To think sending (academic Yr 10 pupils out on a weeks work experience is a waste of time).

[smokepole]

I can understand the point of work experience, for some pupils but surely the more academic pupils would be better off having the week in the classroom. My DDs 2 grammar form teacher agreed with me, along with all the difficulty in finding work placements and insurance implications. It surely can be of limited benefit for students who will mostly go in to higher education. I believe schools should be able to decide which students, would benefit from work experience . The schools should also be able to decide to opt out of the scheme, if they think there 15 year old pupils would benefit more in a classroom environment.

On the other hand for non academic pupils, it can be a pleasant change.
This was the case for pupils from DDs 1 secondary school, who in many cases actually enjoyed their week in industry. It is also more relevant to those students as most will not go in to higher education and therefore, helps them gain relevant experience early.

[MackerelOfFact]

I did my work experience at a newspaper and now work in publishing. My friend did work experience at a pharmacy and now has a PhD in immunology. My DP did work experience at a dental practice and is now a dentist.

I'd say that work experience was wholly useful for all of us, and looked great on our CVs when applying for university and first jobs.

[MidniteScribbler]

I'll admit I'm out of touch these days with the teenage generation, but when I was growing up, it was actually a big thing to get yourself a part time job when you turned 15. We all counted down the days until we could apply to the various supermarkets and retail stores to try and get a few hours per week of work because we actually wanted the money to work. This was at a private school as well, so students who could be supported by their parents, but anyone who didn't want to get a part time job was considered slightly odd. Have things changed that much?

[LemonSquares]

Yr 12 does seem very late - it was lower sixth - yr 11- so could go on UCAS forms.

Though I did sort out my own work experince in a possible employment area later on at end of yr 12 before a summer job - it made clear I wasn't going to be happy in that sub-area. So I image it could be of benefit.

[magpiegin]

Why would it be more of a waste of time for the academic children than the less academic ones?

[RiverTam]

there's a difference between getting a weekend or part-time job and getting relevant work experience, though.

[Kewcumber]

The year 10 work experience was a waste of a week as she was deemed to young to do anything. The placement sent her home at 2.30 pm everyday as they had no more filling to be done and could see how bored she was.

So academic teenagers need to be protected from being bored and having to do filing but non-academic teenagers it would be good for them so they can learn what the rest of their life is going to be like? I'm sure you don;t really htink that... (am I sure?)

I'm an accountant - I had to struggle through more than my fair share of boring photocopying and drudge work for years both before and after qualifying.

Luckily I had been working in a shop since I was 12 and worked every long boring holidays until the last summer hos at Uni when I only worked 3 weeks and took the other 3 off (wild thing). I coped pretty well with knuckling down to work after that. But as a training manager for a big accountancy firm I've seen my share of graduates who felt that the (necessary but boring) work they were doing was beneath them. One even asked me what their motivation was. I said it was their pay cheque at the end of the month.

Your attitude won't help them in the long run.

[WorraLiberty]

My DS2 is very academic

He wants to be a senior school teacher

Next week, he starts 2 weeks work experience in a senior school....

[Shallishanti]

are you mad??
you think 'academic' kids somehow already know the importance of punctuality, reliability, following instructions etc etc
and in any case, afaik, schools HAVE to provide work related learning.
Being bored is a learning experience in itself. Nobody is too good or too bright to do boring work.

[lainiekazan]

Elephants - it is not easy to get a job, I agree. With ds nearly everyone pulled the Health & Safety card. Some might have been genuine but I bet for a fair few it's an easy excuse to avoid having an annoying 15-year-old milling about the place.

It was also rather galling to find that nepotism is alive and well. Eg the placement on the local newspaper was taken up by - utterly coincidentally, I'm sure - the editor's niece. Some firms had "special relationships" with certain schools, too.

Ds was in fact one of the last pupils to find somewhere, but I think of everyone he knew he enjoyed his placement the most and actually got the most out of it.

[ConferencePear]

I think work experience can be useful to all children because of the change of focus. The whole point of school is that it is run for them and it is useful to see that you are not the centre of attention.
I remember one of my pupils being surprised at being 'taught' how to answer the phone until it was explained to her that the moment she answered the phone she represented the company.
I could cite lots kids who have come back into school with their attitudes and ambitions changed by their work experience.

[MidniteScribbler]

there's a difference between getting a weekend or part-time job and getting relevant work experience, though.

Any job is good for teaching transferrable skills. My many years of part time work in a retail store throughout school and my first university degree taught me a lot about acting professionally, working with colleagues, dealing with difficult clients, working with people with disabilities or from non-English speaking backgrounds, keeping detailed records, having a high standard of presentation, having to reach targets, being accountable and maintaining my cool in stressful situations. All skills I still use today in my current career.

[LittleMissGreen]

I found my work experience very useful, I changed my mind from wanting to be a hospital doctor to being a GP. I'm sure that the substantial healthcare related work experience I gained from year 10 onwards - working in a pharmacy, GP surgery, hospital ward, hospital theatre etc was useful in getting so many offers to study medicine.

[grendel]

DD is currently half way through two weeks of work experience and is loving it. She is very academic and realistically probably won't end up working in a shop as her final career, but the work experience is about so much MORE than the actual 'work' that they do. It's about getting yourself up and out the door on time EVERY day to catch that bus, it's about being appropriately dressed and behaving professionally. It's about learning not to goof around and really listening to instructions. For my sometimes socially awkward DD it's about having to interact with a bunch of strangers and actually, you know, TALK to them. It has been utterly fantastic for her and her confidence has grown so much.
And now, maybe she has a chance of a Saturday job with them. Or if not, she has someone to provide her with a reference for a different job. And something to put on her CV.
I'd say that the experience has been invaluable for her.

