Tailored Work Experience in Wales

Abstract

This paper examines the Tailored Work Experience (TWE) programme in Wales, an initiative launched in 2022 to re-engage students aged 14-16 at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). Drawing on international research, stakeholder perspectives, and new analysis of data from the 2022 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the paper explores how extended work experience placements can influence student engagement, academic outcomes, and future aspirations. The analysis situates the TWE within broader theories of human, social and cultural capital, and compares it to similar programmes in OECD countries. It finds that while work experience can contribute positively to student motivation and long-term employment prospects, its effectiveness depends heavily on quality, student preparation, and integration with wider career development activities. The paper offers five key considerations for enhancing the TWE programme and highlights the importance of thoughtful design in maximising benefits for socially disadvantaged and low-performing students.

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Abstract

Acknowledgements

This working paper was drafted by Anthony Mann and Jonathan Diaz. The authors would like to acknowledge the kind support of Young Chang, Georgina Cowan, Sam Evans, Prue Huddleston, Luise Jari, Andrea Jones, John Keckhaver, Line Vistisen Liebst, Sue Maguire, Jukka Vetoniemi, Elliot Washor and Caroline White in the development of this paper and Wales for their engagement through the development and confirmation of the paper, Dongwook Choi, and Eda Cabbar for providing management and editorial support and Andreas Schleicher for his guidance. This working paper was realised by the Career Readiness team at the OECD. The views expressed in this report should not be taken to reflect the official position of the OECD member countries.

Introduction

The subject of this paper is the Tailored Work Experience (TWE) programme introduced by the Welsh Government in 2022, an initiative aimed at students disengaged from learning at ages 14-16 with the object of re-engaging them in education and avoiding the risk of becoming Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET) at age 16. The aim of the paper is to locate the TWE within wider practice, data and research literature from across OECD countries in order to identify potential revisions to the programme for future consideration. The paper does this by reviewing longitudinal evidence and stakeholder perspectives on the expected impacts of work experience programmes on the employment and educational outcomes of young people, new analysis of data from the 2022 round of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), theoretical approaches which enable understanding of how young people engage in work placements, and exemplar programmes from a range of OECD countries. The paper concludes by identifying seven specific considerations for further amelioration of the programme.

About Tailored Work Experience and its context

The Tailored Work Experience programme anticipates that Key Stage 4 students who are disengaged from education will become, following periods of extended workplace experience, more motivated to engage in education and become better placed to progress well post-16, avoiding NEET outcomes.

The objective, design and delivery of Tailored Work Experience (TWE)

In partial response to growing concerns over the disengagement of students aged 14-16 (Years 10 and 11 or Key Stage 4 [KS4]1) in education following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tailored Work Experience (TWE) programme was announced by the Welsh Government in 2022 (Welsh Government, 2023p]). The programme is aimed at students at risk of becoming NEET as indicated by low attendance, low attainment and/or challenging behaviour. Its objective is to help such disengaged students to reengage in education, completing at least some GCSE qualifications at the end of Year 11 and transitioning to a successful post-16 outcome in education, employment or training. Within the TWE programme, students arc expected to study core GCSE subjects and attend an extended work experience placement which relates closely to student interests for one to two days a week. Students receive careers guidance from a professionally qualified careers adviser whilst being part of TWE. Piloted in the spring of 2022 with 87 students in five local authorities, the programme was expanded to involve 500 students across all local authorities the following year.

Between September 2022 and March 2024, through short-term Renew and Reform funding the Welsh Government provided £517,000 to deliver TWE provision, engaging two schools from each of the 22 local authorities in Wales with 636 placements being undertaken over the period. Of 380 pupils completing their placement in 2024, Careers Wales reports that 85% went onto a positive destination at the end of year 11; enrollment at a Further Education College (185), a Jobs Growth Wales+2 training programme (72), employment full or part-time (36) and apprenticeships (25). It is estimated by Careers Wales that a saving of over £2.5 million could be realised as a result of learners progressing directly to employment and/or an apprenticeship (61 in total from the cohort). All such young people had the potential to be NEET on leaving school and the estimate includes associated costs of welfare benefits, housing, healthcare and possible involvement with the criminal justice system. During the 2024/25 school year, the scale of the programme was reduced to support a further 250 placements in 12 local authorities at a cost of £250 000.

The TWE programme has been overseen by Careers Wales, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Welsh Government, which recruited Business Engagement Advisers to manage its delivery. An internal Career Wales review has highlighted that: TWE learners were commonly offered part-time and Saturday jobs with the employer because of their work experience placement; employers supported learners to complete qualifications related to their workplace whilst on placement; 95% of 40 employers contacted felt that the experience was positive for their enterprise; and, teachers identified improvements in learners across a range of skills, including time management, interpersonal skills, and specific job-related skills.

In a Welsh Government press notice to mark the expansion of the programme in 2023, it was stated that the "scheme will give learners access to new opportunities and a network of contacts outside of their school and immediate family to help them to develop and progress their career ambitions, highlighting some of the different careers and career pathways available to them. They will have a chance to develop knowledge, gain practical skills and improve confidence to help secure future employment" (Welsh Government, 2023[i]). As explored within this paper, such a theory of change can be conceptualised in terms of enabling enhancements in the work-related human, social and cultural capital of young people.

The TWE cannot be described as a programme of vocational education and training (VET) which are commonly offered by jurisdictions to students who have disengaged with general secondary education. It has no fixed learning outcomes or duration and does not lead to programmatic qualification. Students jump into and out of a tailored placement as agreed, with provision varying by the interests and needs of the individual. The TWE also differs from many other forms of alternative education in that it is not designed to sit within a holistic framework of programmatic support such as psychological counselling, academic support or mentoring beyond that provided generally by schools to learners at risk of poor outcomes. Indeed, programmes of alternative education internationally do not routinely include workplace exposure (Harper, 2011^; Lyche, 2010[3j), although important exceptions are discussed in this note. Consequently, as a programme designed to reduce the risk of NEET within general compulsory secondary education, the TWE is unusual in international context. While it shares characteristics with programmes of alternative education and VET which are common in international practice, it is distinct from them in focusing narrowly on the capacity of workplace experience to prompt attitudinal change, create new social networks and enable the growth of knowledge and skills in order to reduce the risks of poor outcomes at 16 for students struggling through Key Stage 4.

Educational disengagement in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic

When compared to similar jurisdictions, the problem of student disengagement and absenteeism is greater in Wales.

The immediate context for the TWE is growing concern over student educational disengagement. Across the OECD, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers globally cautioned that prolonged school closures, the shift to remote learning, and extended periods of social isolation could pose significant barriers to student re-engagement (Santibañez and Guarino, 2021 [4]). OECD data shows that Wales is not alone in seeing increased absence since the pandemic, but for many OECD countries this has not been the case.

A 2023 OECD survey of education ministries in 24 member countries for example found respondents evenly split between those which reported increased absenteeism and dropout (including the United Kingdom) and those which did not (OECD, 2024[5]). The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provides insight into the scale of disengagement. The 2022 PISA survey which was undertaken in the immediate wake of the pandemic includes questions of relevance. Students aged 15-16 were asked if they had in the two weeks prior to completing the survey either skipped school for a whole day or some classes and/or arrived late for school, whether occasionally or frequently (three times or more). They were also asked if they had ever missed school for more than three months. In response to this question, students were asked whether the lengthy absence was in primary or secondary school and given options for the reason behind it. Reasons include signs of disengagement, including boredom or suspension as well for other reasons such as pregnancy, natural disaster or the obligation to work within their household.

In comparison to other selected OECD jurisdictions, PISA 2022 shows that students in Wales exhibit high levels of different forms of absenteeism:

* 46% stated that they had skipped at least one class in the previous two weeks compared to an OECD average of 31%.

* 50% stated that they had been late on at least one occasion over that period (19% stating three times or more) compared to an OECD average of 45% (16% three times or more).

* 1.3% stated that they had missed secondary school for at least three months due to boredom or suspension (compared to an OECD average of 0.8%).

Figure 1 combines the three variables across comparable jurisdictions and finds that 51% of students in Wales (compared to an OECD average of 37%) had either skipped at least one class and/or was frequently late over the previous two weeks and/or had missed at least three months of school due to boredom or suspension.

Between the PISA surveys of 2018 and 2022:

* the percentage of students in Wales skipping at least one class in the previous two weeks rose from 40% to 46% (over the same period across the OECD, this fell from 35% to 31%).

* the percentage of students in Wales who had recently been late rose from 48% to 50% (while the figure fell across the OECD from 48% to 45%).

Breaking down the data for Wales for 2022 by the demographic characteristics of students who were frequently late for class and/or had skipped at least one class and/or who had missed at least three months of school (due to boredom or suspension only), Figure 2 shows particularly high levels of absence are found among students educated in Welsh - speaking institutions (68%), low performers on the PISA assessments (61%), students from the most socially disadvantaged quartile (59%) and girls (55%).

PISA also investigates student attitudes towards the perceived value of education. Most relevant in this discussion, students were asked whether they agree that "School is a waste of time." In Wales in 2022, 7.3% of students strongly agreed with the statement, higher than the OECD average of 6.3%. Higher levels of strong agreement are found among boys at 7.8% (OECD, 8.2%), students from the most socially disadvantaged quartile at 10.5% (7.5%) and low performers on the PISA academic assessments at 11.1% (9.6%). Within Wales, students attending Welsh-speaking schools were more likely than peers attending English speaking schools to strongly agree with the statement by 8.1% to 7.2%. Students in Wales are also less likely to agree that "School has taught me things which could be useful in a job": 38.2% of respondents in Wales disagreeing with the statement (11.5% disagreeing strongly), compared to an OECD average of 32.6% (9.5%).

In response to growing post-COVID evidence of student disengagement, education policymakers in some countries implemented measures aimed at mitigating the pandemic's adverse effects (OECD, 2024[5]). Primary strategies identified by education ministries in a 2023 OECD member survey clustered around interventions designed to identify at-risk students early, address the underlying causes of disengagement, and create supportive environments that encourage school attendance. Several countries, including Australia, Spain and Iceland introduced mental health and well-being initiatives, recognising the correlation between student mental health and school attendance (OECD, 2024[5j). Some countries have prioritised early warning systems (EWS) and data collection improvements to identify at-risk students and ensure early intervention. Chile expanded its EWS to cover all educational levels, while Finland and Norway introduced legislative changes mandating systematic tracking of absenteeism. Romania developed MATE, a national system for monitoring attendance and supporting at-risk students through targeted interventions (OECD, 2024[5]). While some measures were still being evaluated, early evidence suggested that policy responses such as summer schools, enhanced access to digital learning resources to allow remote learning, and data-driven attendance tracking systems had met with some success in re-engaging students (OECD, 2024[5]). Notably, across the OECD's survey of countries, programmes of work-related learning or extended work placements aimed at students within general secondary education are rarely cited as policy interventions.

