Is all the time and effort secondary teachers and employers expend on work experience worthwhile? One health service study suggests the answer is yes.
Staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, found that almost two-thirds of the 117 young people who had been on work experience at the hospital between 1994 and 1997 had gone on to work in health care. Questionnaires sent to students who had been on work experience placements in 2000 also produced positive results. Many of these students were still at school when the audit was carried out last year. However, 83 per cent planned to pursue careers in health care.
Some students from both groups described what they had done since leaving school. Half of these (33) had embarked on careers in medicine or nursing. Others had gone into laboratory work or allied professions, such as physiotherapy or occupational therapy.
Chris Goundry, voluntary services manager and work experience co-ordinator at the Radcliffe, and Pat Moss, a part-time education officer and voluntary worker at the hospital, carried out the audit to find out whether time spent on work-experience programmes could be justified.
They said: “We cannot afford to see work experience as an irritation and a disruption to our working day, but as something positive if the future staffing of the NHS is to be guaranteed.”
Anat Arkin
