The Benefits of Year 10 Work Experience

For one or two weeks, every year, Year 10 students take part in “Work Experience”. This is something that many look forward to since it is a week or two out of school, while others will see it as a pointless week or fortnight when they could be studying for GCSEs. However, this is a beneficial time for all students.

Year 10 Work Experience Helps to Choose a Career

At 14 or 15 years old, there are high chances that a student has no idea what he or she wants to do in the future. However, work experience is the perfect chance to find that out. It offers the ability to gain a taster in a role to see whether that is something for the student. Granted, a week or a fortnight is not enough time to really get to know a role, but it is ample time to find out whether something is interesting or not.

This is the chance for a student to find out more before going through the study needed to gain qualifications. This is especially useful when it comes to deciding on careers in medicine or law, which are costly and time consuming.

A Chance to Gain Part-Time Work

If the year 10 work experience is something that the teenager enjoys, it is the perfect time to find out about working at weekends or on an evening; even if that is voluntarily. This looks great on the CV for university and other job applications and it keeps the student occupied throughout the time off. If it is paid work, then there is also some money being put to one side, which is a weight off parents’ shoulders.

Learn More About the Way of Life

Being in a classroom is not the same as being at work, and this is something that a child can learn from their work experience in year 10. He or she will learn more about discipline and working as part of a team – or even leading a team. Of course, this also depends on where the work experience takes part.

The Ability to Network

Something that most year 10 students will not realise is that they get to start their business networking. This is useful when it comes to applying for jobs at a later date or getting onto training courses. Contact numbers of the people who were mentors to the student are worth keeping for when references or recommendations are needed – if the student did well in their work experience.