Bitesize Research: Young People's Perceptions Of Career Prospects Post-Lockdown

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s had a great first week back having had a restful break! This week, following on from the Unifrog briefing we had in T2, I was really interested in a piece of research conducted by UCL Institute of Education about young people’s perceptions of their career prospects following the lockdowns in 2019 and 2020. Objectives: To understand the potential impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns on young people’s job skills and beliefs about their suitability and readiness for the workplace. Summary:

• 60% of students felt as though their job skills and prospects were significantly diminished by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• 42% of students did not know the job they would have by age 30
• Youth unemployment grew at a faster rate than at any point since the financial crisis of 2008
• One of the reasons for this is because of a loss of opportunities to gain key job skills during their education in the context of the pandemic and the post-pandemic (which has focussed more on ‘catch up’)
• The authors of the paper suggest that there needs to be an immediate refocusing on workplace skills in schools, and partnerships between schools and employers.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How do I integrate or reference the workplace and workplace skills in my lessons?
• How do I support careers education in tutor time?
• How can I work with students to raise their aspirations around their workplace prospects?
  

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.