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WORK EXPERIENCE

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The benefits of work experience

A work placement gives your child a chance to: 

  • Gain an insight into the world of work

  • Use skills required in the workplace such as teamworking and good timekeeping

  • Develop self-awareness and confidence

  • Understand the links between their school subjects and the world of work

  • Meet new people who could help them in the future

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Why a part-time job could be good for your teenager

 

As a parent, you might worry that part-time work will distract your child from studying. But a job can have lots of benefits.

Your child could:

  • Develop their skills in teamwork and timekeeping

  • Get a reference from their employer when they apply for jobs and courses in the future

  • Earn extra pocket money

Part-time work is a great opportunity, It gives them an understanding of the rules of the workplace and teaches good timekeeping, reliability, responsibility and working as part of a team. It also helps to build their confidence.

'Some young people build a career out of their part-time job.’

So what can you do to support your child if they’re looking for a job?

WHAT IS WORK EXPERIENCE?

 

Work experience may be defined as: a placement on employer’s premises in which a student carries out a task or duty, or a range of tasks or duties, as would an employee, but with the emphasis on the learning aspects of the experience.

 

Work experience is governed by the Education Act 1996, as amended by the School Standards & Framework Act 1998. The main features of work experience are:

 

Only students in their last two years of compulsory schooling, or students taking post-16 courses, are eligible;

 

Placements occur on employers’ premises; and the clear majority of pre-16 placements last for two weeks, but post-16 placements can be more varied in length depending on the course being followed.

 

The ‘hands-on’ nature of work experience placements is distinct from ‘work shadowing’, which involves students in merely observing employees at their tasks.

 

Those under school leaving age may take part only in schemes for which the arrangements have been made, as part of a student’s education, by the Local Education Authority (LEA), or the school’s governing body on its behalf.

 

The success of a placement relies upon an effective partnership between the employer, the work experience organiser, the school and the student.

 

BENEFITS TO EMPLOYERS

 

Work experience placements provide many opportunities and benefits to both employers and students. Those most commonly cited by employers are:

 

  • influencing the quality of future employees: employers can help improve the quality and preparedness of young people coming onto the labour market;

  • development of recruitment channels: building links with local schools can help to attract school leavers into jobs and can reduce recruitment costs;

  • influencing career choices: many employers have found that work experience placements are the ideal way of raising the profile of career opportunities within their organisation and, in some cases, of dispelling unwarranted stereotyped views;

  • promotion of vocational qualifications: many students are now studying towards a General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) pre-16. GNVQs are also widely available in several subjects in schools post-16 and are set to become even more widespread over the next few years. There is clear evidence that well-organised work experience placements enrich students’ general education and help to improve the standard of their vocational work;

  • raising the community profile: many employers attach importance to raising their profile in the community. Work experience placements provide a valuable means of creating a positive image amongst students, teachers, parents and employees;

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