By Aaron Barbour
I was pleased to see in BERR’s recent Enterprise Strategy that the government is committing a further £30 million to extend enterprise education, and the launch of a National Enterprise Academy (only one?).
However, their efforts need to extend much further if enterprise is really going to seep into our culture. We’ve been campaigning for the national curriculum to include a compulsory module, which will truly prepare our young people for the ‘world of work’.
In our report ‘Need not Greed’ , supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we found that for some people informal paid work is a ‘norm’. Either a generational norm, as one repondent, Mike, remarked, “My grandfather worked informally, my father worked informally, so I work informally”. The same is found with generational unemployment being a norm. And/or a societal norm, in the sense that everyone else is doing it, which sanctions individual actions. One young person said in a recent interview, “it is easy to get cash-in-hand jobs, you just connect with your friends and they will tell you where to go.” Naila, aged 32, tailors garments at home for sale, and told us, “I know many people working cash-in-hand as builders, caterers, giving tuition to kids, doing domestic cleaning and childcare… informal working is so widespread that people regard it as another way of working and earning a living.”
We recognise that the solutions involve intervention from an early age to break the cycle through the education system. Prevention is the key. Another research respondent, Brenda told us in January that, “Information on working rights should be incorporated into the education system, in order to ensure that younger people are being made aware of their working rights. This should reduce prejudice occurring to young people in the working environment as result of their lack of knowledge in this matter.”
The government should introduce a ‘world of work’ module into the national curriculum, possibly through PHSE and/or related subjects at school. This would raise understanding and awareness about the world of work; and equip young people with the issues and practical tools by which to make future life choices.
The ‘world of work’ modules would teach young people aged 11+ about the tax and benefit systems, pensions, wages, NIC, and NINO’s; financial management skills; health and safety at work; the value and advantages of formal paid work; the means to transfer out of informal paid employment; ethical issues and choices; how the government works and different department functions; and careers advice including getting job ready, CVs, looking and applying for work.
linksUK is keen to develop, test and evaluate modules or lesson plans about the ‘world of work’ with partners and funders, which could be used in schools and may inform the work of the Department for Children, Schools and Families. If you would like to be involved get in touch
Nice writing style. I will come back to read more posts from you.
Susan Kishner