How Workplace Experiences While at School Affect Career Pathways

📖 The Scoop

This report describes and analyses how the work activities undertaken by students while at school affect their post-school pathways into and between work and study. Increasingly, students are involved with workplaces while still at school. The three major ways in which this is happening (in order of extent of engagement) are through work experience, paid part-time work, and VET in Schools programs, which generally include structured work placements (Smith & Green 2001). A special form of part-time work, which also involves gaining vocational education and training (VET) qualifications is a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship (collectively known as school-based New Apprenticeships). The main research method was a comprehensive survey sent to respondents from two previous projects (Smith & Green 2001; Smith & Wilson 2002) who had indicated their willingness to undertake follow-up research. Main findings of the survey included: (1) Work experience performed a useful function in opening respondents' eyes to career possibilities; (2) Those who had undertaken school-based New Apprenticeships had a smoother transition into secure and substantial post-school activity than those who had not, but this activity was not likely to be a full-time university course; (3) Even after leaving school, the jobs of both groups were concentrated in the industries of retail and fast food/hospitality, the areas in which school students typically worked; and (4) A school-based New Apprenticeship could confirm their decision for those who had decided upon their careers; it could also deter them from that career. (Contains 17 tables and 9 figures.) [Funding for this research was provided through the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. The author/project team were funded to undertake this research via a grant under the National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation (NVETRE) Program.].

Genre: Business & Economics / General (fancy, right?)