I don't want ds to do work experience.

I had a similar situation, grumplestiltkin, also growing up in a small rural town. But to me, that was part of the learning experience, realising exactly how little there was there for me; it made planning my future (=escape) more real than any talks from my parents could have done.

I am 21 so did this only a few years ago (well thats how it feels )
I applied to do W/E at the local Records and Archives office - my placement was not like unpaid work OP. They gave me a crash course in all the key skills involved in their job so as to fully benefit me. I actually got a job purely on the basis that I'd learnt a certain skill through W/E. AND, it benefitted my GCSEs - we had to do a speaking and listening assignment based on our W/E in the form of a 3 minute presentation and this was a % of our overall grade for English Language. It also gave me experience in the kind of work that I wouldnt have been able to do as a part time job - the skills involved were specialised. the company used the placement as means of advertising themselves and their field. i wasn't left doing photocopying and making tea for 2 weeks. Would STRONGLY recommend that you encourage your DC to search for a placement.

We lived in a rural area when my ds and dd were looking for work experience. Both my children found interesting work placements in cities staying with a relative (in one case) and a family friend (in another). They needed permission from the school, but the school could see how they would benefit and therefore agreed. This might be a possibility for the OP's son?

if you're in a small rural town, 15 years old, there's 30 of you looking, and the hospital, police, childcare settings are banned, no amount of initiative is going to find you an inspiring WE placement. I did well to "land" an art gallery instead of a pound shop. I used my initiative to get a decent WE placement in my old time when I was old enough to do hospital WE, and to get my paid summer/weekend jobs, but you're not much use to anyone if you're only there for 2 weeks unless it's REALLY menial and IMO interesting potential hosts would prefer to take kids who are applying to do it in their own time rather than those who have to because it's their 2 week WE slot in school

It may be a waste of time, it may not, but why deny him the opportunity to find out?

I think that compulsory work experience, pre-GCSE is just like lots of other bits of education: it will mean more and be more enjoyable for some students than for others - and you will tend to get more out of it if you put more effort into it in the first place.

I hated standing in defence on the hockey pitch watching my legs turning purple in the cold - I was no good at it and I didn't want to do it. It was memorable though and lots of people did enjoy it. The fact that I didn't want to be a sportswoman and had no aptitude, didn't mean that it was pointless part of the curriculum.

Work experience WILL be useful for lots of the students - as has been demonstrated by so many of the comments on this thread. Your son might not benefit much - on the other hand he might. You and he can do all you can to make this part of his education as valuable as it can be.

It's not so much for his CV, it's more that it provides extra and different experience from the experiences he currently gets at school and thus it's a useful part of education in its broadest sense. You may find that what he gets out of it has very little do with the narrow definition of the work he is assigned to do.

Both my children were keen to find work experience that they might actually enjoy (since they had to do it) so they worked really hard to find opportunities that would have some interest and relevance for them. The fact that you are intelligent and articulate and have high hopes for your son means that you and he could make the MOST of this opportunity for an educational experience that is not about his academic work. Children have more than enough time to have to concentrate on lessons and revision - this is a chance to blow away the cobwebs and learn a little about the world outside the school walls.

My school was right beside the airport, but it was me that asked to do work experience in the air traffic control centre.

imo the most transferable skill is the one involved in finding a worthwhile job to do

noone forces a kid to go out and find a boring and uninspiring WE placement, but it can be a useful eye-opener to find how much initiative you need to land a job that is not boring and uninspiring

wow that was very good! lucky you! nothing like that from our school! it was all shops and galeries etc apart from one girl got an artificial insemination centre for cows - she wasn't at all interested in agriculutre or animals so..

Depends on the teacher R+T, my history teacher said I wasn't even capable of passing, as it happens I found HER dull and got a B in the exam. Some other teachers would have said I was capable of high grades, but I did have a few very poor teachers who could have made me hate subjects I otherwise liked. I got high grades across the boards BECAUSE of some good teachers and IN SPITE OF some bad teachers who didn't think that half of us were capable of much

Yes it was school organised.

I agree that work experience probably doesn't do much for the kids who are too lazy and unmotivated to want to make the most of it. BUT in this case it sounds like Alouisee's DS does want to see what work is like, and it's his mother who seems determined to deny him this experience, whether paid or unpaid.

