Work Experience

Or, how year 10 finally grow up and realise there is a big bad world out there which they are about to join…

Work experience¹ is one of the things schools are cutting back on, whilst still offering it in some capacity to year 10 students (and year 12). By cutting back, I mean work experience used to be two weeks, but is now only one in many schools I know of.

To be honest, one week is probably enough, but it is essential that students have some sort of WEX, and it would be hugely beneficial if this was relevant to the student.

The thing is, we get students to organise their WEX (which is correct) and that means some work only for their parents or worse – the school. I have done work experience visits where the student is not only working for their parents, but they are still in bed when the visit happens. Now, given we always ring ahead before doing the visit, this is pretty appalling and really robs the student of a week to grow.

The best WEX are in areas the student has some sort of interest in, where both the employer and the student take it seriously. I’ve visited students in vets, caring for animals, and loving every minute of it. One student was absolutely set on being a vet nurse, and after visiting her, I asked ‘why not be a vet?’ She knew after WEX that she didn’t want the stress and demand of being a vet, but absolutely wanted to be a nurse. Terrific – WEX has done it’s job.

Another student did WEX in a local accountancy firm, becuase working in finance would earn him ‘bare bank³‘. I saw him on day three of his placement and he was absolutely ‘out of his gourd⁴‘. He was not great at sitting still, to be fair, so the prospect of sitting at a desk for hours every day was not filling him with joy. I think this is another example of WEX doing it’s job – what if he had gone to University, then discovered he hated the work as a 22 year old heading into the world of work?

People are apparently switching jobs more often now, with over 60% of people switching career altogether⁵, so WEX plays an increasingly important part in ensuring our young people are entering the world of work with their eyes open. It also gives them something to talk about on UCAS applications, or to someone interviewing them for a job.

Sometimes WEX doesn’t go to plan, and it needs a little intervention from us to make it more successful for the students. Years ago, I visited a student doing a placement on a London radio station. The girl was really looking forward to it, but when she got there, they had her working in the office doing some filing and looking at accounts. She said this to me when I arrived, so I mentioned it to her supervisor and we were immediately taken to one of the live radio booths. A couple of minutes later and we were live on air, talking to the whole of London. Not sure what happened to the student as I left the school not long after this, and I hope she went on to work in local radio. She was certainly buzzing after the afternoon with the DJ.

Of course, I went from there to someone who was stocking shelves in a local shop, so my buzz didn’t last long. The student didn’t look impressed, but I thought it was funny as they were a bit of a challenge.⁶

The really great thing about WEX is similar to what I wrote about Sports Day last week. We get to the students in a different setting and a different light. This can really help strengthen relationships, which despite the old adage of ‘don’t smile till Christmas’⁷ can only be a good thing. Relationships are, after all, absolutely key to teaching. You don’t have to be liked to be a good teacher, but it really, really helps, and if you think back to your own schooling, you probably worked best for the teachers you liked regardless of the subject.

Currently there seems to be a bit of a split in teaching with the whole ‘3,2,1’ countdown to all eyes on me, strictness and relationships. I would argue you can have both, but that is perhaps a topic for another time.

So, for those students who fully embrace WEX, it can be a life changing event. For others, it’s a week off school where they can hopefully get some experience for life. Hopefully for everyone, they realise the working week is quite tough, so you really want to enter it knowing you will at least enjoy your job⁸.

Until next time.

FOOTNOTES

1. Let’s call it WEX from now on as I can’t be arsed to type work experience again and again. ↩︎
2. No thanks! | Know Your Meme ↩︎
3. Make lots of money, apparently. ↩︎
4. Really bored, apparently. ↩︎
5. Career Change Statistics | Careershifters ↩︎
6. This is teacher code for ‘dick’. ↩︎
7. The worst advice anyone can ever give a teacher. ↩︎
8. The Holy Grail of Employment? ↩︎