Furthermore, poor coordination between businesses and schools and a lack of an overarching government strategy are leaving young people unprepared for the world of work, particularly those who are disadvantaged.
The criticisms have come in a new report from Ofsted looking into work-related learning and enterprise education in secondary schools.
Inspectors visited 40 schools for the report as well as drawing on evidence from 109 routine inspection reports, interviews with headteachers, two expert groups representing employers, and responses from parent panels.
The resulting report – Getting Ready for Work – finds that only four of the 40 secondary schools visited had an effective approach to these aspects of the curriculum.
Inspectors are concerned that the extent to which enterprise education and work-related learning is considered important in a school relies too heavily on whether the headteacher considers it a priority.
Many of the 40 schools cited pressures on finance and curriculum time as excuses for not prioritising this agenda, with one headteacher describing it as “a luxury we can’t afford”.
The report states: “In the schools where there was limited focus on enterprise learning, school leaders told inspectors that they see themselves as accountable for outcomes narrowly focused around examinations. The development of enterprise was often seen as potentially distracting from delivering improvements around examination results.”
Inspectors also found a lack of opportunities for pupils to take part in work experience at key stage 4. The requirement to offer work experience in key stage 4 was removed in 2012 and the report finds that many schools have removed or reduced their provision.
Of the 40 schools, only 19 had retained a period of work experience – although the traditional two-week period had been reduced to one week in some of these schools. Of the 109 routinely inspected schools, 63 still had work experience as an expectation for all pupils.
The report states: “In the 46 (of the 109) schools not offering work experience at key stage 4, leaders typically indicated that the high costs of delivery and a lack of resources were a barrier, particularly where finding appropriate placements for pupils was difficult.”
The report warns that too many schools rely on the personal networks of parents and teachers to provide work experience, or even asked pupils to source their own placements, meaning disadvantaged pupils were in danger of missing out.
The report reminds schools: “School leaders who offered well-managed work experience in key stage 4 reported that it had a positive impact on pupils’ attitudes to school on their return and was therefore well worth the investment in curriculum time.”
Elsewhere, business leaders spoken to for the report said that a lack of coordination across local areas meant that the environment for forging school-business links was often “chaotic”.
The report states: “Projects such as those sponsored by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are at the very early stages of development. Business leaders consulted for this report raised concerns that there is little coherence to provision and a lack of strategy by government, business organisations or individual schools.”
The government has funded the independent Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to help link schools and employers, but the Ofsted report says that businesses were “largely unaware of the work of the Careers & Enterprise Company”. In its defence, the CEC told inspectors that since spring 2016, when the research for the report was done, it has “grown quickly” and now has 1,200 business volunteers and 1,200 schools signed up to its Enterprise Adviser Network initiative.
The report added: “School-business links were most productive when they were official and between organisations, rather than informal and between individuals. Relationships were often hampered by poor communication between school and business staff and a lack of clarity over what was wanted from the partnership.”
Among its recommendations, the Department for Education is urged to do more to promote the CEC’s work and to “promote the importance of well-planned provision for enterprise education including the promotion of economic and business understanding and financial capability”.
Schools, meanwhile, should ensure they have “more coherent” programmes of enterprise education in place and stronger links with business with clear objectives.
Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said: “The career choices that young people make can be informed by the practical experience they gain at school. It is really important that schools are providing the right opportunities, working effectively with local businesses to offer their pupils the chance to understand how businesses work. This is even more important for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“One of the ways we can bridge the social divide is by ensuring all young people have equal access to work-related knowledge that will guide and prepare them for the next stage of their lives.”
You can download the report – Getting Ready for Work – at http://bit.ly/2gng8cn