Why Getting Work Experience Depends on Where You Live & Who Your Parents Are

Anne Nicholls explores the reasons why some young people are missing out on work experience.

Unequal Access to Work Experience

Only a third of teenagers aged 16-18 in schools and colleges have had work experience and the number is even lower for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Pupils from independent schools, however, are twice as likely to have done multiple work placements as their state-educated peers who account for around 40 per cent of those in top jobs including 50 per cent of leading lawyers. These are the key findings of a recent ­­­study by Speakers for Schools – a social mobility charity providing speakers and work experience for students in schools and colleges.

Root Causes of the Problem

The reasons for this are not rocket science. Schools and colleges without sufficient staff providing careers guidance and employer engagement simply don’t have enough capacity.

Research by the Education and Employers charity in 2019 found that nearly half of schools and colleges in the UK struggled to secure work experience placements for their students. The situation has deteriorated over the past five years and the working from home trend hasn’t helped. Many employers lack the resources to manage student placements amidst concerns about productivity, insurance, health and safety. But students’ socioeconomic background, where they live and the type of school or college they attend are important factors as well.  

A Student’s Perspective

Zoe Ayling (17), a student at Teign Sixth Form College in Devon, lives in a rural part of the county with unreliable public transport, so travelling to places like Exeter (the nearest big city) to work experience is difficult and costly. But actually finding the right work placement is the big problem. Speaking at the recent Festival of Education at Wellington College in July, she explained the challenges.

“I wanted to get work experience in the law sector and was only able to do so because my careers advisor had a friend who was a solicitor. Just over half of my friends got work placements at local primary schools because it was the only experience they were able to get,” says Zoe. “There needs to be a focus on aiming higher and being able to do a job that maybe isn’t available in your area.”

The Importance of Career Guidance Resources

Many state schools and small colleges have just one part-time careers adviser, possibly someone with teaching responsibilities as well, who has probably never worked outside the education sector and doesn’t have up-to-date knowledge of the the wider jobs market. This is where size is an advantage.

A Success Story: Weston College

Weston College on the north Somerset coast is a general FE and HE college with around 30,000 students. It has a careers and employability team of seven coordinators who oversee the sourcing, coordination and monitoring of industry placements. Many of these are for students studying T-levels where work placements are mandatory. The team have a slick operation and many students have gained employment as a result of their industry placements. But they have encountered obstacles.

Marketing and Communications Director Lisa Fletcher says:

“Finding new employers has been a challenge for us, but we have been successful in making connections through LinkedIn, employer events and inviting employers to the college. I would recommend that others take every opportunity to attend webinars and careers events as you never know who will be there,”

She also advises pushing the social value of industry placements to employers as taking on a student can count towards this.

Challenges with T-Levels and Work Placements

Weston College’s success is not replicated everywhere. According to a July 2023 Ofsted review, there are issues with work placements for T-Levels. These include variable quality of the placements, difficulty finding placements that are appropriate for the subjects students are studying and a lack of knowledge about T-levels amongst employers. The review also found that some students were left to arrange their own placements.

Research conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) also found the supply of work placements to be a major barrier to the scalability of T levels. A similar issue was raised at a recent round table with employers discussing apprenticeships where young people’s lack of work experience was mentioned as a recurring concern.

NFER Research Director Luke Bocock says:

“We found that some employers perceive young people lack the communication skills and work behaviours that they are looking for and which they think can be developed through work experience,”

The Chicken and Egg Dilemma

We have a chicken and egg situation here. Not having work experience is linked to lower odds of young people becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training). But schools and colleges in the more deprived areas are unlikely to have the resources to provide careers advice and secure work placements. Is there a solution?

A Vision for the Future

“Ours is not a country where the cream naturally rises to the top. Talent is spread evenly across this country, but opportunity isn’t. Where you were born – and for that matter who you were born to – can have an absolutely profound impact on your life chances in the UK”, says Nick Brook, CEO of Speakers for Schools. “I’ve set our ambition so that by 2028 every young person in this country should have access to high quality work experience. We can do this. We can get employers to open their doors. We can work with those employers to make sure young people get good experiences. So it’s certainly not dependent on where their mum and dad live, who they know or where they went to school.”

By Anne Nicholls a writer and communications consultant specialising in the education sector.