While many young people celebrated their A-level and GCSE results this summer, far too many will struggle to make the leap from education to the world of work.
Chartered Management Institute (CMI)’s research, An Age of Uncertainty, with the EY Foundation, showed that a third of 16- to 21-year-olds aren’t con dent about finding a job in the next few years.
This is reflected in the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, which reveal that the number of young people (16 to 24) not in education, employment or training from April to June 2017 was still high, at 790,000.
Clearly, the UK continues to struggle with training young people for entering the workplace.
A new school-to-work syllabus to develop employability, team leadership and management skills could go a long way in helping with this transition. Students turning their backs on further and higher education due to the cost need to be made aware of alternative options. Higher and degree apprenticeships offer a direct route to skilled employment without the prospect of £50,000 of debt.
But, while most young people and their parents have an understanding of universities and traditional degree courses, awareness of alternative higher-education routes, such as degree apprenticeships, is still unacceptably low.
To get the most out of talented students of all backgrounds, this needs to change.
CMI’s recent survey, in July 2017, covering 1,004 UK parents of 11- to 18-year-old children, found that only one in five had any knowledge of degree apprenticeships.
Worryingly, awareness of these programmes was much worse among families from less privileged backgrounds. The research showed that, while a quarter of parents from the most highly educated and highest-paid social groups were familiar with degree apprenticeships, this fell to one in ten among parents from lower socio-economic bands. Read more
