandenterprise.co.uk) 2 This has made me put a lot of thought into my future. I never really thought about it, but now I am considering what jobs I might do, what careers I might have and soon. No one is too young to think about their career. Year 7 student An effective careers programme is tailored to the audience. [With the FSQ we can] amend the careers programme based on the students’ previous experiencesand aspirations. [I] want to use it to identify the gaps and to celebrate the positives. Careers Leader 1 Introduction Our vision for data-driven practice The Gatsby Benchmarks have been a game-changer for schools and colleges in setting out clearly what constitutes good career guidance.1 With over 85% of state-funded schools and colleges now tracking their progress towards the benchmarks using the Compass tool, it is clear that careers programmes are becoming an integral part of the education system and the preparation of young people for their lives after school and college.2 Careers leaders, who drive this agenda, have a framework of good practice, and a means for measuring progress and identifying gaps. What we need now is an equivalent framework for tracking how effectively careers programmes are equipping young people with the knowledge and skills they need for taking the next step after school and college and for positive c

FAQs

Which student transition points does the latest questionnaire cover?

It provides tailored questions for starting secondary school, choosing GCSE subjects, finishing Key Stage 4, and leaving school or college at 18/19.

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Aran