Should we bring back work experience for school pupils?

The decision in 2012 to remove the duty on schools to arrange a work experience placement for all 14 to 16-year-olds was perhaps not one of the most high-profile changes made by then Education Secretary Michael Gove. 

Even so, it generated plenty of grumbling at the time, with the British Chambers of Commerce later describing the decision as ‘careless’. 

Over a decade later, the Social Market Foundation – a centrist think tank – has just published a new report calling for the introduction, or perhaps the reintroduction, of universal work experience for secondary school pupils. 

So would bringing back compulsory work experience be a good idea for pupils and schools? Would employers be willing to offer schools enough placements to deliver this proposal? And when schools are battling on so many other fronts, have teachers and headteachers got the time and energy to take on this challenge? 

We are joined today by Dr Aveek Bhattacharya, the Research Director at the Social Market Foundation and co-author of their new report, and Dr Elnaz Kashef, the Head of Research and Policy at Speakers 4 Schools, a social mobility charity that links young people to leading speakers and employers. 

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