I don't want ds to do work experience.

[Alouisee]

He's in year ten and has been told that for two weeks in July he must find a placement. He has contacted two bike shops but they havn't even replied.

I'm not keen on pushing him to contact lots of potential placements just so he can become an unpaid slave for a fortnight.

I feel that the school like to clear the decks in the summer with the residentials taking place and work experience happening. I'm quite happy to arrange some tutoring for him for those two weeks but I'm feeling a bit of a chicken about telling the school that work experience is for their benefit and not for the benefit of my son.

Anyone a teacher and got an opinion or a parent and been in this situation.

CVs, not CV's, surely.

We don't have any relatives to ship him off too. Elderly grandparents are all we've got and my il's currently renovating a house and out at work every day won't have time or inclination.

I have stated my opposition several times on this thread. I don't object to him working, I object to the tick box mentality of making all children at the school go out at once.

None of the boys in his friendship group have found anything yet except a couple who will go to work "with dad". I really don't think it's going to end well.

Nope, it doesn't sound as though it is going to end well.

But surely it makes far more sense for them all to do it at the same time, then they aren't missing lessons others are being taught when they're off doing work experience? You're not making any sense.

All it shows employers is that it was on their curriculum. It doesn't show any self motivation.

The thing is, there's always two sides to these sort of things. We had to do WE when I was at school - you didn't get to approach employers yourself though, just put down what you were interested in and got allocated a job.

I spent 2 weeks answering telephones and stuffing envelopes for the council. Admittedly, it didn't bother me, I had quite a nice time messing around with the office junior, and got a rotten report back along the lines of 'Takver doesn't show much commitment'

But, given that I already had a paid Saturday job, and then spent my summer doing very well paid CV enhancing work experience with a bond trading firm in the City (which I got by chatting up one of the customers in the shop I worked in) it wasn't really that much of an asset to my future career and certainly didn't feature on my CV

If he hasn't got the motivation, he hasn't got it. What I don't understand is why exactly you think you're doing him a favour by allowing him to continue with a CBA attitude. Believe me I've worked with interns who have an attitude that they're cut out for running the place, and should just be allowed to skip ahead, even when they don't have the skills or experience to do so. Without exception they are SHIT and won't be recommended for any jobs by me at least.

You seem to think that aiming for a good job, and being able to do less high-powered jobs (or parts of jobs) when needed are mutually exclusive. In fact nearly all the time the person who can turn their hand to anything without complaint, whether that's photocopying some papers or high-level research, will be the ones who are a joy to deal with and who will get the good references and jobs.

There is stirling advice on here, I think you are just ignoring everything we've all said.

I can empathise with the OP, even if I don't agree with all she says.

One thing that seems important to me is that it puts adolescents in a position of dealing with adults who are neither teachers or (necessarily) friends of the family. They will need to establish their own identity, rather than being Mrs So and So's son/daughter.

I remember this being very important to me when I had my first Sat job at 14 (yes I was paid; 45p and hour as I recall), being greeted by adults in the street who had no idea who my parents were, but who definitely knew who I was.

It was almost a rite of passage for me.

I don't get why you would want to deprive him of something that could turn out to be valuable experience. You seem to think the teachers are going to be sitting with their feet up for a fortnight and that's their only motivation for arranging work experience, which I am certain is not the case. You have some very odd opinions.

"But surely it makes far more sense for them all to do it at the same time, then they aren't missing lessons others are being taught when they're off doing work experience? You're not making any sense"

weekends, evenings, holidays..

Cory yes I suppose there is that, but in our case there WAS a regional hospital (where a lot of my year in school later worked) and police stations and childcare settings/schools, but they were not on the school's list for the enforced WE. We didn't apply to the hosts either we applied to the co-ordinating teacher. You could arange your own within their restrictions, but with hospitals etc banned my friends and I waited till the summer or following year to apply to those kinds of places ourselves in our own time.

With this kind of attitude, it's no wonder youth unemployment is sky high in this country.

What happens when it comes time to apply for paid employment? Will you encourage your son to give up after he writes 2 applications?

I agree it would make more sense to stagger the work experience for the local schools. It's what used to happen in this area. Compulsory year 10 work experience here has now ended. We were told it was due to central government cutbacks.

I do think you are prone to a bit of exaggeration. Do each of the four local schools have 1000 year 10 pupils?

If it's part of the curriculum it should be done in school time. They can arrange their own work experience paid or otherwise in the evenings, weekends and holidays. Doing it in the evenings or weekends would rule out many kinds of work experience anyway, the majority of office jobs for a start.

My son did his w.e. last summer - his school apply for jobs from an approved list. It did him the power of good. He had to contact the firm to confirm his placement - not me and he had to arrange all the details etc.

Got himself up early each day and cycled to work. Sorted out his security pass etc etc.

He had the best 2 weeks ever - learning so much. He's now applying for an apprenticeship for the same company.

BTW it was a nuclear power station - some of his work (once checked) is back in the workings!

"they were not on the school's list for the enforced WE"

but is this argument applicable to anybody doing WE today? I haven't heard of any secondaries around here who run a restricted list: the point that is constantly rubbed into children around here is that WE is partly an initiative test and that you will do better the more you put into it

At my school you can go wherever you like for WE so long as they fill out the relevant insurance and health and safety forms on time. Some kids go to London or other big cities and stay with relatives while they do their WE.

