Work Experience disaster 14 yr old

[Sula1978]

I have a well behaved 14 year old son. Slightly shy, academic, sporty and keen to be a teacher. My son decided to apply for his work experience at the local primary. It's near our house and his sister goes there. He has just done three days there and has been crucified on the feedback.

We explained to him on the first day to politely introduce himself to the head, go to his mentor with any issues, be helpful and most importantly enjoy it. Got there day 1 and no introduction, no induction, no mentor and left in a cupboard on his own for lunch. The teacher clearly did not want him there. She gave him no chair and left him outside the class sticking worksheets in books for 3 days. He went back to his own school today to a letter from the Primary school saying he was caught playing rock, paper, scissors with the 6 year olds and was seen to pretend bowl a cricket ball along the corridor. He had a bad attitude and was a poor communicator. He's so upset as thought he had done well but was called out of class today to explain.

Should I speak to the Primary to ask why he was crucified or leave it?

I can empathise, I had a rubbish work experience where I wasn't allowed to do anything and left standing around. I tried asking if I could help but was constantly told no.

Then the feedback came that I was uncooperative, didn't offer to help with anything and could I be moved ( it was a work experience where I went one day a week) so was moved elsewhere and got on really well at the new place.

it was a baptism of fire realising that bosses would lie

I already had a Saturday job ( I'm old and it was easy to get a Saturday job at 13/14 and they loved me, as I thought for myself and fitted in with the team) so fortunately I realised it wasn't about me but about the workplace I was in.

I’m 42, I’ve worked where I work for 11 years now and every hour or so we play rock paper scissors to decide who is making the cups of tea. On at least 4 occasions throughout the day someone, usually the H&S Manager, will pretend to either hit a cricket ball, swing a pretend golf club or head in a goal often complete with sound effects. None of this has any bearing on how successful we are at our jobs.

I would ask to speak with the work experience coordinator and put forward your complaints, then tell your son to forget about it and spend 5 minutes feeling sorry for the children who attend that primary school where fun is banned.

Have you ever worked anywhere that isn’t a school? Work experience kids are a massive PITA in most workplaces.

You do it to pay it forward, for the work experience that you were given when you were a kid (and a massive PITA yourself). And then you make an effort to give them a good experience, because they’re kids, you committed to doing it, and you want them and their friends to choose it as a career so that one day you can retire and there are trained people to take over from you. Also, it’s just the right thing to do.

Although my attitude probably explains why I’ve been lumbered with more than my fair share of work experience kids over the years.

Good lord, my DH was not above playing football in the playground in his suit at lunchtimes, as a 60yr old HOD.
The primary school sounds very very up it's own arse.
I am totally amazed at them accepting a 14 year old for work experience though.

From the info we've got he hasn't acted unprofessionally. If anything, engaging children in play should surely be seen as an attribute?

I agree that this is a slightly unwelcome, but potentially welcome lesson, @Sula1978. Best to learn early that some work places are just dicks whatever you do, and that he doesn't have to people please everyone.

At 14 one of our DS did work experience with a small local tech company. They were amazing with him. Did a thorough induction and spent time explaining the business. It was definitely a factor in his decision to pursue a career in tech.
Now he is a senior software engineer and has been in a position to repay the company by helping them out.
That is what work experience can look like.
Bless him, your boy knows what happens in a school, he would have been better advised to go into a work environment that he knows nothing about.

This.

Playing with the children in the playground is one thing but playing rock paper scissors when they're supposed to be writing is another. Pretending to throw a cricket ball when they're supposed to be lining up quietly isn't great either.

As a teacher myself I wouldn't let my daughter do work experience in school because I wanted her to try different experiences. She still became a teacher but at least she'd seen some alternatives.

The good news he has learned how toxic schools are before having done teacher training and being stuck with that career choice

I managed a work experience programme, six staff, organising 4000 placements a year, over two boroughs. The week is part of the process and is not / should not be ever entered without the school delivering lessons in health and safety, employer expectations, who to contact when there's an issue, behavioural expectations. Schools should also check on every student, as this is part of the educational delivery. So, did the school prepare all student's adequately, with work-related learning? What was the mini job description like for the placement, so did he have examples of his duties? Staff rooms always an issue, but that doesn't mean your son should be ignored! Your son's view of the placement is just as valid as the school's and if he had a poor week, this needs to be reported back. Honestly, we tried to avoid school placements unless they were structured or summer term, when there's more fun activities, as often the poorest placements offered, alongside solicitors!!!!