Workplace exposure and its expected benefits for teenage students

There is good reason to believe that extended periods of workplace exposure will help students to progress better into adult employment, but the evidence with regard to workplace exposure and academic achievement is more complex.

In the Tailored Work Experience programme, students undertake periods of extended work experience and there is good reason to believe that student engagement with workplaces whilst in general secondary education will increase the likelihood of students going on to secure better ultimate employment outcomes as young adults than would otherwise be expected, including reducing risk of becoming NEET after the conclusion of compulsory secondary education. Evidence of the relationship between student academic success is weaker, but still apparent.

The OECD has undertaken considerable analysis exploring the relationships between career development activities undertaken by teenagers, typically by the age of 15, and success in adult employment (Covacevich etai., 2021 [6]). In order to understand scientifically whether long-term benefits can be expected of such provision, it is important to track large numbers of young people from adolescence into adulthood, identifying those who participated in a career development activity and those who did not while collecting wider information about their other characteristics. This is to test through statistical analysis whether any relationships found between teenage experiences and later employment outcomes are associated with gender, socio-economic background, academic attainment, migrant status, ethnicity, or other characteristic which often influences employment success (OECD, 2024[?]). Such comparisons can be made through randomised control trials (RCT), of which very few exist in the field of teenage career development, or through analysis of longitudinal datasets where intervention and control groups can be created by analysts to compare outcomes. Commonly, if there is a 95% or greater likelihood that an observed relationship between activity and outcome is not due to other controlled for characteristics, it is described as significant. In this, it is important to note that results of such statistical analyses are averages and not all students may be affected in the same ways. For analysts, as well as exploring the significance of a relationship, it is also important to understand the size of an impact whether positive or negative and whether impacts vary by student characteristics. Studies vary in their selection and description of career-related interventions and the employment outcomes they review after schooling. These can include rates of being Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), unemployment and employment rates, earnings, job, career and life satisfaction and occupational status with assessments taken both soon after the conclusion of secondary education and well into adulthood. Longitudinal studies which typically explore only limited aspects of teenage career development are undertaken across a relatively small number of countries over different periods of time. Consequently, when assessing the impact of development on the outcomes of young people, OECD analysis reviews comparable studies exploring long-term impacts related to similar teenage attitudes and activities in order to assess whether the interventions can be seen in general to link with evidence of better transitions into employment (Covacevich et al., 2021 [6]).

In OECD (2025[8]), it is noted that no RCTs and relatively few longitudinal studies have been identified which explore the long-term impacts of teenage work placements for young people. Of the eight distinct longitudinal studies confirmed, six provide some evidence of improved employment outcomes for youth. This is to say that on average young people who completed a placement while in secondary school went on to achieve better outcomes on average than comparable peers after statistical controls have been applied. However, four of the six studies relate to two datasets which are now quite old: the British Cohort Study 1970 which follows individuals who were teenagers in the 1980s and the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth which follows a cohort which turned 14 in 1997. The existing longitudinal analysis is further weakened by the fact that all existing studies explore outcomes at age 21 or older.

Understanding of the likely impacts of school-mediated work placements can be improved however by reviewing much richer longitudinal data which relates to teenage volunteering in the community and part-time employment. Across all three activities, young people in full-time secondary education routinely undertake tasks under the supervision of a professional who is not a teacher or parent within places of work for an extended period of time. Through each of these teenage activities, it is possible to identify comparable opportunities for career development which align with the objectives of the TWE: students have chance to meet and engage with working professionals who can provide new information about jobs, careers and their relationships to education and training, develop work-related technical and soft skills, and build personal confidence about themselves and their future plans (Mann, Denis and Percy, 2020[9j; OECD, 2O25[io]; [iq; 2021[i2]). Consequently, as well as research related to student experiences of work placements, studies of part-time working and volunteer work are also relevant to understanding of the likely long-term impacts of the TWE programme (OECD, 2025 [3]). Combining the results of longitudinal studies related to the three forms of workplace exposure, including a number from the UK, 40 (85%) out of 47 separate analyses find evidence of better ultimate employment outcomes linked to teenage workplace experience in its different forms.3

Consequently, while evidence on the long-term impact of internships is limited, the designers of the TWE can have confidence that workplace exposure in general is a very positive activity for teenagers. Studies find for example that wage premiums of 5-10% can often be identified for participants (OECD, 2025цq; [8]; [io]). Ten of the 47 studies explore employment outcomes prior to the age of 20 and all find evidence that young people in some way did better in their transitions than would be expected if they had not gained workplace experience (OECD, 2O25[io]; [8]; [iq). Crawford et al. (2010[b]) for example, looked at three UK longitudinal datasets over different periods of time and find that students who combine part-time work and full-time study from age 16 were consistently less likely to become NEET after completing secondary education.

The OECD analysis also shows that students facing different forms of disadvantage, notably in terms of physical and learning disabilities, who engage in some form of work alongside their secondary schooling can be strongly expected to do better in adulthood than comparable peers without such experience in adolescence (OECD, 2025[11]. One important study by Kim and Morgül (2017[mj) looks at whether students chose freely to volunteer in the community or were required to do so. It finds that both groups of students can expect ultimately higher earnings from age 24 than comparable peers who had no experience of student volunteer work. Wider quantitative studies exploring the likely impacts of other forms of employer engagement in teenage career development also commonly identify long-term better employment outcomes for youth (Covacevich et al., 2021 [6]; Mann, Rehill and Kashefpackdel, 2018[i5]; OECD, 202 Ipq). These include participation in career talks (OECD, 2023[i7]), job shadowing (OECD, 2022[i8]) and job fairs (Covacevich et al., 2021 [6]) as well as activities designed to help students prepare for job interviews and to create good CVs and Career Pathways programmes (discussed below) which are typically rich in employer engagement and workplace experience (Covacevich et al., 2021[6] Herdman et al., 2024[19]).

Workplace exposure and academic achievement

The longitudinal research literature has less to say about the relationships between teenage workplace exposure and the academic achievement of students. Studies particularly which explore the relationship between internship participation and academic success are scant. A number of US and Australian studies however have found evidence to show that teenage volunteering can be related to greater likelihood of high school completion and more years of education (Celio, Durlak and Dymnicki, 2011 pof Conway, Amel and Gerwien, 2009[21] Moorfoot et al., 2015[22]) though, within these, volunteering was at times considered alongside other extra-curricular activities Moorfoot et al. (2015[22]). In the study by Kim and Morgül (2017[14]), both students who chose to volunteer and those who were required to do so, were found to complete more years of education on average than comparable peers who had not volunteered while in secondary school.

Most substantial within the literature are studies which explore the impacts of part-time working on academic achievement. Studies indicate that modest part-time working, typically less than 10-20 hours a week, tends to have little relationship with educational outcomes as tested in standardised assessments. However, students working in excess of these hours commonly achieve at lower levels than would have been anticipated given their personal characteristics and prior levels of academic proficiency (Mann, Denis and Percy, 2020[9]; OECD, 2025[11]). Studies tend to focus on three reasons why longer hours of working may have detrimental impact on students. Such students may devote less time outside of school to schoolwork, they may be tired in class and they may also be psychologically focused on workplace entry immediately after the conclusion of secondary education and so less motivated to engage in classroom learning (OECD, 2025[11. Other studies however find educational benefits in part-time working, identifying better student time management, greater personal responsibility and improved contextualisation of learning (OECD, 2025[11). Links between educational success and other forms of career development undertaken during full-time secondary schooling have been identified. An international literature review by Mann, rehill and Kashefpackdel (2018[15]) identified 17 studies in all related to programmes which commonly connect students directly with employers and people in work through their schools, including US career and technical education and cooperative education (discussed below), mentoring and reading programmes, of which 6 were judged to demonstrate largely positive outcomes and 11 mixed outcomes linked to the academic attainment of students. No study suggested students who devoted time to such forms of career development could expect attainment to fall. The study followed a wider review by Hughes et al. (2016[23]) which assessed 67 different career guidance interventions described in the research literature and found that 60% provided largely positive improvements in educational outcomes. However, the scale of positive impacts tended to be modest and studies are often small scale and linked to career-related programmes rather than specific aspects of career development.4 The limited research literature consequently indicates that while it is very possible that students participating in forms of career development will go on to improve their academic performance, this cannot be taken for granted. Consequently, it is valuable to explore the question of academic improvement drawing on the perspectives of the young people who have completed work placements and especially teaching staff who have observed them. In weighing evidence, such survey data provides expert testimony relevant to core assumption informing the design of the TWE.

Stakeholder perceptions on the influence of work experience on educational engagement

Surveys of students and school staff commonly agree that students in full-time general secondary education often experience positive changes related to career development as a result of gaining work experience, notably including increased motivation to engage in education.

In the first decade of the current century, the English ministry of education introduced a requirement that all students in secondary education participate in at least two forms of work-related learning (QCA, 2007[24]). Taking advantage of a national infrastructure of intermediary organisations primarily tasked with making work experience placements available to students at KS4, this form of work-related learning became commonplace in English secondary schools. During the decade, upwards of 80% of students at KS4 in England undertook work experience (Ipsos MORI, 2009[25]; Mann and Kashefpakdel, 2014[26]; YouGov, 2010[27]). In this context, many studies were commissioned exploring the impacts of work placements on students and how benefits can be optimised, including to some extent students at risk of poor outcomes. These stakeholder perspectives are rare in the research literature in that they survey large numbers of students aged 14-16 in general secondary education and school staff about their views on how participation in work experience shapes attitudes towards education. Some studies include a particular focus on students at high risk of poor outcomes at 16. Consequently, while the studies and their related programmes are 15-20 years old, they present an important learning opportunity, exploring impacts of similar workplace experiences within a comparable education system. Studies suggest strongly that the designers of the TWE are right to believe that changes in student attitudes can routinely be expected as a result of their participation in work placements.

