Blog posts for tag:preparation for life and work

Schools and businesses want to see the return of compulsory work experience for pupils, a new poll has shown. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) polled over 3000 business owners, with 82% agreeing that it should be mandatory for all pupils under 16 to be offered work experience placements. 79% of those surveyed said work experience was necessary in order to equip young people with the skills they need to succeed in the workplace. Similarly, 73% of schools, colleges and universities supported the calls to make work experience compulsory in schools again.

The idea of teaching ‘character’ to schoolchildren has gained more and more traction of late, with advocates highlighting the importance of making sure pupils leave school with certain traits and behaviours such as confidence and optimism, drive and ambition, resilience and grit, tolerance and respect, and curiosity and focus. We at NCFE believe that children need more than just good grades to succeed. We’ve seen first-hand the benefits of ensuring children develop character traits, attributes and behaviours that will set them up for success in education and work, as opposed to only focusing on the academic side of things.

Fellow North East-based educational charity Teach First have stated that all schools should have a professionally trained teacher delivering careers advice to their pupils. In their report titled ‘Careers education in the classroom: The role of teachers in making young people work-ready,’ the charity said that at least one teacher at a school should specialise in careers advice and employability, and that this should be at the core of each curriculum led by teachers, and supported by businesses and policy makers.

Last month the Education committee published the report on PSHE and SRE in schools. Describing the government’s strategy for improving education in this area as weak and as a mismatch between rhetoric and the actual steps that have been taken to improve education in this area, the report didn’t exactly hold back.

A new campaign by employers is backing ‘soft skills’ as a key factor for success in the workplace. Research has shown that transferable skills such as problem solving, initiative, and team work have a clear economic value worth a huge £88bn to the UK economy. Business giants such as McDonald's, Barclays and the CBI are supporting the campaign to promote the value of these skills, underlining how essential they are in terms of young people progressing into work from education.

A recent survey carried out by NCFE has outlined that the high cost of further education has prevented almost half of UK adults gaining advanced qualifications. This comes as figures show that the average graduate debt is now £53,000 after tuition fees rose in September 2012. With an average of 250 people applying for each corporate job, and with 20% of graduates unemployed in their first 6 months after completing their university course, there is an increasing demand for vocational courses and Apprenticeships.

Further Education is an option for people at any point in their life. For some, it’s a natural progression from school; for others it’s an option later in life should they choose to pursue a different career path, upskill, or simply learn something new. Vocational education can come in the form of a 2-year Apprenticeship, a college course, or a part-time course that can be studied in the learners’ spare time and allow them to fit it around their other commitments. Yet in comparison to Higher Education and schools, it’s not as widely researched and as a result, it could be seen as an easy target for funding cuts. We have iterated numerous times how important the Further Education sector is to both personal and professional development, and the nature in which qualifications are rated according to importance, with specialised subjects more likely to lose funding in the education sector. Earlier this year the government announced they were to cut funding for 5000 adult vocational courses and highlighted particularly niche and ‘low value’ courses such as self-tanning and balloon artistry, which appeared to support the notion that many of these courses were invaluable and a waste of taxpayers’ money, when in fact many other valuable courses that weren’t mentioned also faced the axe.

‘The relevance of enterprise in education’ is Lord Young's third and final report on the importance of entrepreneurial spirit in education. The report is the latest in a series of moves from the government to make sure that young people leave education prepared and ready for the world of work. The review, aimed at all stakeholders in the world of education, contains a number of recommendations which encourage a more enterprising approach to learning. One proposal is that students should be able to rank university courses by their employment rates and earning potential.

Vocational qualification courses cover a plethora of subjects and initiatives beyond just the headline grabbing performance point carrying ones. Just last month I read, with great interest, the latest news that MPs’ have launched an inquiry into the future of PSHE and Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) in schools. This MPs’ inquiry comes on the back of last year’s Ofsted report which found that 40% of the 50 schools visited didn’t offer a good enough standard of PSHE. The report, entitled ‘Not Yet Good Enough’ also found that half of secondary schools needed to improve SRE.

Excessive alcohol consumption is something that is a growing concern, especially with university students as they’re usually young people who have just left home to move to another city where they want to explore and have fun with their peers. Universities around the country have signed up to an Alcohol Impact pilot scheme. The initiative aims to inform students about the effects of alcohol and how to drink responsibly. The outcome is that students will be encouraged to be sensible when drinking, especially during freshers week, and also to help cut alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder. The universities who are taking part in this scheme must be seen to be preventing alcohol fuelled events, such as initiations for new students and activities within societies.