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.

Ds1's school is doing work experience in sept when he will be in yr11. A lot of places have said they. Can't pupils at this time and they have a shortage of places. Ds1 has been given a week at a dog kennels and a week in a pet shop.
His interests are science and medicine, he's hoping to do alevels in physics, chemistry, biology and English. How they think working in a kennels and per shop relates to a physics degree , (he wants to go into nuclear power) I don't know!

I have a postgraduate degree and am probably what you would consider academic.

I did work experience in a SEN school aged 15. They taught me a load of sign language, some of which I still recall now. It was a great experience.

YABVU.

Poppies away - it might not help his career ideas but just learning about what it is like to go to work, to work for others and see what it's all like will be useful.

Or he could try finding an alternative. Some labs accept WE students.

Even if you're 'academic' and planning on going to university you still need to have an understanding of a working environment, if you wish to get a job at the end of all your studying anyway.
Hasn't this all been hashed out in the news already?

Work experience was good for me ok I only lasted 2 days, but those 2 days put me off hairdressing for life.

I think the week is very valuable if parents bother to support their DCs find a decent placement. That goes for 'academic' DCs just as much as 'non academic' DCs.

OP I'm not sure if you're at the stage of UCAS apps yet for any of your DC, but being able to articulate what you gained from a relevant placement can be very powerful on a ps. And that's without getting into the argument of whether a ps is even read by a uni department :) For an aspiring medic, you'd be daft to dismiss the week as irrelevant or a waste of time - it's an opportunity. And that's without getting into the argument about whether medics need to be 'academic' :)

As a PP says, the week also be hugely effective in putting you off a particular profession for life.

My workplace gives work experience to these kids. It is great opportunity to understand different careers in more detail. It can be of great help to academic teenagers to validate if a particular career is of interest, and help them identify which university courses are most suited.
I know some kids who decided Engineering is definitely not of interest, I know another who ruled out medicine, and also one who confirmed medicine was where her heart lay. All based on their one week work experience.

I was "academic" at school - got a clutch of A grade A Levels and I have a 2:1 from an RG university. My work experience was tremendously useful. I did two weeks in the constituency office of my local MP, and then they had me back as a typist/filing clerk, and paid me. I worked there in summer and easter holidays for three years, and that experience helped me get decent office temp work as a student, so that when I left university I had good experience for my CV, which landed me a permanent job. Now I'm a mid-ranking policy officer in central government. Obviously I could have done that without the work experience placement, but it turned out to be a great start.

In Australia, a week's work experience is mandated at federal level, a legal requirement for every student. I rather think it's the only compulsory thing in secondary education here, like RE in the UK.

The idea that it's not quite as necessary for the "academic" child is patronising and erroneous.

Just turning up on time every day for a week at 9 to 5 is a real eye-opener for many students.

Wow - I haven't read the whole thread but skipped to the end convinced I would find the OP had been joking ....

My ds is, I guess what the op would class as academic (top set grammar). He wants to do computing at uni and work in IT. He found his own placement with an IT company which he has just finished, absolutely loved it and learnt loads.

My 'top set' DS absolutely loved his work experience at a computer graphics company. It wasn't just about the actual work, as has been pointed out up thread, it was working in a team, managing his time, and being independent.

YABVU. I loved my year 10 work experience, and loved learning all the way through school. I was always going to continue with education after school.
I did a week at a primary school and a week at a local newspaper. (Only did the primary school as had a spare week to fill and the paper only did one week's work experience.)
It gave me concrete newsroom experience and stood me in good stead for my later journalism NCTJ course.
Everyone should get the chance to have work experience. It's invaluable.

Massively unreasonable. It was a very positive, formative experience for me which I still value and remember fondly decades later. Embrace it and try to help make sure they make the best of it.

YABU and really shortsighted to boot.

All of my DCs are very academic and all have worked all year round at whatever jobs they could get from age 12 on, when they started babysitting and doing lawn mowing and odd jobs. DD4 (almost 13) just started with babysitting regularly. They have answered phones on weekends and have done office dogsbody work in summer.

The beauty of their jobs is that they learned respect for work itself by seeing just how much sheer drudgery (wiping of poop, etc) it takes to earn minimum hourly wage when your only qualification is a nice smile. Better still it has made them realise how lucky they are to have the chance to avail of their academic tracks and the chance to go on to third level education. And it has reinforced their motivation to go on to third level and forge careers for themselves let's face it, by doing so they will be able to earn more than minimum wage and enjoy opportunities for intellectual growth, and promotion or even career changes. They are under no illusions however, that working at a career track job, just like a job in fast food, requires lots and lots of actual work showing up and getting the job done. So working is a Good Thing.