The perspectives of students

Three notable, large-scale surveys KS4 students in England who had completed a work placement which surveyed large numbers of students explored attitudes with regard to school education and clarity of career plans in light of work experience. A survey (Ofsted, 2004[28]) of 1 800 KS4 students from 17 schools in England who had completed a work experience placement found that 'around 80%' of respondents agreed ('more than 40%' agreeing strongly) with the statement "I can see how school work is useful in the world of work." Drawing additionally on interviews with 50 students, visits to 15 schools and insights from 300 inspection reports, Ofsted concluded:

Work experience is usually effective in developing pupils ' understanding of the workplace, supporting their social learning and developing their ability to communicate with adults and to take advice. Supportive employers and employees enable pupils to learn a range of skills, helping their confidence and self-esteem. Extended work placements are often highly successful in improving motivation, self-esteem and attendance among pupils who are beginning to reject school (Ofsted, Emphasis added].

Surveys from National Support Group for Work Experience (2008[29]) and Confederation of Business Industry (2007[30]) undertaken with students who had completed a work placement during Key Stage 4 found similar results (Table 1 and Table 2).

The perspectives of school staff.

Some studies from the period are available which look as well at the perspectives of school staff and find agreement with student views about the attitudinal changes that might be expected due to work experience. In their study (Hillage, Kodz and Pike, 2001[31]) approached a randomised selection of 1 091 secondary schools in England and received responses from 687 Work Experience Co-ordinators who completed an extensive questionnaire. The Co-ordinators overwhelmingly agreed that placements promote educational engagement: 77% agreed that work experience motivates students to work harder in school with co-ordinators based in schools with high average levels of GCSE results more confident that placements increase motivation (Hillage, Kodz and Pike, 2001[31]).

A more recent perspective from school staff on the relationship between work experience and other forms of career development and educational engagement is offered by Mann, Dawkins and McKeown (2017[32])- The study sought insights from school staff with first-hand experience of different guidance interventions in order to explore their relative effectiveness in supporting student development. Surveying 390 individuals primarily based in schools in England with experience of working with students at Key Stages 3 and 4, respondents were presented with a list of 16 common work-related interventions and asked to select the ones which they had observed at first hand. They were then asked to highlight the relative effectiveness of the activities from a list of those which they had observed regarding possible outcomes and for different groups of students.

Across the 16 interventions, the intervention most frequently highlighted by respondents was work experience. With regard to student attainment, respondents were asked: "Do you think that participation in any of these activities has a positive impact on pupil attainment, and if so which ones make the most difference (Please choose up to three activity types)?" Work experience is the only intervention which more than half of respondents with experience of the activity selected as having a positive impact.

With regard to three groups of students exhibiting particular risks of poor post-16 outcomes, school staff were asked: "Thinking now about different types of pupils/learners, which of the different activities, in your experience, do you think have the most positive impact on these pupils (Please choose up to three activity types)?" With regard to low academic achievers, learners with special educational needs and disengaged/unmotivated students, school staff consistently identified (from a list of activities which they had observed) work experience as the one of the most effective forms of work-related provision. By contrast, with regard to high achievers, respondents were more likely to select career fairs, mock interviews and long-form enterprise competitions as having particularly positive impacts (Mann, Dawkins and McKeown, 2017[32]).

In focus groups which shaped the study, school staff with experience of extended work placements aimed at disengaged or vulnerable students explained that workplace exposure underpins personalised learning programmes, provides students who struggle to succeed in school with the opportunity to achieve, offers information that is difficult to ignore about the value of both academic qualifications and pathways in securing access to careers of interest, and enables the development of new relationships with adults (Mann and Dawkins, 2014[33]).

This review of available survey data on the likely impact of work experience on student educational engagement highlights a widespread belief among student participants and teaching staff that placements can be expected to provide important beneficial impacts, including changing attitudes about the value of education. However, these testimonies provide no insight into the potential scale of positive impact. For students who have been long disengaged from education, increases in motivation may be very noticeable to young people and teaching staff but may lead to little change in success on standardised academic assessments. It is also clear that positive perspectives are not always apparent, and it can be expected that opportunity to benefit will relate to the quality of the experience. It is apparent from Key Stage 4 student surveys undertaken by Confederation of Business Industry (2007[30]) (1 034 respondents) and YouGov (2010[27]) (1 123 respondents) that many students feel that work experience undertaken provided them with little opportunity to gain trusted insights of value, to gain skills, meet new people, or to learn more about themselves:

* 42% felt that their work was not meaningful (YouGov, 2010[27])

* 40-41% were not given feedback on their work or progress (Confederation of Business Industry, 2OO7[30]; YouGov, 2010[27])

* 38% did more or less the same thing every day (YouGov, 2010[27])

* 38% received no introduction about the organisation (YouGov, 2010[27])

* 32% met people in only one small part of the organisation (YouGov, 2010[27])

* 32% did only mundane or routine tasks (YouGov, 2010[27])

* 29% felt that their manager or supervisor was not supportive (YouGov, 2010[27])

* 27% did not discuss with anyone the skills needed for a particular task (Confederation of Business Industry, 2007[30)

* 26% did not discuss with anyone the skills needed for work (Confederation of Business Industry, 2007[30])

* 25% did not receive feedback on how good their skills needed for work were (Confederation of Business Industry, 2007[30])

A survey of 103 employers in Scotland from the same era (Eddy Adams Consultants, 2008[34]) finds similarly that significant variation can be expected in the quality of student work experiences. Data from the surveys referenced above cannot be broken down by the social background of students. Hatcher and Le Galiais (2008[35]) however, show from their data from 1 000 students attending five secondary schools in England that the quality of student experiences links strongly to the socio-economic backgrounds of students. They find that students from higher SES backgrounds arc much less likely to have undertaken tasks which they describe as menial and much more likely than their low SES peers to feel that they had undertaken tasks seen as responsible, to work shadow, to feel treated as a colleague and to receive mentoring in a professional context (Hatcher and Le Galiais, 2008[35]). Further more recent studies drawing on UK data find similar results: students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to engage in placements that align with their career ambitions and are perceived as being useful to them over the short or long term (Jones, Mann and Morris, 2015[36]; Moote and Archer, 2017[37]; Mann and Kashefpakdel, 2014[26]; Waller et al., 2012[38]).

Work placements in general secondary education: new insights from PISA

New analysis of PISA data shows that work placements in isolation are less likely to connect with changes in student perspectives than when they are when combined with other important career development activities - changes for low-performing students are less apparent.

Analysis of PISA 2018 data for available OECD countries with controls for gender, socio-economic status and performance in reading finds strong statistical relationships between participation across a range of career development activities and forms of career thinking which are routinely associated in longitudinal studies with better employment outcomes in adulthood (Covacevich et al., 2021 [6]). Similar analysis using PISA 2022 data for all OECD countries with controls for gender, socio-economic status, academic performance, and immigrant background also finds many significant relationships to be in place (Mann, Diaz and Zapata Posada, 2024[39]). Across both studies, relationships tend strongly to be positive, with links identified between participation in different development activities and lower rates of career uncertainty and misalignment, forms of teenage career thinking that are strongly associated with poorer long-term employment outcomes. However, this is not always the case.

PISA 2022 shows for example that students, in all forms of secondary education, who have completed an internship (or short work experience placement) are much more likely to agree that 'school is a waste of time' (Mann, Diaz and Zapata Posada, 2024[39]). It cannot be guaranteed that workplace participation will enhance career thinking in ways which are linked with better outcomes. As discussed above, it is very possible that some students will have poor experiences in the workplace and that these students may be disproportionately drawn from more disadvantaged social backgrounds. Unfortunately, PISA does not include questions concerning the quality of any workplace experience. It is also possible that some students who participate in work placements will be encouraged or required to do so because of other factors which impact on their career thinking which are not effectively captured by controls. Within such analysis, large numbers of subjects are required if statistical analysis is going to be effective. Consequently, analysis is undertaken with very large national datasets or, preferably, with participants from multiple countries, such as all OECD jurisdictions. Data for Wales are too small to allow for effective relationships to be explored.

New analysis of PISA 2022 data for this paper has explored the relationships between student participation in internships alone and in combination with a range of career development activities. The analysis tests the hypothesis that students who engage in a wide range of guidance activities are likely to be better placed to understand their career preferences and so identify work placements of greater critical interest and to make sense of experiences in terms of personalised career development. The new analysis also explores whether significant relationships are more or less likely to be identified among low-performing students on the PISA assessments. The analysis is based on students enrolled in general education programmes in all OECD countries, including the United Kingdom. Vocational education students and those from non-OECD countries are excluded from the sample.

Box 1 sets out the analysis. It looks first at the experiences of all students. A first group of students ('Intern + CDA') stated that they had undertaken a work placement and had also spoken to a career advisor either in or out of school and in addition had attended a job fair and/or a workplace visit or job shadowing. A second group ('Intern alone') took part in a work placement but had neither spoken with a career advisor nor had additional experience of career exploration through some form of employer engagement. The analysis shows that relationships with forms of career thinking associated with long-term benefits arc systemically more significant for the Intern + CD A group. When compared to students who had not participated in an internship or in these additional forms of career development, they are significantly more likely to be clear about their career plans (career certainty), to plan on completing tertiary education and to identify an occupational expectation outside of the ten most popular aspirations expressed by their peers (career originality). They are also more likely to demonstrate commitment to persevering in their school work and to express greater life satisfaction in school and in general. They are also less likely to expect to work as a senior manager or professional (major categories 1 and 2 in the International Standardised Classification of Occupations) (career ambition). While in longitudinal analyses, expectations of working in such 'higher status' jobs is routinely associated with better ultimate employment outcomes (Covaccvich et al., 2021 [6]), given the high levels of concentration of teenage interests in these fields (65% of students in Wales with a stated occupational expectation in PISA 2022 say they will work in one of these two labour force categories), the expression of more diverse career plans should not automatically be seen negatively. However, the analysis also highlights findings of concern. Intern + CDA students are less likely to attend school regularly, exhibit lower levels of belief in a growth mindset and express lower confidence in their preparation for life after school. The analysis shows that all students who only undertook an internship arc consistently less likely than peers who combined it with career development activities to show variation in their career and education-related attitudes. For this group, there is little difference from the comparison group who had not completed an internship, spoken with a guidance counsellor or participated other employer engagement activities. The analysis highlights the strong importance of integrating internship participation with guidance activities that allow students to further explore their career ambitions and to reflect on the status of their career development.

