Work experience is something that has been happening in our school for years but is it worthwhile? Work experience gives the year 10s a chance to experience working life for a week during term time. They can choose where they go and it gives them an idea of what is to come. But, the question is, is it worthwhile? Does the time spent during this week benefit the Year 10s or is it a waste of lesson time? Does it have any effect on their choices later in life?
Many work experience accounts tell of days spent doing odd jobs for a company which no one else wants to do. Despite this, I still think work experience is beneficial. For my work experience I went to a primary school and, although this was not the career that I want to pursue, it was working with children which was something I was interested in. This work experience showed me that I would like to work in an environment with people doing something active and not at a desk.
In modern society we have to choose very early on in our lives the career path we want to take, often when we have very little experience of the job and what it entails. From the age of 14 we begin to narrow our choices for our future through picking GCSEs. Then, at the age of 16, we begin to finalise these decisions through the A-levels we choose to take. Although there is often the option to go back and re-sit different courses, very few people will actually do this.
At fourteen years of age we have already begun to dictate the path our life will take. I know, and I think many will agree with me, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. All I knew was that I quite liked being with children so I went and did that for a week. Deciding I didn’t want to do that as a career I then looked at being a Paediatrician. However I don’t want to do that anymore either, but I do want to work in science and I do want to work with others. Without work experience I would not have researched the different possibilities which led me to be interested in pursuing a job in research.
So, the question is, is work experience worthwhile? With society making us pick our futures at such an early age I think that we need any help we can get with our decision making. If all you get from work experience is the knowledge that you don’t want to pursue that job then even that’s something. So yes, I do think work experience is worthwhile.
Isobella Clements (Year 12)
