Two former education secretaries argue for the reinvention of work experience to close the skills gap and the disadvantage gap.
Baroness Morgan of Cotes
Lord Blunkett
Memories of bad work experience persist. The annual teenage procession of two weeks of tea-making at a local firm with little or no benefit to either party still colours our national discourse. People often remark that the only thing they learned from the process was what job they didn’t want. Less return on investment, more dead weight cost.
This needs to change – as policy makers from both main parties have suggested. Modern work experience has more purpose, is focused on those who face most barriers and helps young people build skills – which they struggle to master in school. It stretches over a young person’s time in education, rather than solely a one-off event.
There is a strong foundation to build on. Thanks to the hard work of businesses in many parts of the country (but not all), employer engagement with education has improved considerably in recent years. Young people are having more touchpoints with employers than ever before – inside school, outside school and through the curriculum.
