Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to require the provision of work experience as part of the school curriculum.

The department repealed the statutory duty on schools to provide work-related learning at key stage 4 following the publication of the Wolf Review on Vocational Education in 2011. The review recommended that government should focus on work-related provision for 16 to 19-year-olds, as the statutory requirement was not having a positive impact on young people.

The department has reformed the post-16 curriculum and funding system to incentivise education and training providers to offer high-quality work experience to young people as part of 16-to-19 study programmes. New personalised study programmes should include work experience or work-related training that is relevant to the career aspirations of students.

In addition, the department wants pupils to have a range of experiences of the workplace and encounters with employers throughout their secondary education, as part of a high-quality careers programme. Schools are legally required to secure independent careers guidance for pupils in years 8 to 13 and, this September, the department will commence new legislation to extend this duty to all secondary-aged pupils in all types of state-funded school. Schools must have regard to underpinning careers statutory guidance which makes it clear that schools should follow the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance to develop and improve their careers programmes. Through the fifth and sixth benchmarks, schools and colleges are expected to provide pupils with a minimum of nine high-quality engagements with employers during their secondary school education. This includes seven high-quality encounters with employers (one per year from age 11) and two workplace experiences such as work visits, shadowing, and work experience (one by age 16 and one by age 18).

The department is funding the Careers & Enterprise Company to increase opportunities for young people to engage with employers. Over 300 ‘Cornerstone’ employers, such as Rolls Royce and BAE Systems, are working with Careers Hubs to bring together business effort and engagement with local schools and colleges. 3,750 enterprise advisers, employer volunteers representing businesses of all shapes and sizes, are also working with schools and colleges to develop their employer engagement plans.