"We don't have any relatives to ship him off too. Elderly grandparents are all we've got and my il's currently renovating a house and out at work every day won't have time or inclination."

Won't have time or inclination for what? It's not your work experience. It's not your ILs' work experience. It will be your DS's work experience - he is the one who has to sort out how he gets to work and does it on time.
This seems to be the element of work experience that you are misunderstanding. It's not about you and your hopes & wishes for DS; it's about him doing things for himself.

It can be impossible to find worthwhile WE placements for hordes of y10s simultaneously.

I'm a teacher & we use the freed up time to visit the kids at their placements. One of my very 'average' English GCSE students is a changed girl after two weeks in the stockroom of Wilkinsons; she says she'd rather gnaw her own feet off than do that again, so is now working her butt off.

A prediction of 10 A - C sounds unusually vague to me. We'd normally give a two grade range of 'expected' & 'target'. Tbh, if your ds isn't being predicted As, you may be unrealistic to think that tutoring will generate A/As - & if his more likely outcomes are Cs, he could probably do with the breadth of experience rather than assuming a GCSE/A-Level/degree/high-flying career trajectory.

Bloody hell.

Are you really going to stop him from doing the same as all his friends.

You sound like a nightmare to be honest.

Well, he won't find anything if doesn't get off his backside and look/write. This time last year, my daughter didn't have a placement either. By the end of January she had two (one week each) and we live in the back of beyond.

Hers couldn't be in the line of work she would like to do but were great experience all the same and the second week was really outside of her comfort zone - dealing with the public (she is quite a shy person).

Being positive when the chips appear to be down is a life skill in itself. However clever he is or isn't, one day he will be in a competitive environment looking for work. May as well start now.

Stop mollycoddling him.

the tick box mentality of making all children at the school go out at once.

But what else could they do? Three kids this week, four the next, and so on throughout the year?

I assure you WE is not for the school's benefit: the organisation involved, the visits, the contact and the follow-up is a massive job.

Yes some placements are less inspiring than others, but at the very least kids learn to get up and get there, and interact with people they might otherwise not have done. I've seen the forms they fill out when they get back, and 9-5 is often the biggest deal for many of them. Many of them end up with jobs out of it, they learn all sorts of skills along the way, and although I am quite prepared to find my dd spends a fortnight photocopying in March, it will still be worth doing.

And never underestimate how crap it is to be the 'only one' - when all his friends are comparing notes and discussing it afterwards and he's been doing extra lessons because Mummy didn't want him to do work experience, that will not be pleasant for him.

And yes, '10 A*s-C' sounds very vague to me. Haven't they said in which subjects he's an A and which a C?

I think you're being rather precious and certainly U.

Coming late to this, but I can see both sides of this.

I didn't do WE, and with hindsight I wish I had. I was terribly shy at 16 and was convinced I was too ugly for anyone to want to hire me. (Of course, when I look at pictures of myself at that age - wtf?!) My mother (probably not keen on the transport hassle - we were quite rural) eagerly agreed that I didn't have to do it and wrote to the school excusing me. If only I had participated - it would have done me the world of good. As it was, I didn't do a day's graft until I left university, and boy was I green.

OTOH, I can see that it is difficult when several thousand local schoolchildren all try to find a work placement for the same two weeks. Especially when you don't live in an area bursting with employment opportunities, let alone interesting ones. In dd's primary school this past September there were three ( three !) year 10s per class.

And it does make one growl with resentment when you hear about some people's contacts. There was a poster on here a while ago who said her niece/nephew had had placements shadowing Tamara Mellon and the Archbishop of Canterbury !!!!!

I think the OP has been given a rather rough ride, I personally don't think she comes across as arrogant, but has very valid concerns tbh.

My dd did her WE this year. It wasn't really ideal, as two other schools within 10 miles had their WE week at the same time. So upwards of 800 kids were seeking placements at the same time. She couldn't get a placement of her choice (aviation) as there were no places etc and she ended up getting a placement as backstage staff at the local theatre. All fun and everything, and she enjoyed herself to an extent, but I wouldn't say that it was particularly useful.

One thing which I didn't consider at the time alouise and which might be something you can consider - my dd's friend desperately wanted to do her WE with the local MP's office. It was impossible to do this in the allocated WE week, however she was very determined, and managed to secure WE in the school holidays. During the actual WE week itself, she went to school but sat at the back of her tutor's classroom all week and revised for her exams. Would this be something that you could do (my dd's school was initially very resistant to the idea, but came round in the end).

I haven't read the whole thread, but as a provider of work experience and as a employer support for WE preparation I can tell you that for the vast majority of students WE is one of the most influential parts of their school career.
An enjoyable WE can put you on the path to a successful career, but even an unenjoyable WE can have benefits by identifying what aspects you didn't like and narrowing down the list of career choices. One of the most valuable skills gained is learning to work with people you have never met before. I also believe that being able to say I didn't enjoy my WE, but I stuck it out and still got a good report.
Our last student saved a life on his first day, I am vet we delivered 3 kittens by c-section and he rubbed one of them back to life.