Box 1 also includes analysis which is confined to low performers on the PISA academic assessments, a target group of the TWE programme. In this analysis, a Tow performer' is classified as a student who achieved below level 2 in either or both of the PISA assessments on reading and mathematics. For this group, while strong results are apparent in terms of career certainty, expectation of completing tertiary education and alignment of career and educational plans, significant results are much less apparent than is the case with all students. Impacts are greater where relationships are significant for low-performing students who combined an internship with other career development activities in comparison to peers who just undertook a work placement. The finding underlines the fact that it cannot be taken for granted that internship participation (or indeed career development activities in general) will link with positive attitudinal changes and that the challenge for lower performers is particularly great. As explored elsewhere in this paper, this is likely to be because such students are more poorly positioned to engage in, and take advantage of, guidance activities, including internships, designed to support their active career development. Finally, across all groups, significantly higher scores in the combined reading and mathematics PISA results are apparent for students who had not undertaken an internship at all.

Box 1. New PISA analysis exploring the relationship between student attitudes and participation in internships and other career development activities (all and low-performing students). PISA 2022.

Source: OECD PISA 2022 database

Note: For readers interpreting this table, it is important to distinguish between the three types of estimates presented:

* Odds Ratios (ORs) - These indicate the likelihood of an outcome occurring relative to a reference group.

o Odds ratios greater than 1 indicate an increased likelihood of the outcome compared to the reference group,

o Odds ratios less than 1 indicate a decreased likelihood of the outcome.

o Example: If the odds ratio for "career certainty" is 1.75, it means that students who participated in both an internship and CD As are 75% more likely to be career certain compared to students who had neither.

* Linear Estimates (Unstandardised) - These indicate absolute changes in a continuous outcome (e.g., PISA scores, life satisfaction) compared to the reference group.

o Positive values indicate an increase in the outcome.

o Negative values indicate a decrease in the outcome.

o Example: A coefficient of -34.24 for "Reading & Math score" means that students who had both an internship and CD As scored 34.24 points lower on the PISA scale compared to students who had neither.

* Standardised Linear Estimates - These apply to variables that have been standardised to have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation (SD) of 1 (e.g., perseverance, belonging, growth mindset, and future confidence). The coefficients represent SD changes relative to the reference group.

о Positive values indicate an increase in SD units.

о Negative values indicate a decrease in SD units.

о Example: A coefficient of -0.33 for "future confidence" among low-performing students means that this group reported future confidence levels that were 0.33 standard deviations lower than students who had neither an internship nor CD As.

Interpretation of Key Results:

* Reading & Math score: This variable represents a student's average score across math and reading in PISA 2022. For example, a student with a reading score of 400 and a math score of 500 would have a Reading & Math score of 450. Students who had both an internship and CD As scored 34.24 points lower than those who had neither, while those who only had an internship scored 10.97 points lower.

* Attending school regularly: This variable represents students who did not miss school for over 3 months at a time in lower or upper secondary school, had not skipped any class in the two weeks before the PISA test and did not arrive late for school three or more times in the two weeks before the PISA test. Students with both an internship and CDAs had 21% lower odds of attending school regularly (OR = 0.79). Other groups showed no significant difference.

* Career certainty: Students with both an internship and CDAs were 75% more likely to have a clear career expectation (OR = 1.75), and for low-performing students, the increase was even greater (107% higher, OR = 2.07).

* Expecting to complete tertiary education: All students who participated in both activities had an 18% higher likelihood (OR = 1.18) of expecting to complete tertiary education (ISCED levels 5-8), while low-performing students saw a 62% increase (OR = 1.62). For low-performing students with only an internship, the odds increased by 20% (OR = 1.20).

* Expecting an ISCO 1 or 2 occupation: Students with both an internship and CD As had 32% lower odds of expecting a career in ISCO Major Groups 1 & 2 (Managers and Professionals) (OR = 0.68). ISCO (International Standard Classification of Occupations) categorizes occupations into skill-based groups, with Major Groups 1 & 2 representing high-skilled jobs.

* Expressing an original career plan: Students with both an internship and CDAs were 25% more likely (OR = 1.25) to expect a career outside the 10 most common occupations in their country.

* Life satisfaction at school: Students with both an internship and CDAs reported 34% higher odds of being satisfied with school (OR = 1.34).

* Overall life satisfaction: Students with both an internship and CDAs had a 0.14 point increase in life satisfaction (on a 0-10 scale).

* Perseverance: This index, derived from students' responses to question ST307, measures perseverance through agreement with statements such as"I keep working on a task until it is finished." and "I give up after making mistakes." Students who participated in both an internship and CDAs showed a 0.07 standard deviation increase in perseverance.

* Growth mindset: Based on question ST263, this index reflects students' beliefs about intelligence and learning, assessed through statements like "Your intelligence is something about you that you cannot change very much." and "Some people are just not good at mathematics, no matter how hard they study." Students who participated in both activities experienced a 0.06 standard deviation decrease in growth mindset.

* Future confidence: This index, constructed from question ST324, captures students' confidence in their preparedness for life after school, using statements such as "I feel well-prepared for my future path after the final year of compulsory education." and "I feel well-informed about possible paths for me after the final year of compulsory education." Low-performing students with both an internship and CDAs had a 0.33 standard deviation decrease, while those with only an internship had a slight 0.04 standard deviation increase.

Key for Asterisks (Significance Levels & Effect Sizes)

* Odds Ratios (ORs)

* ···Large impact (3 asterisks): OR 2.0 or 0.6

* ··Moderate impact (2 asterisks): OR between 1.5-2.0 or 0.6-0.8

* · Small impact (1 asterisk): OR <1.5 and >0.8

* Linear Estimates (Unstandardised)

о Reading & Math score (PISA points)

* ···Large impact (3 asterisks): ^30 PISA points

* ··Moderate impact (2 asterisks): 10-30 PISA points

* · Small impact (1 asterisk): <10 PISA points

* Life Satisfaction (0-10 scale)

* ···Large impact (3 asterisks): ^0.5 points

* ··Moderate impact (2 asterisks): 0.3-0.5 points

* ·Small impact (1 asterisk): < 0.3 points

* Linear Estimates (Standardised SD Changes)

* ···Large impact (3 asterisks): ^0.3 SD

* ··Moderate impact (2 asterisks): 0.2-0.3 SD

* · Small impact (1 asterisk): < 0.2 SD

* Summary

* 3 asterisks (···): Large effect

* 2 asterisks (··): Moderate effect

* 1 asterisk (·): Small effect

Notes:

* Control variables used in the analysis include gender, ESCS, migrant status, and country.

* Students were divided into four groups.

* Students were categorised into four groups:

о Intern + CDA: Students who completed an internship and met the CD A criteria (received career advising and participated in either a job fair or job shadowing).

о Intern Alone: Students who completed an internship but did not meet the CDA criteria.

o CDA Alone: Students who met the CDA criteria but did not complete an internship.

о Neither: Students who did not complete an internship or meet the CDA criteria. This group serves as the reference category in all comparisons.

* The reference group in all cases consists of students who had neither an internship nor CDAs.

* "Not significant" indicates that the result does not meet the standard significance threshold (p < 0.05).

Conceptualising student engagement in, and responses to, workplace exposure

Theories of human, social and cultural capital help to make sense of student interaction with career development. These are resources which shape access to employment that can be enhanced through programmes of career development, notably those that involved workplace engagement, but benefits to students link both to the quality of provision and the existing character of their capital resources as they encounter guidance opportunities. Capitals theory helps to explain why young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds might gain considerably from career development, but also be poorly placed to benefit.

The central role of employer engagement in effective career development

An OECD review of such longitudinal studies from 10 countries helps to make sense of what happens to young people when they engage in career development by grouping together 11 activities and attitudes which are most significantly associated with better outcomes. Covacevich et al. (2021 [6]) find strong evidence of better outcomes linked to three forms of teenage career development:

* experiences of undertaking tasks in workplaces (including most strongly, part-time employment and volunteer work).

* career exploration of potential futures in work (including participation in job fairs, workplace visits, job shadowing, career conversations, application and interview skill development activities and career pathway programmes); and,

* career thinking about potential futures in work as revealed through career certainty, alignment, ambition and instrumental motivation.

It is notable that the forms of active career development which can be most strongly associated with long-term employment boosts almost all either require students to come into contact with people in work (part-time employment, volunteering, internships, career talks, workplace visits, job shadowing) or are commonly delivered with the engagement of people in work (interview and CV development activities, Career Pathway programmes) (Covacevich et al., 2021 [6]). In some ways, this is unsurprising as it is now widely agreed that such employer engagement is at the heart of effective career guidance.5

Conceptualising career development: human, social and cultural capital

A productive means of understanding why young people in general can expect to gain tangible long-term economic benefits from their teenage career development (notably when enriched through employer engagement) is found in considering the potential benefits of such activities from the perspective of ultimate employer recruitment. Concepts of human, social and cultural capital are readily drawn upon in research literature to understand why some people enjoy greater success than others in the ultimate competition for work (Brown, Hooley and Wond, 2021[40]; Clark and Žukas, 2013[41]; Friedman and Laurison, 2020[42]; Tomlinson etai., 2021[43] Tomlinson, 2013[44]). Such conceptualisations help to identify resources which actively shape the career progression of individuals, and which can be influenced while in education, locating the TWE programme in a broader theory of change linked to both employment and educational achievement, but also to patterns of social advantage and disadvantage.

