AIBU to think there should be organised work experience placement schemes for school students

[DuaNinja]

Starting to feel very frustrated trying to help DD to find a year 12 work experience placement. She completed a week in year 10 but this year the school want them to find something relevant to future studies and not just to go to work with your parents or similar. It sounds so easy in theory but in practice why would a random company want the hassle of dealing with a work experience kid? It would be great if there was a proper system in place for this. I believe in Ireland students undertake work experience in year 11 and have a vocational / transition year between lower exams and senior exams (apologies if this is not correct, I only have a very vague understanding of this). In my day the school had links with local businesses and we signed up tor a placement and the company we went to had a plan in place for us. DD's school offers no practical help, just links to websites about how to write a CV. So far she has sent her CV and a targeted email to 9 companies and has not had a single response. Also, if she does get a response, we know nothing about the potential companies offering the place. I would feel happier if I knew she was going somewhere that had been vetted in some way. Not that she is going to get a placement at this rate.

It's tough going, I know. I've seen shout outs in local Facebook groups appealing for these and all sorts but it's college kids too. The T levels I think struggled because the placements are compulsory.

Nice idea in theory but can't see it being a priority with all the other pressures on schools and businesses just now.

Just a suggestion, but I work at a university and I'm often contacted to offer these. We usually try and accommodate it and have had someone in our subject area most years. Depends what it is of course but you could try unis or colleges.

Totally agree. We get asked to host loads of work experience placements and it’s a major hassle - not least because most of my team is hybrid so the days of getting a student to come into the office all week and doing someone photocopying are long gone. We have to babysit the students and no one learns anything. Plus the school make you fill out a million forms and jump through all their hoops, as if they’re the ones doing us a favour and not the other way round!!

My organisation runs a work experience week for year 12 students and I always love doing it but the preparation is a ballache. It is so much harder to do these days as pp says you can't just get them to photocopy things and stuff envelopes.

It’s so hard now as we are creative industry and used to take work experience students all the time but we are now fully remote and I work from my home so the school won’t allow a student to come to me, even though it’s an outside large office space.

With more businesses hybrid and remote due to taxes rate rises and rental costs it’s only going to get harder.

What industry is she looking at?

It used to be a given that parents would give their kids and/or their friends work experience opportunities if they could. Really helpful if without anything concrete to do- just a bit of customer service or being answerable to someone helped open our eyes to the world of work.

Who should be organising them?

Lots of companies do offer placements but often they have a process to select & will take BAME, pupil premium, first in family to go to uni, SEND as a priority. So it can be harder to find one if you’re not ticking all those boxes.

Tbh the organisation I work for have stopped taking Y10-12 work experience students altogether now. Over the last few years the students became increasingly rude and uninterested, so it just seemed like a complete waste of everyone’s time. We’ll take A-Level students (although that’s always been rare anyway) if they’re doing relevant A-Levels and applying for relevant degrees though.

So the school think that a Y12 student should organise some work experience that would make that student look good on their CV or UCAS application and the parent thinks that it should be the school's job to organise this for them?

Got my years mixed up! I meant we’ll take relevant Sixth form students if they show they’re genuinely interested, but no younger. Even that’s under review though.

I send my students on work placement but they must have clear DBS checks and my college has to take out indemnity insurance for each one

The school declare that it's going to be "Work Experience Week" and tell the students to find a placement. It would not hurt if the school could therefore help with placements, would it? Though now I'm on that train of thought, I'm thinking it would be great if the school could help with World Book Day costumes too 😂

Maybe they could tie their shoelaces for them too.

Wouldn't at least sone of the years 12s have part time jobs anyway though? Why go on " work experience " if you are actually working?

A few years ago I had to put an Ad in the local paper to find some work experience for ds's College Btec. No help from the College. Never mind the Secondary Schools requiring it too; it's a right PITA for any employer who has to fill in a multitude of forms and various checks for the 'privilege' of giving some work experience either.

Another very ill-thought out idea from some bods in an office who thought it best to compel it on everyone - I think the idiots are called civil servants as it's a daft idea that politicians of any flavour support without contesting it.

@noblegiraffe surely as the MN (Union) rep for all education staff you would surely know that many courses require work-experince to be undertaken as a prerequisite?

And that in many areas of the UK grown, experienced adults are desperate for more hours to make their living?

Best pop back into your little Union Bubble until you acquaint yourself with some actual facts.

I'm in Ireland and have had one child go through transition year and my other will next year. Mine did 3 weeks of work experience(1 one week in one place and 2 in another). Anyway, part of it is that they have to find the work experience for themselves. Maybe places are more open to taking work experience kids because of TY, I'm not sure but it is still something they are encouraged to find for themselves and it can be quite hard because places have limited spots and the popular places do fill up fast.

Most kids do just find anything, ds did 1 week in a music shop and the other in an Irish language place because he wants to be a translator. Dds friend did it this year and she did one week as an elf at Santa's workshop and the other stint in cafe. She wants to be a mechanic.

Just to add TY is optional for a lot of students and it doesn't actually have any bearing on university applications etc, it's more about the kids developing confidence and finding themselves rather than as a tick box for further education.

It's like you're trying to communicate...

Because if you're applying for, say, an accountancy apprenticeship, then work experience at an accountants is probably more useful on your application than a part time job at the local pub.

Would you be willing to pay higher taxes to fund the extra resource needed to find all these work placements for students?

It's like I actually am @noblegiraffe - you've been hanging around MN for years spouting stuff from purely an NUT perspective - including extending CV19 lockdowns just to protect 'teaching staff' with no thought given at all to the effects, short and long-term on the students you were being paid to teach.

Fair enough, that's been your paid job for a few years, but you don't really have much sway in how parents and teens obtain the work experience that are a prerequisite in obtaining their qualifications when the only thing you can say is "they need to learn how to tie their own shoelaces".

The NUT doesn't exist anymore and I'm not a member of the NEU either, so fuck knows what you're on about.

Well then @noblegiraffe wtf have you been doing here on MN for all these years?

Clearly not what you seem to have thought I was doing.

Yes, I am willing to spend the probable 5p a year (figure pulled from thin air) that it would cost each individual to fund a small amount of extra resource in schools to do this kind of thing. And I don't even feel particularly strongly about it.