“Bad attitude” and “poor communicator” are concerning but not the playing rock paper scissors / pretend bowling.
I’ve had some absolutely abysmal work experience teens at my work over the years, and supervised them. Even the very worst one I’d have never given a full on negative report.

Could his shyness have been misinterpreted.

I'm a primary school teacher, there is nothing wrong with what your son did. The teacher should have had him hearing children read, working with a group, yes maybe the odd bit of sticking things in if necessary. The school have failed him here, I Hope you can reassure him. X

I'm surprised the primary school agreed to have a WE student at all, given they don't seem set up or prepared in any way to accommodate one. There are some mundane tasks that a 14 year old can do surely? He's not going to be in the classroom helping with lessons, he's going to be in the office doing photocopying and stapling paper kind of jobs.

My Ds also did his work experience (Monday to Friday) in his old infant school. He didn't say very much about it but the feedback seemed fine (and he did help them with a pupil's tech that had gone wrong, he's very techy). If OP's was my kid, I'd be wanting to know why it had gone so badly that they couldn't think of any positives to say - which reflects as badly on them as much as the WE student. A lesson for OP's son that some workplaces are pretty crap?

Maybe they would be better not accepting WE going forward, if it's too much for them. A student playing RPS with the school inmates is hardly a crime, unless it was during Maths...

I got off my own bat a rare and really good science based work experince week at 14 went okay I thought but superviosr who I had little contact with gave a scathing review - had me in tears - it was bascially a character assasination and I'd never do anything worth while in my life added on.

My parents picked up in floods of tears and next week in school I had form teacher ask wtf and head of year have a go at me -they'd hoped to use links with them to get a perferred child in next year as they help some kids get placement though most like me were left to sort something on own- did same the with my Y12 one which I also got with no help from school.

I was so embrassed - but secondary did let it drop. It's had no longer term impact other than my already shaky confidence.

So I wouldn't contact primary school but see how the secondary school handles it - if they just blame him I might get in touch.

Or just having a bit of fun. Given as she’s also trying to make the mum of a 14-year-old feel a bit better.

That seems bizarrely specific, the thing about rock paper scissors. I mean is there a law against playing it? And miming rolling a ball?! Again is that some horrific heinous crime?

If he was smoking, swearing, playing on phone with ear pods, being disrespectful fair enough but he wasn't.

What a weird school. I wouldn't want my kids to go there.

when they're supposed to be writing
when they're supposed to be lining up

You just made that up. I’m guessing your primary school report said ‘CaptainMyCaptain has a very good imagination.’ 😀

Sounds like the primary school is the problem and not him

Absolutely this. He's there to experience what working in teaching is like which means observing the staff and perhaps being given tasks to do by them - if they leave him to his own devices they can't then criticise him as he's not been demonstrated what was expected! Sounds as though he made the best of what he was given and the school needs feedback on how inappropriate their treatment of him was.

My daughter had a similar work experience, the lady didn't like her and ignored her. The manager would come over and ask her to give my daughter jobs to do and to stop ignoring her. It was horrible. She still wanted to complete it. At the end the lady just said, bye and turned her back to her! My daughter thought she was very unprofessional and rude! I was very proud of her resilience, but at the same time annoyed, as it wasn't right. I fed it back to the school and they removed them as a work experience placement. That's all you can do really.

If it makes you feel better then you could write to the head with helpful suggestions for future placements, suggesting that they do not use that particular teacher as she was most unkind and left scathing feedback. The teacher should give tasks instead of leaving them in a cupboard or in the hall ways.

14 sounds very young for work experience in a school - what were they expecting him to do ? I think that many of these so called work experience placements are just window dressing and there is no clear plan on what to actually 'do with them'

Very poor. Put everything undesirable about the local PS down on paper as to why it was not at all suitable to host work experience. Request that they do not send students there again.
Ask that your son be able to complete work experience at a school where a teacher will be actively leading him.

I’m a high school teacher and I’m furious on yours and his behalf!

Awful on the part of the primary school, basically using him as a dogsbody. Then having the cheek to write a report like that. wtf is wrong with rock paper scissors?!? I’d interpret that as him building up a rapport with the students!!

I think with hindsight, I’d have contacted his school after the first day about how he was being treated.

Given that you have a younger child in the school I would not be able to avoid the temptation to take them to task over this.

It won’t go on his records affect things when he applies for courses.

It was an either/or scenario. I have no idea what happened and neither does anyone else including the OP.

It's generally not considered appropriate these days due to the obvious connotations