Human capital theory argues that employment outcomes will relate to the knowledge and skills of any individual as codified by educational qualifications and evidenced experience in work (Becker, 1993 [45]). In general (but not always), higher the levels of demonstrable human capital have been associated with better employment outcomes as measured by work participation and earnings. Human capital theory has been very influential in encouraging governments to increase years of education required of young people, but it does have limitations in explaining economic outcomes. It fails for example to explain discrimination in the labour market and simple links with economic outcomes have often been questioned (Brown, Lauder and Cheung, 2020[46])-6 Consequently, social capital theory explores the role of social contacts in mobilising or activating the human capital possessed by an individual. Social capital is described as both bonding (where individuals with similar characteristics support one another) and bridging where social contacts can help an individual to access information, resources and opportunities which are not easily found within their immediate social circles. Granovettcr (1973[47]) and Lin (2012[48]) for example find that possession of a large, but relatively thin and wide-ranging spread of social connections ('weak ties') increases access to job information and opportunities, notably where contacts hold positions of some seniority within an economic environment. For recruiters, existing social connections can reduce the risk of making a poor appointment whether directly through personal interaction or indirectly through a trusted recommendation. However, risk itself also relates to a recruiter's perception of the suitability of an individual to succeed within a specific occupation. Consequently, cultural capital theory helps to explain how some people build trust, useful social relations and so access to economic opportunities. As Tomlinson (2019[49]) explains, "essentially, the more aligned someone's cultural capital is towards the culture of an employer organisation, the more advantageously it will equip them when trying to enter a given employment field." Cultural capital represents forms of embodied knowledge and behaviour (personal presentation, language, cultural familiarity and consumption) leading to signals and cues which are valued in different settings. The concept of cultural capital includes here forms of vocational identity and self-conceptions about who an individual believes themselves to be and who they wish, feel able or feel permitted to become in ways which will be seen as credible by a potential recruiter (Tomlinson, 2019[49]).7 Such beliefs can work against the economic success of individuals ('people like us don't go to university'), including gendered conceptions of which occupations are reasonable to aspire to. Consequently, sociologists tend to describe cultural capital in terms of personal understandings and attitudes, using phrases such as 'understanding of the rules of the game' or being 'a fish in water' to describe its effective presence (Clark and Žukas, 2013[41]; Payne and Golfings, 2O24[50]).8 Through these different forms of capital an individual can build personal confidence and credibility in ways which secure ultimate economic benefit, including through engagement in educational provision. However, their power is rooted in their interrelationships. An individual undertaking a programme of study (human capital) with links to a particular employment field may secure a work opportunity in the field through a contact at their educational institution further building their social capital and confident understanding of a distinct vocational culture and what is valued within it.

Enhancing human, social and cultural capital through and challenging inequalities through career development

In episodes of career development bringing students into contact with workplaces and people in work, benefits are often understood in research literature through the lens of human, social and cultural capital accumulation (Jokisaari and Nurmi, 2005[51]; Kashefpakdel and Percy, 2016[52]; Mann, Kashefpakdel and Percy, 2018[53]; Messer, 2018[54]; Norris, 2011 [55]; OECD, 2024; Raffo and Reeves, 2000[56]). Studies look both at the ways in which existing levels of capital shape engagement in development activities, but also how participation in activities can enhance capital accumulation, at times being seen to reduce social inequalities. With regard to the former, as noted, where students are asked to find their own work placements, difference in parental social networks and personal confidence is seen to shape access (Hatcher and Le Galiais, 2008[35]). Norris (2011 [55]) in her study of British further education colleges, finds that low-income students arc often ignorant of the 'rules of the game' and feel instinctively uncomfortable in working social contacts for personal advantage. Career and educational ambitions are also strongly shaped by social background as well as by gender (OECD, 2024[7). PISA 2022 data shows that in Wales, 54.6% of highest performing students from the lowest quartile by social, economic and cultural status (ESCS) expect to complete a tertiary qualification.9 By comparison, 62.8% of the lowest performing students from the highest ESCS quartile have the same ambition (Mann, Diaz and Zapata Posada, 2025[57). In the UK similarly, a UCAS study of 27 000 higher education students found that students from socially advantaged backgrounds are more likely than their disadvantaged peers to have first started thinking about university when they were in primary school (UCAS, 2021 [58]). Programmes which help students without family histories of higher education to visit universities and become familiar and confident about their operation can be seen as a form of cultural capital development. PISA 2022 also shows that whereas 24.8% of all students in Wales plan on working in a profession that typically requires a tertiary education, but do not plan on securing this level of education, this applies to 36.2% of low ESCS students and 39.5% of low performers.

Studies which explore student engagement in career development disaggregated by social class are limited but tend to find that more socially disadvantaged students can expect better long-term outcomes than their peers. Kemple (2008[59]) finds for example that the greatest long-term earnings boosts linked to the US Career Academies career pathway programme are found among individuals whose teenage characteristics suggested that they were at highest risk of not completing secondary education. Members of this group earned 17% more than comparable peers in a control group eight years after high school graduation, higher than the 11% average. Neumark and Rothstein (2005[60]) also finds that benefits linked to a range of US school-to-work transition programmes are greater for those young people whose teenage characteristics suggested that they were least likely to attend tertiary education. From a UK perspective Mann Kashefpakdel and Percy (2018[53]) find that the students who secured greatest long-term earning benefits from teenage career talks with people from outside of their schools were the ones who felt that they knew no-one who could help them to get a job after education and who were disproportionately drawn from families with parents working in manual or 'unskilled' occupations. More recently, Resnjanskij et al. (2024[61]) find that benefits linked to a mentoring programme in Germany are concentrated among the most socially disadvantaged students. In these studies, positive benefits accruing to the most socially advantaged students are much more limited, suggesting that a compensatory effect is in operation: that disadvantaged students have more to gain because they have structurally weaker access to sources of human, social and cultural capital that enable personal accumulation of career-related information, social network and experiences as they progress towards the labour market. Students who are the children of managers involved in hiring decisions for example have immediate access to trusted sources of advice on how employers recruit. The added value of school-mediated interventions to increase understanding in this area is likely to be greater for students lacking such family-based resources. Guidance systems can address such predictable deficiencies and help these students to compete more effectively for available economic opportunities (OECD, 2024[7]; Payne and Golfings, 2O24[50). However, the value secured will relate to the quality of the experience and the existing capacity of the student to integrate new information into understandings of the working world and its relationships with education.

In the Tailored Work Experience programme, positive outcomes arc anticipated both in terms of accessing education, employment or training from age 16 and prior educational re-engagement and successful GCSE attainment. With regard to the first ambition, as noted in internal assessments of TWE provision by Careers Wales and other studies, employers frequently offer paid employment to students who first came to them on a work placement. A survey for example of 100 UK employers who offered both unpaid internships and paid work for teenagers found that 80% had offered paid work to someone who had previously been on a placement, with the majority stating that it mattered a lot to them that the young person had worked in their enterprise specifically (Mann, 2012[62]). It is not simply the human capital of the student that matters, but the personal interaction and impressions, enabled through school systems. Australian studies find moreover that it is common for young people who worked part-time as teenagers to be offered full-time employment after completing secondary education (OECD, 2025[ii]).

It is hoped that extended work experience will encourage and enable disengaged students to see the value of school in a new fight through following new social interactions, so building their human capital as codified by qualifications to enhance long-term opportunities for employment progression. Career guidance it is argued by Hughes et al. (2016[23]) and Hooley, Matheson and Watts (2014[63]) helps young people to better understand the relationship between education and desirable occupations, clarifying valued outcomes and enabling the setting of attainment educational goals. It is motivating because it has the capacity to help students see their engagement in education in a fresh light and students with control groups more often show that positive, if typically modest, improvements can be measured in educational attainment (Hughes et al., 2016[23]). Such a perspective finds supporting evidence in analysis of PISA data which shows that students who engage more strongly in career development activities are less likely to be misaligned in their career and educational plans.

As noted above, survey data from participating students and school staff suggest that work placements often, but not always, lead to increase motivation. Analysis by Jones, Mann and Morris (2015[36]) indicates that such changes in attitudes can be of long-term importance. The study reviews written comments by young British adults (aged 19-24) about their experiences of employer engagement while they were in secondary school, the most common form of which was a work experience placement. Earlier analysis of survey data had revealed statistically significant and substantial relationships between greater engagement in career development activities involving employers and lower NEET rates and higher wages for those in employment (Mann and Percy, 2013 [64]; Percy and Mann, 2014[65]). The written comments of 380 young adults were reviewed in response to a question which asked for reflections on what, if anything, they felt that they had got from employers being involved in their education. Half of respondents felt that they had got nothing of value out of their experiences with proportionally more former students from non-selective state schools stating that this was the case than peers who had attended selective state or private schools. Classifying positive responses in terms of the three forms of capital enhancement under discussion here, Jones, Mann and Morris (2015[36]) finds that by far the most common description of benefit related to cultural capital, being cited more than twice as frequently as forms of human and social capital. Specifically, the authors find evidence of young adults arguing that their experiences of engaging with employers while in full-time secondary education had:

* Increased their personal confidence, including encouragement to think more maturely and in wide-ranging ways about future opportunities in work.

* Helped eliminate potential future occupational ambitions and to visualise potential new pathways.

* Served to increase academic motivation, more often as a negative driver following an experience of work which they did not like (Jones, Mann and Morris, 2015[зб]).

Through these different forms of development, students can be seen to build greater senses of personal agency. For Jones, Mann and Morris (2015[36j) however, this form of capital accumulation cannot be viewed in isolation. For example, students might ascribe a changing attitude to education to an interaction with a working professional (social capital) which led in turn to more informed engagement in education to strategically build human capital in light of better understanding of occupational areas and what is most valued by recruiters within them. For the designers of the TWE, it is anticipated that students will experience change in their school-related attitudes, assumptions and dispositions linked to their more confident understanding of the relationships between education and employment. In their analysis Jones, Mann and Morris (2015[36]) shows that this can be expected in many cases, but it cannot be taken for granted. After all, half of the young adults who responded argued that their teenage employer engagement had brought them nothing of long-term value. Figure 3 illustrates the ways in which capitals shape and build on each other with processes of career development.

The key takeaways from this discussion of the role of human, social and cultural capital in career development are that:

* There is strong evidence to show that participation in career development activities, notably those which engage employers, help to build the three forms of capital, supporting the progression of individuals through education towards desirable employment.

* The likelihood of positive capital accumulation following episodes of career development relates to both the quality of the guidance activity and how existing levels of human, social and cultural capital shape engagement with the activity.

* In programmes of extended work experience, opportunities for capital accumulation are substantial (students are actively learning new skills or deploying existing ones, working in places where they have considerable opportunity to interact with new people in work undertaking tasks that can teach them much about themselves and possible pathways to future fulfilling employment), but risks of both poor experiences and students being poorly prepared to benefit from placements are also significant. Across many jurisdictions, work-focused programmes provide examples of approaches which can maximise opportunities and reduce risks to students.

