Work experience - Normal or a bit crap?

[Neolara]

I received an email from my dcs school today saying that all children in Year 9 will be expected to shadow one of their parents at work in 4 weeks time. If we can't arrange this, our child must shadow one of the parents' friends at their work. Parents / parents' friends are expected to supervise the kids at work and the employer should undertake a risk assessment. And we need to send a form back to school in 2 weeks time telling them what we have arranged.

So, i'm having a complete WTF response. Firstly, this is absolutely the first I've heard of this. There has been no mention of this before. Two weeks to sort this out if its not straightforward seems ridiculous. Secondly, I don't have a job and my DH says it would be completely inappropriate for my dc to shadow him because of the nature of his work (which I'm not going to reveak but he totally has a point). Thirdly, do employers really not mind if their employees are distracted by looking after their dcs for a day? Fourth, can't see many employers being delighted by having to fill out additional paperwork for an activity that does not benefit them in any way.

Or is this all totally normal?

My dcs school don't do this.
Theyve suggested she do this this summer, she's just done her gcses. I've suggested she gets an actual job instead.

Is it a one day "bring your child to work" thing, or a full on two week work experience?

At DDs school they do two weeks, but you have a year to sort it out, and they help those that can't sort out their own. Y10, not Y9.

It's one day, year 9 and she will have only turned 14 he week before..

That is absolutely bloody ridiculous, way too short notice and very presumptive about parents’ ability to do this. Sounds like someone meant to organise it ages ago, only just got around to it and is thinking it will all be ok if they just dump the problem on the parents.

I thought there had to be insurance for the kids as well?

Our school stopped work experience as it is too much to sort out all the insurances etc these days, and everyone has to stay in some form of education until 18 anyway. Gone are the days when a 14 yo could go out with a plumber in his van for a day/week.

work experience is supposed to be compulsory, but it is nigh on impossible for a school to arrange for every individual pupil, so the onus is on the parents or the pupils themselves , largely.

It can be taken into consideration when applying for further education etc, but isn't necessarily important as long as young people have plenty of other work experience to put write about in their personal statements and discuss at interview, undertaken after the school time work experience.

My dc would hate to have to shadow me or dh doing our jobs. I’m a childminder so in the holidays, the dc end up helping me anyway and dh works in a crappy factory, delivering stuff around. They would be absolutely bored out of their brains doing that. If they have to do work experience I’d much rather get them doing something interesting related to something they want to do when they are older. I think it’s a very badly thought out plan tbh.

Let your daughter stay at home for the day and watch The Apprentice? Say that GDPR prevents you from giving any details about where she was working.

Or could she do a day of volunteering for charity? (I know this can be tricky with under 18s).

We’ve had to arrange something like this for our year 10 DC. There is just a short form to send back to say where they are going and with whom. Still a pain though, IMHO, and really not of much value.

A couple of years ago we had a year 11 student from a school at my office for work experience for two weeks and there were various forms for the employer to fill in. One said something like “You have to have insurance otherwise you won’t be eligible to have a work experience student”. !!!! I thought, FFS, we are doing THEM a favour, not the other way round!

Tbh, I would probably send the form back saying "not possible." What if neither parent works? What if they work in a job which is dangerous, or isn't based at home (thinking army, oil rig workers etc)? I would do it if it was easy for you to arrange, but otherwise would give it no credence whatsoever.
Fwiw, my DD did one week's work experience at her father's previous place of work, but she was 17 which made it easier.

DS's school do this. They do have an "in school" alternative for DC whose parents can't organise something. I think most DC in his year are going to a workplace though - whilst individuals might not be able to organise something, it must be pretty rare not to know anyone who works somewhere that itsn't inappropriate.

My son did work experience in a Chemist. The owner made him sit in the back room rerolling till rolls on to different spools as the Chemist had bought the wrong ones. I went mad! So the next two days he was tasked with cleaning the shop. Work experience?! Cheap labour!! Most pointless week of his life...

It's very crap.

My DH spends upto 6 hours a day driving to a meeting, sometimes just to have a quick conversation and a signature. Other days he spends 9 hours at home just talking on the phone. The DC are totally aware of this, they've often witnessed it, so would be bored after 30 seconds.

My 2 DSs have both had brilliant weeks work experiences, and DH could arrange for DD to see the office based parts of his job with colleagues in London; much more inspirational than DHs actual job.

So yes, it's shit.

Totally ridiculous. Very few parents would have suitable jobs to do this.

Let her stay home and say your job is a mother.

Just keep her home and fill in the forms yourself.

I think for one day it's not dreadful. The only thing I would think is that it's going to be great for the person whose parent works in an area the child's interested in and can find things to do (dh works in computers in a small company and I'm fairly confident that for one day they'd work something pretty good out). But for the person whose dm is a cleaner and df works on a building site (so can't have under 16s) and wants to be a doctor it's useless.

It is hard to sort out work experience, between something that's useful and something that's good for them to do.
We were recently asked if we could take work experience children. We worked out what we thought they could do, and some of the things were good experience, but a lot would end up being "clear the filing cabinet" type level-useful for us (probably!) but a waste of their time. I concluded that we could use probably a couple of half days, or perhaps a couple of hours a week, but a week wouldn't be fair on the pupil.

HSBC and Barclays both offer 2 week work placements for schoolkids. Go to your local bank and arrange it.

For heavens sake - read the post - it’s One Day!!! We used to call it take your DC to work for a day! It’s not one week or two weeks. It’s Y9. It’s a sample day! If you cannot do it, say so. The school won’t be closed. Many people do have friends in organisations that are used to it and have the risk assessment pre done. Or, go and volunteer in the local charity shop. They may well be ok and have a risk assessment done already.

I agree the notice is too short and, no, a member of staff would not have been organising this as it’s Not Work Experience. It’s take your DC to work day. Yes, of course it has little value!

I think it’s really crap. What if your parents don’t work, how shit is that kid going to feel?

Some work places are absolutely not suitable for a kid. I would be tempted to write in and say the lap dancing club you work at won’t allow under 18s

Totally inappropriate to assume that a parent can sort this at short notice! There are SO many jobs that cannot permit children tagging along, let alone the parents who are not WOHPs. Work in hazardous siruations, client confidentiality, etc.

I manage the Work Exp enquiries for my firm. I strive to arrange realistic placements that give genuine value to the pupil. The summer term places were all allocated before Christmas!

What will happen if you reply to the school just saying "No"?

I think it’s a real pain. Having said that, DS(16) had to do the “go to work with a parent” day a couple of weeks ago. DH took him to work and DS has a great time- came home and announced that DH has the only boring job in the office (definitely true)!

The HSBC and Barclays schemes are selective and usually booked up months in advance ,likewise most law and accountancy firms.

I agree for one day it sounds not so bad, we had a colleagues daughter in for one day , but many employers would not be keen to have a random 14 year old in.

We've had people bring in relatives for their 'Day at Work' experience, and normally arranged a small project for them to work on, so the day had some meaning.

Never been asked to sort out insurance though.

Sounds exactly like the last ditch option they give the braindead kids once the class potential has been expended on worthwhile positions