Every child will get two weeks of “quality” work experience while at school if Labour gets into power, the party vows.
It pledged to “turbocharge” careers advice amid fears hundreds of thousands of youngsters are falling through the cracks. More than one-in-three secondary school pupils don’t know enough about good jobs available to them, Labour warns.
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson promised to recruit 1,000 new careers advisors in schools across England. On top of this she said Labour would improve links between schools and colleges and local employers.
She said: “Over one million young people are set to benefit from Labour ushering in a revolution in in work readiness with our plan to work with local employers to turbocharge work experience and careers advice in schools.
“We will train 1,000 new careers advisors, and deliver two weeks’ worth of high-quality work experience for every young person at secondary school to boost opportunity”
She said it is “time to turn the page on 14 years of failure in education”. Latest figures show there were 167,000 16-18 year olds who weren’t in work, education and training in England in 2022.
Labour reckons having good quality careers advice can increase the chance of young people progressing by a third. Last year a scathing report by the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee said careers guidance on the creative sector was “patchy and disjointed”.
Peers warned this potentially put at risk an industry worth around £126 billion to the UK economy.