7.7

Work experience

Work experience plays a vital role in enabling people of all ages and backgrounds to gain valuable insights into the world of work.

There is a clear commitment across government departments to work experience and work-based learning opportunities. While there are some differences in priority, this applies to all political parties, with the involvement of employers in learning and specifically in career development at the heart of all policies.

Commitment to improving work experience

In Quality, Choice and Aspiration (the Young People's IAG Strategy), there is some commitment to ensuring work experience provides young people with a meaningful insight into the workplace.

Already, all young people taking the new Diplomas must undertake 10 days work experience. Work-based learning is also already central to apprenticeships. However, the statutory requirement for young people to undertake a period of work experience is to be reviewed, with the aim of improving the experience and broadening access to ensure everyone can benefit.

From the strategy:

We will develop a new vision for work experience and will review the DCSF work experience standard expected of work experience in time for the start of school in September 2010.

We want placements of all types to be on offer - short, extended, internships and for both pre and post 16 education; but it is vital that they are all of high quality so they provide young people with an insight into the skills and attributes they will need for the world of work.

To deliver sustained improvements in the quality of work experience we will:

  • consult on whether to make the DCSF standard for work experience a mandatory requirement, to ensure a universally high standard of delivery so that all young people and employers get the best out of work experience placements
  • look to strengthen and raise the profile of the Institute for Education Business Excellence annual employer awards scheme for excellence in work experience, to celebrate the role employers play
  • continue to work with the Institute for Education Business Excellence to promote best practice to schools and employers and develop standardised materials that assist the process of establishing work placements
  • work with the Professions Collaborative Forum to secure commitments from the professions, and will examine the scope of third sector providers, such as the Social Mobility Foundation, to provide more work placements
  • build on the success of a ‘Big Conversation' national event, organised by Business in the Community, to expand and improve work experience by funding further events in regions and sectors, to help make best practice common practice
  • look to Education Business Partnership Organisations to challenge stereotypes in career choices and to strengthen their focus on professional work placements, tasters and mentoring for those from disadvantaged backgrounds with the ability to enter the professions
  • support the development of new online, virtual work tasters to give young people insight into career options, focused on the professions
  • promote more opportunities for work experience for young people aged 16-18, in line with RPA and our ambition to extend career education to 18
  • encourage the public sector to do more, by engaging public sector employers in the Big Conversation roll-out, and by ensuring that DCSF leads the way as an employer in its own right, implementing a more structured and focused approach to work placements.

The Graduate Talent Pool

This initiative was created in the wake of the recession in order to give graduates of 2008 and 2009 a step onto the ladder through short-term placements with employers. In essence, it is a central, national database of opportunities offered explicitly (although not always exclusively) to these graduates. The policy distinction is that graduates of 2008 or 2009 who have claimed Jobseekers Allowance for six months or more are allowed to continue claiming whilst undertaking an unpaid internship for up to 13 weeks.

Information for employers is available

Information for graduates is available