School Work Experience: Young people and the labour market

This article draws upon the findings of recent research into school work experience in the Cambridge area. It reports the key findings and also develops an analysis relating to limitations upon the possibilities of developing (a) a more formally rigorous, national system of credentialised work experience, and (b) legitimating such a system by linking it to broader contemporary accounts of socio-economic change. The article distinguishes between 'attitudinal' and 'structural' restrictions upon the possibilities of developing work experience in a more formally assessed and credentialised form. It draws upon the views of pupils, teacher, employers and those concerned with delivering work experience schemes in the region.