Last week, the Social Market Foundation published a fascinating report, Things worth knowing, which looks at the role of ‘assumed knowledge’ in youth transitions from education to employment.

Their evidence shows that young people from more privileged backgrounds and those with graduate parents appear more confident and adept at navigating their way through the education system into careers.

Nick Brook, CEO of Speakers for Schools, which supported the study, highlighted that one of the most effective ways of filling pupils’ gaps in knowledge of the world of work is through quality work experience.

At The Key Group, we agree that giving pupils access to the workplace is essential to their success. But our report on the national state of work experience, published this week,  indicates that less than half of pupils do even one week’s work experience.

Nearly 7,000 schools in England now use Arbor as their management information system (MIS). Working with the attendance data that Arbor collects, we have gained insights at a national level around work experience (categorised with its own attendance code) that we don’t believe have been possible before.

In our report, we look at how many days of work experience are actually being done across the country as well as differences by region, setting and various pupil characteristics (SEND, FSM, EAL and sex). We’ve also been able to compare findings with data from before the pandemic.

Unfortunately, work experience provision varies hugely across the country. But overall, while 78 per cent of secondary schools in our sample recorded some pupils as having done some work experience in year 10 (the most common year for it to take place), only 49 per cent of pupils themselves actually took part.

Where pupils were getting work experience, it averaged just under a week. Just 2 per cent of pupils completed two weeks. 

The Labour government is aiming to guarantee two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person. While we are awaiting further details on how exactly this will run, we are assuming it will apply to pupils before they finish year 11.

Two per cent to 100 per cent is hugely ambitious

An increase from 2 per cent to 100 per cent of pupils is a hugely ambitious target. Yet I, for one, am throwing my support behind it. This matters.

To achieve it, we will first need to encourage many more employers to step up. Our findings suggest that only around half of pupils do work experience – and where they do, they average around 5 days – which means we will need to quadruple the number of ‘placement days’ offered by employers in order to meet the manifesto pledge.

Whether this involves employers who currently offer work experience stepping up to offer more days, or take more pupils, or engaging employers who have never taken part, it’s clear that organisations big and small will need to increase their offer.

We estimate that for every 30 employees on the payroll, an employer will need to offer 10 days of placement.

Interestingly, rural settings (perhaps with closer links between local businesses and schools) are already leading on this. Our data shows that they secure more work experience than schools in urban communities. 

To meet this target, education will need to paly its part too.

In today’s digital world, there are better ways of facilitating contact with employers than publishing an email address on a website. If schools and trusts made it easier for them to get in touch via standardised forms on their websites, we would remove some of the barriers to making those crucial connections.

Coupled with support from organisations involved in enabling work experience, this should ensure that many more opportunities are realised. 

We live in a time where, for multiple reasons, young people have less access to paid work in their teenage years than previous generations. Work experience placements can be a great way of making up for this.

It’s time for educators and employers to pull together to move the dial on ensuring placements for all.

Read the full report, ‘How many pupils are getting work experience?’ here