[toobreathless]

Bloody hell OP....

Work experience is VITAL across the board!

Because some idea of what you want to do is important to chose the right A Levels to get onto the right HE course!

It was my year 10 work experience when I decided I wanted to be a doctor & that guided my a level courses.

Open your eyes, I would consider my career 'vocational' and highly academic.

You are doing your children no favours.

[LemonSquares]

I think how useful the experience is does depend on how motivated the DC is to get somewhere relevant and luck and nepotism place a role in that as well but mainly on the company and people involved in the placement which is outside the school and the student’s control.

So I'd agree it can be a hit and miss exercise.

Though it only a week or two in my old schools case – and as it’s usually such a different experience to school or pt jobs something is almost certainly going to be learnt from the experience.

[bruffin]

My academic ds 18 work experience was in the local photographers, he loved it but was a bit spoilt as it was 5 minutes walk and he didnt have to be in until 10.
His paid work has been as a life guard. Cleaning up changing rooms is hardly academic although the qualification is a lot of intense studying for a week. He also did some paid assembly work at dh engineering company.
It has all been good experience for him

[5Foot5]

What about the (presumably) very academic students hoping to do medicine/veterinary science etc who need every bit of WE they can get in order to have an advantage over all the other students vying for the same places?

Exactly. The Y10 work experience, if they are lucky enough to get a relevant placement, could be a toe in the door for further placements. Not to mention it gives the child a chance to see whether this career might really be for them. My DD got 3 days ward experience in our local hospital - mostly menial work but she did get to shadow and talk to some of the doctors. Ultimately she has decided medicine is not for her though that wasn't necessarily as a result of that placement.

Her friend got a weeks experience at a local veterinary surgeon and that made up her mind that it definitely wasn't the career for her.

Good placements can be hard to find but I think even the process of getting such a place can be good practice for the pupils. We didn't do the running around for DD she was quick off the mark and got the info and made the application herself - which I think was good practice for her.

Worth mentioning that at DDs school the Y10 work experience was during the half term so they didn't miss any lessons for it anyway.

[Noodledoodledoo]

In year 10 I was really torn between becoming a solicitor or an accountant. I had done lots of research into both but we had two weeks of work experience and I managed to get a week in both places. I got it by visiting every single solicitors and accountants in the small town in which I lived as parents were always very much of the attitude you want it you go and get it. It helped make the decision of which route I wanted to go - the solicitors bored me senseless and I was doing more than filing. In the solicitors I was sat in on meetings, typed letters, covered reception. In the accountants I was given a set of accounts to produce (I am convinced it was more like reproduce) so I was doing 'proper' work.

I also did some work shadowing during Yr12 in an insurance firm to discover more about being an actuary - also really beneficial.

I think academic students benefit grately with social skills, work life skills, and its good for the CV regardless of what the work is!

[IHeartKingThistle]

Academics need the real world too and the negative experiences can be just as valuable.

I was extremely academic. I was determined to become a journalist. I went on a work experience placement to a newspaper and hated it so much I changed my entire career plan. Without that placement I would have 100% done a journalism course and wasted a lot of time.

[Damnautocorrect]

I was academic and I spent a week in an office it did me wonders for confidence and have me an idea of the work environment and what's expected. I think it benefits everyone
I also did a few weeks in various places I was considering work, all interesting and incredibly valuable. I employed a 16 year old and if I'm honest he hadn't a clue about how an office works he certainly would have benefitted and he was one of the schools best pupils

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

YABU. I did work experience in the local cottage hospital aged 15, as did two others from my class. Of course, it would have helped if they had asked or I had said at the beginning of the week that I was there because I was interested in being a doctor rather than a nurse (they assumed girl = nurse, I didn't realise until day 3 that they had made this assumption. It was 1999, ffs!). Anyway, it was both interesting and useful.

[Kewcumber]

and at 2.30 when she's bored I'd be telling her to go around the office and offer to make everyone a tea/coffee and ask if they've got anything that needs doing or research something for them on the internet.

[7to25]

My very academic son did work experience in Law. He loved the lunches but Greenock Sherrif's court was a bit of a shock to his finely honed mind. He is doing a pure maths PhD. It crystallised his choices for A level as he needed to do double Maths.

[littlepeas]

Lots of the most academic and competitive degree look very positivity on work experience (vet science is the one that immediately springs to mind).

[Icimoi]

It really depends how it is organised. I work in an office where we regularly have work experience students of differing ages. Most of the time it's a pain in the neck because we're scratching around finding things for them to do, and anything they do has to be checked because they can do some spectacularly daft things, e.g. sending the post out in the wrong envelopes. I think my favourite was the Oxford medical student who, when asked to print off letters and copies and file the copies, proudly filed the originals also. When it was pointed out that the purpose of writing a letter was to get it to the addressee and, um, it wasn't going to get there if it was in the file, he looked quite dumbstruck.

My dd did work experience in a school, enjoyed it, and is now a teacher. DS' school, on the other hand, were really disorganised; they eventually found him something in a charity shop and didn't bother to check it out first, or indeed during his time there. On the first day he'd reorganised and sorted out their stock and cleaned the shop thoroughly, after that they sent him home after a couple of hours every day because they couldn't think of anything for him to do and they had more than enough staff for the tills.