Work-focused practice models in other jurisdictions: Vocational, alternative and Career-related Provision

A range of related programmes which can be seen to be successful in different ways seek to optimise the benefits of work placements in a number of common ways, including careful student matching, learning plan development, recognition of work-based learning within mainstream schooling, certification of skills, mentor provision and career guidance. While overall results are viewed as being very positive, many approaches have not seen increased achievement in mathematics and literacy.

In considering the future development of the TWE programme, opportunities exist for learning from forms of related education which arc offered in different jurisdictions within general secondary education. Specifically, forms of vocational, alternative and career-related provision which are often targeted at students disengaged from education provide insights of value (Hall and Raffo, 2004[66]). Programmes highlighted below are seen as successful in evaluations, patterns of growth and/or by ministries of education. They typically enable or require students to spend times in workplaces and put in place interventions to enable positive outcomes through building the human, social and cultural capital of students.

For students at risk of poor outcomes, some systems offer students the opportunity to engage in vocational or pre-vocational learning from the age of 14 and upwards. Examples include the well-evaluated and popular Junior Apprenticeship in Wales where KS4 students enrolled on full-time vocational education at a college of further education (Estyn, 2024[6?]). Other programmes which allow students to stay embedded in general secondary include the Foundation Apprenticeship in Scotland, School-based Apprenticeships and Traineeships (SBAT) in Australia, the Registered Apprenticeship Program in Alberta, Teen Apprentice Program in New Brunswick, and Youth Work in Trades Program in British Columbia (all Canada) where students devote one to three days a week to vocational provision and the remainder of their school week to core studies in general education (Herdman ct al., 2024[i9]). Students often study at training providers on vocational qualifications and participate in extended periods of work experience arc common. As the use of the word 'apprenticeship' within programmes suggest, the focus is very much on early labour market entry. Such programmes are designed explicitly to build human capital as codified by vocational qualifications and social capital through engagement with teaching professionals with industry experience and in workplaces, helping a young person to develop a vocational identity through supported introduction to a specific occupational field. Such vocational provision offers students something very different in terms of the subject of study and how learning is undertaken.

For students disengaged from education, challenges can lie in the intensity of such an introduction. While options are theoretically kept open in general education, students are pressed to confirm an early decision about their immediate career objectives with considerable time and energy devoted to preparation to enter related employment or work with training after secondary education through coherent programmes of study of two or three years duration. For the right students, as the review of the Junior Apprenticeship in Wales (Estyn, 2024[67]) shows, such programmes are very popular and effective in enabling post-16 progression. The TWE offers students something different. It is designed to secure benefits from workplace exposure, improving their capacity to proceed into apprenticeship provision or full-time work after the age 16, but keeping their options for post-16 education open by requiring continued GCSE engagement.

A further cluster of Career Pathway programmes offer such lighter touch career preparation, introducing students in general education to a broad vocational area with more limited articulation with potentially related VET programmes (Herdman et al, 2024[19]). In the United States, most general high schools and many middle schools offer programmes of Career and Technical Education (CTE): courses of six to twenty-four weeks duration linked to some 79 areas of study within up to 16 broad career clusters. CTE classes are typically taught for 2-3 hours weekly with students often taking classes in the same cluster areas over multiple years. Students who concentrate their studies in such a way can typically expect better employment outcomes in adulthood (Herdman et al., 2024[19]). Over recent years, many high schools (and some middle schools) in the United States have built on CTE to offer more substantial, sequenced learning in career cluster fields. There are now more than 7 000 Career Academies in the United States where students take multi-year classes that integrate core academic study, applied learning and work-focused provision (including internships) around a career theme with provision designed to build critical understanding of a vocational area and enable progression after secondary school to either tertiary education or employment (Kistler, Childs and Dougherty, 2024[68]). Typically, students follow their Career Academy subject for one day a week within general secondary education. Often targeted at students from disadvantaged social backgrounds, evaluations suggest that Career Academics are effective in enhancing long-term employment outcomes for youth (Covacevich et al., 2021 [6]; Herdman et al., 2024[19]). Studies which follow large numbers of students through secondary education tend to find that Career Academies substantially improve educational outcomes for learners at high risk of dropping out, reducing early school leaving, improving attendance and high school graduation rates with success driven in part by strong interpersonal and academic support (Elliott, Hanser and Gilroy, 2002[69]; Kistler, Childs and Dougherty, 2024[68] Kemple and Snipes, 2000[70]; Kemple, 2008[59i; Page, 2012[71]). Some studies however have found that Career Academies do not improve scores on standardised assessments in mathematics and reading (Kemple and Snipes, 2000[70]) and in some reviews student graduation rates were very similar to those of a comparable control group which had not enrolled on the programme (Kemple, 2008[59]).

Within the United Kingdom, the well-evaluated Young Apprenticeships Programme (YAP) was available to students in England between 2004 and 2011 (Clifford et al., 201 l[72]; Golden, O'Donnell and Benton, 2010[73] Ofsted, 2007[74] 2005[75]). YAPs were available in 11 vocational areas with students engaged for two days a week, combining provision with external providers and 50 days of work experience in provision well-articulated with full-time apprenticeships and continuing education available from age 16. The national education inspectorate Ofsted reported that students in schools inspected were "highly motivated, well behaved, enthusiastic and enjoyed the programme. Their positive attitudes impressed employers who saw clear benefits from the programme, for themselves and for students" (Ofsted, 2007[74]). While students achieved well on the YAP, success in core GCSEs was marginally poorer than expected. Reviews showed that participants especially valued the variety of learning, their practical experience and that they were treated more like adults on provision (Golden, O'Donnell and Benton, 2010[73] Ofsted, 2007[74]). Following the YAP, it was initially expected that half of students would complete an adult apprenticeship, but in reality the great majority of students went on to continued study.

While the above work-focused programmes are broadly seen to be effective in enhancing outcomes of students, particularly from the most disadvantaged social backgrounds, they are different from the TWE in that students are required to enrol in a pre-determined programme of set duration with clear assessment requirements. In some countries, more personalised programmes rich in work-based experience provide students with opportunity to engage in more personalised learning provision which is more comprehensively different to traditional classroom learning. Such programmes can be seen as forms of career-related Alternative Provision (AP).

In the Canadian province of Ontario, Supervised Alternative Learning (SAL) is available to students aged 15 to 18 who require "a period away from regular school attendance to help resolve an issue so that he or she can return to school later" (Ministry of Education Ontario, 2010[76]). Among the primary options open to students are full or part-time work on an approved placement, volunteering in the community and job-related training. Every student in the programme must have a Supervised Alternative Learning Plan which outlines the student's short and long term educational and personal goals and how they will attempt to achieve them. This may include the certification of skills gained through part-time employment or training (Ministry of Education Ontario, 2010[76]). The goal of the SAL is to provide a personalised programme of positive activity for a student disengaged from general secondary education.

In New Brunswick, Canada the Essential Skills Achievement Pathway Program (ESAP) embeds personalised learning with a strong work focus within the curriculum. It was launched in 2017 to engage high school students more deeply in learning and equip them with a high school diploma that prepares them for post-secondary education, apprenticeship, or direct entry into the workforce (Herdman et al., 2024[i9]). Developed primarily in response to concern over student disengagement in education, the ESAP employs a mix of skill-based problem-solving, project-based learning, and on-the-job experiences to prepare students for the workforce or continuing education. The two-year programme is not an additional component but rather the core curriculum for students, culminating in a high school diploma. Depending on their future plans, successful students can choose between a postsecondary Academic, Vocational or Workplace Entry pathway. All pathways require students to engage in experiential, work-based learning, with the Workplace Entry pathway, including a mandatory work placement of at least 400 hours (approximately four months full-time equivalence). The ESAP is available to high school students aged 15-18. The programme focuses on foundational learning in the first year and specialised area study with work placement in the second. In 2023, it was fully implemented in 48 of 49 high schools across New Brunswick, engaging about 5% of the province's 75 000 students in over 75 areas of study, including the skilled trades, Information Technology and health services. Graduates earn a certification equivalent to a general education diploma. It is envisaged that the programme will in time also offer industry-recognised credentials and apprenticeship hours. Students are given significant agency over when, how, and what they learn. To enable students to take ownership over their learning, ESAP provides fluid completion timelines. Students are expected to learn core foundational skills, but they have a great deal of autonomy to explore their interests in self-driven projects and internships. Provision is linked to both specific occupations, such as Hotel Reception or Nursing Home Resident Support and broader vocational fields such as Animation and Graphic Design, Business Management or Educator (Herdman et al., 2024[19]; Nackawic Senior High School, n.d.p7]).

A growing network of schools internationally have adopted Big Picture Learning (BPL), a comparable personalised educational programme rich in workplace experience aimed at students who find mainstream general education unattractive (Arnold and Mihut, 2020[?8]; Fischetti et al., 2024^; Hayes etai., 2013[80])- Originating in the United States in the 1990s, BPL is an approach to education that "allows students to explore their curiosity through workplace-situated, problem-based, and individualised learning experiences" (Bradley and Hernandiez, 2019[81]) with the student at the "centre of their own personalised learning" (Emery et al., 2020[82]). Big Picture learners, from age 14, typically intern two days a week, spending the remainder of the week either working on a reduced curriculum individually or in small classes (Arnold and Mihut, 2020[78]) - It is intended that internships will allow students to pursue their passions, build meaningful relationships with adults, and engage in authentic and relevant learning around their interests (Arnold and Mihut, 2020[78]; Bradley and Hernandiez, 2019[81]; Emery et al., 2020[82]; Fischetti et al., 2024[79])- Big Picture Learning schools are now found in many countries, notably Australia where students also undertake programmes of learning offered by TAPE vocational schools and universities as well as internships (Fischetti et al., 2024[79]).