In Ireland a whole year (the fourth year of a six-year secondary cycle) is devoted to exploring alternative subjects and challenges, and doing work experience or volunteering while also working on subjects that will be taken for the Leaving Cert cycle. Despite some criticism the programme seems set to become a fixture. A majority of students avail of the opportunities the extra year offers. It's a wonderful idea imo. I know so many friends and fellow students who found they hated what they ended up doing in university back in the 80s. They might have wasted far less time in blind alleys if they had had a chance to find out at 16 what (for example) engineering as a career consisted of.

My DCs are in the US where most students work their way through high school and then university, even in prestigious institutions like Ivy League schools. DD1 was able to support herself fully while an undergrad and paid off one of her loans before graduating. She was never without a job. By the time she was interviewing in her final year she had a huge amount of experience on her CV. She accepted a job offer before her final exams.

Just working for workings sake is good as has been said a lot on this thread.
No one should be above doing a cleaning job, stacking shelves, community work.. what ever.
It depresses me that some parents think that work experience has to be relevant to say being a brain surgeon for their academic darlings.
No, it doesn't. Learning to get up in the morning and just get on with a job, smiling and being respectful to all around you is an important life skill.

I am glad to hear that people find it positive and that they work their way through high school and university in US.
I have been fighting a losing battle on another thread where an over privileged 18yr old hasn't had a CV, and his mother can't see why he would need one, and is off to university and expects to walk into a job at graduate level. According to the poster, and others, life should be all about fun and time to think- as if you can't do both.
I fail to see why an employer would want anyone without work experience, who has never had to strive for anything.
Not only is it good for the academic child to use it to sort out what they want to eventually do, it doesn't any harm at all to do lowly jobs.
A part time job at Argos was thought beneath him on the other thread, whereas it may have done a power of good- if he could have got it- and good practise for applying for work.
I think some people are way out of touch with the job market for graduates and do not realise that applications for some jobs can reach treble figures! A proven work ethic goes a long way.

BackforGood I agree the students should organise their own placements, but DD's school gave only 3-4 weeks' notice, which turned out to be not nearly enough time to contact workplaces, be refused by many, shunted around by others who'd never done it before and didn't know who had to sign off on what ... There was also some paperwork or approvals needed between the workplace and the school....

Most of her schoolmates just went to their old primaries because that's what their school encouraged.

DD actually did a second, voluntary placement later that summer, in one of the places who failed to get internal approval in time for the proper WE week because they'd never done it before. Great for her, but no help for next year's Yr10s, also mostly shunted back to their own primaries, except for those with family connections - which one might argue is actually a realistic introduction to the world of work these days!

I recruit academic people (min degree level), many with PhDs. I would be unlikely to look at someone without any work experience (& when interviwed they generally perform v poorly). Those without work experience tend to be a nightmare to manage in terms of attitude as well!
Work experience by end of year 11 should be compulsory imo

Lijny - 3-4 weeks notice? That's awful! At our school it's the same two weeks in June every year but in any event there's a meeting for parents at the start of year 10, booklets are sent out and students are nagged by the school to have sorted out their work placement by January/February. If they don't/can't sort one out themselves then the school has a list of employers they can direct the student towards.

Students are not allowed to go to their old primary as the school think this will be too comfortable/easy for them. They can go to a primary if they want - just not one they used to attend!

I think if a student knows what they want to do when they leave school then it's obviously easier to focus on relevant work experience possibilities. Not such a rewarding experience perhaps if they don't know what they want to do long term.

My son wants to be a chef and he just got a place for work experience in a lovely little restaurant after being tuned down for many others due to insurance.

He can't wait and I think it will be great for him to see the realities of work life. He kind of assumes right now that it will all be easy and that he will be able to get a job after college as a top chef and won't have to wash dishes.

He is not academic really so he is probably a child you would think should go

I think it is vital for all children.

"He does also look at stuff like the DofE scene positively "

Well, he shouldn't. If he does he is discrimination against students who for whatever reason can't do it. Who are almost always the poorer, more disadvantaged candidates.

But Hakuniversities and employers can't disregard everything based on the fact that some people can't access it.

TBH, high grades are not accessible to some students, even the clever ones, bcause their schools are dire and their homelife is chaotic.

Yes, we contextualise, but obviously this leaves out a chunk of young people.

And TBH D of E is pretty accessible. All schools can offer it. And for cash-strapped students it's virtually free. It's more accessible than music or sports. It's more accessible than a part time job for many students who live in areas where work for young people is as rare as rcking horse shit.

YABU Some "academic" (as you put it) minded children would actually benefit more than others so that they appreciate what working life is like.

Why the heck did you put brackets round half of your title for no reason??

Poppies is your son never going to apply for a saturday job or part time work to see him through uni? Id think work experiance in a shop would be a good thing to have if he is thinking about earning himself some money in the next few years.

I think its a good thing, they get some hands on experiance of what working is really like, learn some people skills etc