As for 'life changing' - well I suppose mine was in a way as I got a job out of it straightaway, which would have been less likely if I were just one more 14 year old dropping off my cv. And this helped me to get other jobs etc etc - 'CV building' as someone else said. OP I think you are having a real problem understanding this. One thing that my working life has taught me is that you NEVER know which seemingly unimportant part of your CV will be the part that gets you a really good job.

I think it's extremely dangerous that you are pinning all your son's hopes on this friend or relative's business. For whatever reason you seem very sure that he will never need to compete for a job. But even with the best will in the world things can go wrong. What if the friend goes out of business for example?

trixymalixy was that a school organised 2 week placement? I also did fantastic work experience in a hospital which I used to get into uni, but hospital/police etc based placements were not allowed on our school organised two week WE (I think because the local station/hospital got sick of 30 letters every year from kids who weren't really serious about WE but HAD to do it).

I did the hospital WE off my own bad the following year, I don't think that kind of WE is what the OP is complaining about??

But presumably Grumple if your folks had asked at school, your gcse teachers would have said you had the ability to do well, Alouisee may well have the same with her son. However her messages read as quite stressed so I'm thinking underneath she might be a bit concerned that her son's academic progress is falling short of her hopes for him. A chat with his teachers could help at this stage.

My work experience in an air traffic control centre stood me in good stead when I had my interview to get into the University air squadron, it showed I had a prior interest in aviation and it helped me answer some of the questions I was asked. I got 22 hours of flying lessons out of that and a solo flight, it was extremely competitive to get in to.

ALouise, you are really not coming across very well on this thread, I really hope you don't pass your attitude problem onto your DS as it will not do him any favours in the work place.

I would be much more diplomatic in RL if asked than I would answer on here. You get the truth on MN and generally very good and impartial advice and if you choose to ignore the advice given, you are a fool.

in some areas tuition for GCSE is standard, I had extra tuition to "get me through" GCSEs but by that we meant to get me the grades I was capable of, I got very good grades, good A levels, and a good degree. A lot of the tuition I had at GCSE was about learning how to learn/study/revise/perform in exam situations which prepared me for A levels and university. Tuition isn't just for remedial cases

Alouise - in an early post you mentioned your lad had been asking to do a paper-round, but it wasn't possible.
Would he actually like to do some form of work ?
He might be keen to have some more spending money / independence, regardless of any longer-term job prospects.

If he had a part-time job school would be more understanding should you decide not to go for the WE fort-night.

Reading between the lines I think you sound quite distressed, as though you hope for more of your son than he might be capable of.
Which might explain why you feel so anti-menial jobs.

If he needs extra tuition to pass gcse's he is not really going to be a'level material, if he has to work so very hard at even this level of study, uni may well be beyond him - work experiance because he "impressed a friend" - is a bit of a cop-out.

Why not have a word with his teachers about just how academic he is, and listen to him too - he may better suit a vocational route.

I agree that the most useful work experiences are not likely to be ones that are enforced on students. They are much more likely to get something out of it if their is a positive willing attitude and a placement is carefully chosen.

I think there's a huge amount of over estimation about the transferable skills that WE hosts will trust a 2 week FORCED WE kid to learn on the job.. I've worked at helping teens do CVs in the past and transferrable skills from hobby commitments were much more useful! really turning up for 2 weeks doesn't really show commitment, doing something for a year plus does

Irrelevancies should be excluded from CV's.

Relevant examples of competencies gained and demonstrated during WE can be hugely important at interview stage, especially for 'first' jobs.

"I'm just referring to several posters who said their DC changed their attitudes or gained motivation because of the WE." and I asked you who? other than yourself? excluding those who were in fact talking about PT jobs and longer term volunteering not the 2 week school work experience, I can't find any other personal experience of changing attitude after 2 weeks enforced work experience on here.

"worried about my wayward DC"? That's your addition.

I'm just referring to several posters who said their DC changed their attitudes or gained motivation because of the WE.

I have worked with lots of students who have come back with a new and improved attitude.

I upped my game after my own work experience as I was determined never to end up in that job