In high school settings, BPL students work initially with a generalist teacher (an 'advisor') to identify interests and related careers through interviews, questionnaires and career fairs (Fischetti et al., 2024[79]). Students then research local employers to learn about organisations and potential roles. Following an initial discussion with a potential workplace mentor, students spend a few days job shadowing at the enterprise. If successful, the student, school advisor and mentor meet to discuss options for an extended placement. After a student has spent some time on the internship, the three parties meet again to develop a plan collaboratively for the student's work, confirming learning opportunities and projects through which the student will "explore their interests while building their academic and industry specific knowledge and transferrable skill set. The work, learning and projects that students engage in ...are intended to be authentic and rigorous learning experiences that give students concentrated workplace tasks and expose them to exemplary approaches of work in their respective industries" (Bradley and Hernandiez, 2019[81]). It is common for students to change internships over the duration of their four years in high school with four to six internships over the period common (Bradley, 2019[84]). Big Picture schools actively engage parents through the process. At the end of each term, learners are assessed on a portfolio of work presented to a panel made up of their advisor, family members, peers and workplace members (Arnold and Mihut, 2020[78]; Emery et al., 2020[82]).

The workplace mentor plays a significant role within the model. They are expected to support student project development, provide content knowledge, assist with post-secondary planning and build authentic long-term relationships with students. In their final year of secondary school, students complete a senior thesis project which requires them to design, lead and implement a project that addresses a problem within their community (Bradley and Hernandiez, 2019[81]).

Evaluations of Big Picture Learning indicate that students achieve typically achieve well educationally. In the most substantial study, Arnold and Mihut (2020[78]) follow 1 916 Big Picture students in the United States, collecting data at five points from the final year of high school to eight years after graduation. Around two-thirds of the sample were eligible for free school meals, 18% qualified for additional support due to learning and/or physical disabilities, 75% were from ethnic minority backgrounds and 56% native speakers of a language other than English. Only 20% of the sample came from families with a history of higher education participation and students generally lived in communities with high levels of academic underachievement and high school dropout. After high school completion, the study found that nearly all students went on to tertiary education, typically in study areas linked to their BPL internships (Fischetti et al., 2024[79]), at considerably higher levels than found nationally among the lowest income levels and at comparable rates to students in small schools which focus on intensive academic classroom study, extended instructional time and heavy student homework requirements (such as schools in the Knowledge is Power Program, KIPP). Arnold and Mihut (2020[78]) suggest that a weakness of the Big Picture Learning model is student proficiency in mathematics. While it would be expected that given the intensity of employer engagement within career development that BPL students would show demonstrable benefit in the labour market, no scientific study has yet been identified which compares ultimate employment outcomes. Arnold (2020[78]) concludes that: "relationships and relevance are two pillars of the Big Picture model that study findings indicate are extremely successful".10

In the UK, Big Picture Learning has been introduced within Alternative Provision in Doncaster. At KS4, students attend their mainstream school for two days a week (where they focus on a reduced curriculum) and Vega College (https://www.vegacollege.com/) for three days a week, spending one day on a work placement or work-related learning. Students, who can jump into and out of the programme, also focus on a range of employability skills, such as ASDAN and AQA accreditations, while at the College (Taylor-Dunn, White, and Newman, 2024[g3]). The programme actively involves parents and aims to enhance engagement in education by helping students to understand themselves and self-manage better within education by providing a personalised learning journey within a supportive, nurturing and inclusive environment. The programme also has a strong focus on the mental health and well-being of students. A recent evaluation (albeit based on small numbers) by (Taylor-Dunn, 2024[16]) found that student attendance at Vega (c.90%) was significantly higher than general school attendance (c.60%) and that students were achieving at or above predicted levels in their GCSEs. A key success of the programme was seen as the facilitation of lifelong learning by nurturing a love of learning and the development of skills of long-term value through creative projects and internships (Taylor-Dunn, White, and Newman, 2024[83]).

A version of Alternative Provision that includes extended personalised workplace engagement for students in their mid-teens has been available in Finland since 2006. Flexible Basic Education (joustava perusopetus or JOPO in Finnish) is available to students between the ages of 13 and 16 (grades 7 to 9 in lower secondary education institutions). The aim of JOPO is to reduce dropping out of basic education, prevent marginalisation and strengthen students' study motivation and life management (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2025[83]). It targets underachieving and poorly motivated students who are judged to be at risk of exclusion from further education and working life (Finnish National Board for Education, 2025). JOPO students commonly form a separate class within their school. Classes of 20 JOPO students are common. They are usually supported by a special education teacher and youth worker as they split their time 50/50 between school and a workplace and participate in excursions, visits to educational institutes, and school camps creating a strong sense of community. Students follow a reduced curriculum and engage in a personalised learning programme, agreed between the school, student and their family, linked to their work experience placement.

Teaching is carried out within school and supervised studies at workplaces and other learning environments. Studying outside of school is seen as an essential part of flexible basic education. During these periods, pupils have the right to guidance and instruction from a teacher. JOPO groups are taught through action-based learning methods which highlight inquiry based and co-operative learning and project learning instead of teacher-led learning. In place of subject centred learning, the JOPO project has developed thematic learning which is responsive to student needs and situational time use (Europoean Commission, 2015 [84]). Special attention is paid to forms of work that increase pupils' participation and engagement in the school community and strengthen the joint educational work of parents/guardians and all those working in flexible basic education. The teaching emphasizes functional and work-oriented study methods. Schools often create partnership groups involving vocational schools, upper secondary schools, adult education institutions and youth organisations to support provision. Schools identify placements with employers themselves. JOPO is not a VET programme, but explicitly experiential in approach, but it may include VET qualifications within provision, depending on the specific needs and interests of the student. JOPO students are allocated a workplace mentor who gives the student a grade based upon their learning and performance at the worksite and is encouraged to give honest, constructive feedback (Bonafield-Pierce, 2018[85])-

The JOPO programme is seen as a success by the Finnish National Agency for Education and its provision is written into legislation articulating educational entitlements in the country. It is now available in two-thirds of Finland's local authorities. After completion of lower secondary, JOPO students are expected to proceed to general or vocational education at upper secondary level. The European Commission noted in 2020 that "JOPO has been shown to improve the situation of nearly 90% of participating pupils, so that most of them received their final certificate, improved their attendance and/or gained motivation" (European Commission, 2020).

In Denmark, a comparable programme will be available from the autumn of 2025. Legislation has been introduced to make the Junior Apprenticeship (JA) programme (or junior mesterlære) an entitlement for all students between the ages of 14 and 16 (grades 8 and 9). As in Finland, this represents the final years of lower secondary education. The roll out follows a two-year pilot where students struggling to engage in mainstream general education were offered a reduced curriculum, focusing on four core subjects, and access to vocational training. A pilot evaluation followed 101 students who were characterised by poor attainment, low motivation and high absenteeism. Following engagement on the programme, the great majority secured a positive post-16 outcome with half entering vocational education (Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut, 2022[86]).

From the autumn of 2025, the juniormesterlære will be made available to all interested students who will have the option of combining a core curriculum as decided by their school (as a revised minimum students must study Danish and Mathematics) and participate in pre-vocational training offered by an external provider, an extended internship or a combination of these activities. While available across grades 8 and 9, students will have flexibility to enter and leave the JA as agreed. Students undertake an assessment at the end of Grade 9 determining the progression routes open to them (Juniormesterlære, 2025).

Students participate in the JA for one or two days a week. Depending on local circumstances, the JA will be offered by individual schools, consortia of schools with provision based at one institution, or by training provider. The programme is designed to be rich in career guidance and intended to be fully personalised to the interests and needs of students. It is the student, and their families, who are responsible for finding an internship. Students must sign a contract with the employer that has been approved by the school principal. An evaluation of the YA will be undertaken after five years' operation (2024[87]).

In the UK environment, the Finnish and Danish programmes share some similarities with the Key Stage 4 Engagement Programme (KS4EP) which over the first decade of the century allowed general secondary schools in England to increase flexibility in provision (Cowen and Burgess, 2009[88b QCA, 2007[24])- Within the KS4EP, selected students were expected to engage in personalised provision including "a strong work-focused component, preferably taking place in a work environment... underpinned by high quality and regular support, advice and guidance from a trusted adult" (Cowen and Burgess, 2009[88]). The programme design expected students to spend between one and three days a week on the work-focused component of the programme, but in reality it proved challenging for all students to undertake an extended work placement (Cowen and Burgess, 2009[88]).

Based on a case study review of such flexible, personalised, work-focused programmes of alternative provision at KS4 in England, White and Laczik (2015[89]) identify common features of successful programmes:

* That students were well matched to work-focused learning opportunities, being presented with genuine choice and actively participating in confirming the design of personalised provision, so optimising chances of completion.

* That students engaged in holistic provision, guided by an individual learning plan. Alongside extended work placements, they would engage in provision focused on the development of basic skills, taster sessions with vocational and post-16 educational providers, activities to develop self-confidence, self-esteem, anger management, self-management and social skills alongside careers guidance and mentoring support.

* That students gained opportunity to work in a practical environment, developing work-related hard and soft skills in ways which were valued pedagogically (White and Laczik, 2015 [89]).

The study found that extended work experience was often the most attractive element for students, encouraging their engagement in a further range programme of activities. The success of placements was optimised by careful matching, mentoring support, visits by school staff to students on placement and accompanying them if necessary. Placements in turn were viewed by practitioners as being beneficial in improving student behaviour, motivation, confidence and other social and emotional skills (White and Laczik, 2015 [89]). The review concludes that work-related learning (including extended work experience) should not be seen as a 'magic bullet', but that it should sit as an integral element within a broader programme of interventions, including mentoring and other forms of personal development found commonly within programmes of Alternative Provision. The programme evaluation by Cowen and Burgess (2009[88]) noted that the KS4EP contributed to better attendance and attainment levels for students with the great majority progressing to positive post-16 outcomes. It was least effective in enhancing students' overall enjoyment and engagement in school-based learning.

In the United States and Canada, Cooperative Education has long been used by schools to connect part-time job experience with classroom knowledge. Typically, co-op programmes combine paid or unpaid, supervised and credit-bearing work with a secondary academic programme. Participants enter into a written agreement with an employer, specifying their work tasks and the responsibilities of the employer and school coordinator. Students, who are typically aged 16-18, split their time 50/50 between classroom-based study and paid employment for which they receive high school credit (Gemici and Rojewski, 2010[90]).n It is assumed that through workplace exposure, students will enhance their educational and cognitive development through the regular use of core academic skills within a workplace (Gemici and Rojewski, 2010[90]). Several longitudinal studies have explored the long-term employment histories of co-op students and found better outcomes than expected given their individual characteristics (Herdman et al., 2024[i9]). Gemici and Rojewski (2010[90]) analyse data from the US Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 and find that at-risk co-op students, defined in terms of high absenteeism and problematic behaviour, expressed more ambitious education plans than comparable peers who had not participated in the programme, an indicator of better ultimate transitions into adult life. While focused on students typically older than the TWE cohort, co-op education is an example of a long-standing and popular programme which leverages extended work exposure to underpin academic engagement and successful post-secondary transitions. Through the programme, students are expected to develop critical understanding of recruitment processes and workplace operations as well as developing technical, social and emotional skills (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2014[91]). Students demonstrate learning through logs, journals and portfolios, project-based and classroom-based assessments and employer evaluations.

