Experiences of workplaces
Why is this important
With the decline in part time employment for students, the opportunity to experience a workplace through a careers programme may be the only opportunity for students to gain an understanding of what it will be like to undertake work later in life.
This provides young people with invaluable employability skills and to understand expectations of employees such as punctuality, conduct and following instructions.
How to achieve 100%
There are a range of activities that can support this benchmark including workplace visits as part of a curriculum visit, short experiences lasting for one day or less, take your child to work days, and the traditional one or two week work experience.
Engage with curriculum teams to ensure that curriculum trips from school include an element that include experience of the workplace.
If whole year activities such as a traditional one or two week work experience are not undertaken it is important to carefully record all experiences at an individual student level
Important points to consider
For work experience to be effective there needs to be preparation and follow up classroom activities.
Where possible students should be involved in the selection of work experiences to help ensure that it is meaningful for them.
If organising group or individual experiences you will need to undertake Health and Safety Assessments or use a service that undertakes this on your behalf to protect the school and the student.
Best practice
Download the Virtual Work Experience guide: Delivering Virtual Work Experience and enriching work experience through digital media
This information is provided in partnership with the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC). For more information about CEC Careers Hubs please visit the Careers Hub Provider Access Policy.
Gatsby benchmark 6
Every pupil should have first-hand experiences* of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience to help their exploration of career opportunities, and expand their networks.
