How to Get Young People into Summer Work Placements That Match Their Personal Aspirations – FuturePath Summer…

The legal base for working in UK…

• Age 13: Young workers can start part-time employment safeworkers.co.uk+1.
• Age 14: Children can get a part-time job, but only in ‘light work’ childlawadvice.org.uk.
• Age 16: Individuals can start full-time work once they reach the school leaving age

I see a lot of kids in summer roaming around with nothing really fit to do. I know it’s the summer holidays, but are we leaving kids behind by just letting them roam around the streets without any aspirations or an organised structure of growth and learning in holidays.

I say, yes, we are.

Here’s a practical proposal for structured learning beyond the classroom in holiday seasons.

Opening

Every summer, thousands of young people finish school and suddenly have six weeks with little structure. While holidays are important, they also represent an untapped opportunity.

What if schools and colleges helped students spend part of that time exploring careers that genuinely interested them? It would be a beneficial service for schools and colleges to actively engage in this “properly”. Not just a relaxed would you like to do work experience over the holidays. It could even be made into legislation that schools and colleges and to some degree universities are obligated to actively engage in helping young people find work experience placements in holiday season.

Not by leaving teenagers to organise placements themselves, but by building a structured programme with local employers months in advance.

Of course, students need to show initiative themselves, but the responsibility should lay with schools and colleges – as after all parents are taxpayers paying teachers to educate and advise. There needs to be more career advice – in my day, there wasn’t – and this has been something that has always lacked in society over the decades.

There has always been so called YTS Schemes. In fact, snooker in the boom years had its own YTS scheme where players were actually paid to play and learn snooker. This was short lived. There’s an article I sourced on the British Newspaper Archive that listed this.

But this article is more broader than snooker – and is about how youngsters can continue to grow away from school and colleges in the holidays.

Maybe even snooker clubs could take part in initiatives where some schools work with them permanently. Not just take on the odd student here or there but regularly (annually).

That is the fault of politicians. A lack in proper structured work placements.

Step One: Find Out What Matters to the Student – Student Survey…

Rather than treating every student the same, each would complete a Career Aspirations Survey, asking questions such as:

• What careers interest you?
• What subjects do you enjoy most? What untapped skills are there?
• Do you prefer practical, creative or office-based work?
• What skills would you like to develop?
• What type of workplace appeals to you?
• Are you interested in self-employment? Enterprise?

This creates a personal profile rather than simply finding any available placement.

Step Two: Schools Build Local Business Partnerships

Schools could work with:

• Restaurants
• Sports clubs
• Newspapers
• Law firms
• Hospitals
• Engineering companies
• Marketing agencies
• Construction firms
• IT businesses
• Charities
• Leisure centres
• Other

The emphasis would be on quality placements with clear learning objectives.

Step Three: A Structured Summer Placement

Instead of one week’s work experience, students might complete a four-week placement during the summer holidays, perhaps three or four days each week.

The aim wouldn’t simply be to observe or just make tea.

It would be to experience:

• Teamwork
• Communication
• Responsibility
• Time management
• Problem solving
• Customer service
• Professional behaviour
• Sports centres

Why It Matters

Young people often leave school with strong academic knowledge but relatively little experience of the workplace.

For me, schools and colleges are just one big memory test – and they offer nothing other than a place for kids to be tested on how many facts they can memorise and write down on paper and then WHAM BAM – you’ve got your A or A star. If you haven’t got an A or A star memory early on – what next?

Not enough is done in schools and colleges for career pathways advice.

A programme like this could help bridge that gap by giving students the chance to test career ideas before making important decisions about college, university or apprenticeships.

Some might discover they love an industry that they never imagined they would get into.

Others might realise one ‘s not for them.

Both outcomes are valuable. Instead of spending time in cafes or hanging around in parks, they could be filling a valuable gap in their personal learning, and also filling a gap in the local community with structured work guidance and who knows – the local businesses have a pool of talent to draw on when their memory test education ends.

Local businesses complain all the time about not having enough staff or they can’t afford to hire. I say that’s BS. You’ve got the potential personnel roaming around the streets. Or even in your restaurants and cafes already so USE THEM. Or retail shops. Right there.

The government know this. Schools and colleges know this. But what are they doing about it? Not a lot.

Final Thought

Education shouldn’t only prepare students to pass exams.

It should also help prepare them for life.

A well-organised summer work placement programme based on each student’s interests could give thousands of young people EVERY YEAR experience, confidence, to experience and a clearer sense of direction before they enter adulthood. At least their CV would have something other then a set of grades on it – I value experience and passion more than a certificate.