Considerations in the further development of the Tailored Work Experience programme in Wales

Five groups of considerations may be of value in reflections on the future development of the TWE. These relate to: cautiously broadening opportunities for workplace experience; increasing anticipated programme effectiveness by enhancing student career preparation; enhancing opportunities for reflection and insights of value to emerge through nurtured new social relations; connecting more systematically with wider provision to optimise outcomes; and, valuing and enabling early transitions into full-time employment as appropriate.

This review of research literature, large-scale datasets and stakeholder surveys suggests that there is good reason to believe that disengaged students taking part in periods of extended tailored work experience at key stage 4 can expect to gain much of value from the activity. Analysis of longitudinal data related teenage participation in part-time work, volunteering in the community and internships indicates very strongly that such engagement will reduce the risk of becoming NEET after the conclusion of secondary education and improve employment outcomes into adulthood. Forty of 47 studies provide significant evidence of such outcomes. Such analyses also confirm that students at risk of poor outcomes as teenagers in secondary education can expect particularly to benefit from provision, a viewpoint endorsed by surveys of school staff well placed to offer a perspective. However, positive outcomes cannot be taken for granted, but will relate to the quality of personalised provision and the readiness of students to take value from it (OECD, 2025[11]; [10]; [8]).

In its press notice to mark the expansion of the programme in 2023, the Welsh Government explained that the scheme will enhance student social capital ('giving learners access to a network of contacts outside of their school and immediate family'), cultural capital ('helping them to develop and confidently progress their career ambitions, highlighting some of the different careers and career pathways available to them') and human capital ('developing knowledge and gaining practical skills to help secure future employment through new opportunities') (Welsh Government, 2023[1). These three forms of capital development represent accumulation of resources which significantly determine relative success and failure in both the competition for employment and the capacity to engage with education to best personal advantage. Capital resources are built over many years and develop sequentially over time, interacting to provide new opportunities for career development.

Provision such as the TWE represents an important opportunity for disengaged students to break from patterns of disheartening engagement in mainstream school provision, creating space for reflection on career and educational ambitions and the emergence of realistic new pathways towards the labour market (through employment and post-16 vocational training). Reducing the school curriculum represents moreover an important immediate action to reduce stress and pressure on student (Redekopp and Huston, 2020[92]).

The TWE is well designed to respond to the needs of students who are struggling to envision a future. It does not require students to make a final choice about their occupational vision. Rather, it offers students who have often met with educational failure and conflict with the opportunity to succeed in an environment likely to engender respect. It includes a strong potential to support career exploration and to nurture a culture of personal curiosity. Career ambitions may well change over time and that is not a problem. A student does not need to decide on a final career plan at 15, but they are at a considerable disadvantage if they have not embarked on a process of serious career exploration by this age. Decisions made about investment in education at KS4 and from age 16 can make it considerably easier or more difficult for young people to pursue professions of interest. As Jones, Mann and Morris (2015[36]) report, one of the strongest impacts of work experience for many students is exposing them to work that they really do not want. PISA 2022 shows that 47.6% of the lowest performing students in Wales are uncertain about their occupational expectations. For many, time in full-time education will be running out, reducing the opportunity to leverage educational opportunities to support progression towards more personally fulfilling employment.

Different individuals respond to the demands of different work environments in different ways, but objective criteria for measuring job quality are also available with risks of insecure employment, low earnings and stressful working environments highest for low-skilled and young workers (Cazes, Hijzen and Saint-Martin, 2015[93]). Effective career development helps students to understand honestly both the great opportunities and serious risks presented by labour market. As Bluestein (2019[94]) notes "Work has the potential to add a great deal of meaning and richness to our lives; at the same time, it has the capacity to wither our souls in a way that few other life activities can match." For young people, understanding of the complexity of personal interactions with labour markets is considerably enhanced through authentic and sustained engagements with workplaces and people in work.12

As with many comparable work-focused programmes of alternative provision, the TWE is designed to offer students something very different from classroom learning in general secondary education. Such difference signals a recognition that 'more of the same' cannot be expected to lead to different outcomes in terms of school engagement. Importantly, TWE students engage intensely with workplaces which hold a high symbolic value. A primary element of the de facto contract between students and society is that engagement in education will prepare them well to succeed in the world of work. PISA 2022 shows that one student in twelve in Wales strongly believes that 'school is a waste of time.' For students lacking extrinsic motivation to engage in education, there can be no better location than the workplace to confirm or challenge such thinking. In this a strength of the programme is its implicit recognition that disengaged students require access to sources of information and guidance based in the real world. Education systems cannot control the information and guidance received within the workplace and in some cases it may conflict with the aims of the programme to reengage students in formal learning, but it is only through its authenticity that greatest value is secured and confidence can be had that new information will be trusted and taken on board. Consequently, effective provision will subtly guide students towards situations of greatest potential value. Moreover, for students seeking to enter the workplace on a full-time basis as quickly as possible, extended work experience, tailored to personal interests, provides considerable opportunity to rapidly build the knowledge, skills, social connections and vocational identity that will persuade a potential employer that hiring a young person presents little risk.

In contrast to many comparable work-focused programmes of alternative provision, the TWE is not a coherent programme to be undertaken over a fixed period of time with standardised learning outcomes and assessments. Like the new juniormesterlære in Denmark, it is jump on/jump off. Wales offers KS4 students its own Junior Apprenticeship, a popular and well-regarded full-time programme of vocational education (Estyn, 2024[67]). In its design, the TWE aims to keep options open for students who may have given little consideration to their vocational interests and whose disengagement may reflect complex challenges in their personal lives which work against future planning. Consequently, the TWE is designed to have it both ways - open up a pathway into early employment and providing a space well-structured to encourage reflection on long term ambitions and the role of education and training in enabling them.

In order to optimise the likelihood of successful outcomes for young people, this paper offers five grouped considerations for reflection in reviewing potential policy developments based on review of research literature, stakeholder testimonies and relevant data.

Consideration 1: cautiously broadening opportunities for workplace experience

In their placements which are at the heart of the TWE, students undertake tasks under the supervision of working professionals who are not parents or teachers in places of work for extended periods of time. As noted, large-scale surveys of students and teachers suggest that such experiences arc commonly effective in building the knowledge, confidence and contacts of students, deepening their career thinking and helping them to revise their understanding of the relationships between education and employment (Burge, Wilson and Smith-Crallan, 2012[95]; Mann, Rehill and Kashefpackdel, 2018[15]). Such positive outcomes depend upon the capacity of placements to allow students to demonstrate to themselves and others that they can be personally effective in undertaking non-menial tasks in unfamiliar situations while developing meaningful new social relationships. They also depend on the readiness of students to take advantage of such opportunities. As revealed in student surveys by Confederation of Business Industry (2007[30]) and YouGov (2010[27]) of young adults by (Jones, Mann and Morris, 2015[36]), it cannot be taken for granted that resources of value will follow work placements. Many students who have undertaken a one or two week placement within general secondary education feel that their work experience offered little opportunity for learning or development. In comparable programmes of work-focused alternative secondary provision, a common challenge has been identifying appropriate employers willing to take on work experience students (Cowen and Burgess, 2009[88]).13 Opportunity exists to include forms of volunteer work and part-time employment as sites of workplace learning open to student to increase student choice and the likelihood of securing effective experiences. This is particularly important as TWE students, who will be prone to career uncertainty and will often be best supported by enabling engagement in more than one work placement.

Increasing student access to desirable learning opportunities through volunteer work and part-time work alongside work experience placements.

Studies indicate strongly that students can also expect long-term employment benefits from part-time work and from volunteering in the community as well as from school-mediated work placements where similarly they gain experience of undertaking tasks under supervision in a working environment (OECD, 2O25[10]; [11]). A recent OECD survey of young adults (aged 19-26) in Madrid, Spain for example finds that overwhelmingly all three forms of work exposure were highly valued by students with between one-third and one-half of respondents who had engaged in each of these activities as teenagers stating that they had been 'very useful' in 'planning and preparing for working life after secondary school' (OECD, 2025[11]). Studies suggest moreover that all three activities can help students to engage in education in new and more positive ways (Howieson, McKechnie and Semple, 2012[96]; OECD, 2025[10]; [11]) and to support psychological resiliency and confidence. OECD analysis for example of PISA 2018 data shows that, with statistical controls in place for other characteristics, students who had worked part-time, volunteered or undertaken work placements were significantly more likely to agree that they felt that they could be personally effective in unfamiliar situations, adapting even when under stress and overcoming difficulties in interacting with people from other cultures (Mann, Denis and Percy, 2020[9]).

As with work experience placements, large-scale qualitative studies exploring impacts of part-time and volunteer work on teenagers commonly identify processes of human, social and cultural capital accumulation similar to those witnessed in positive experiences of work experience. Progression into full-time work or work with training after the conclusion of secondary education is common for students with experience of each form of workplace experience (Mann, 2012[62]; OECD, 2025[11]; [10]; [8]). A series of studies in Scotland has extensively explored the engagement of teenagers in part-time employment, surveying 10% of the country's secondary school population (Howieson, McKechnie and Semple, 2012[96]). Students commonly learn significant technical and employability related skills while in their part-time jobs, broadening their social networks and developing more confident understanding of how to navigate recruitment policies (OECD, 2025[11]; Payne and Collings, 2024[50]). They feel that they often learn new things while in employment, with half of working students surveyed by Howieson, McKechnie and Semple (2012[96]) having received training and agreeing that their jobs were frequently challenging. To Howieson (2012[96]) opportunities exist for schools to make greater use of student learning in the workplace, particularly in terms of career development. Billett and Ovens (2007[97]) provides an example from Australia of how schools can help students to reflect on their part-time work, in similar ways to work experience, to inform thinking about educational progression and career planning. In the United States, schools accredit students' part-time employment through programmes of co-operative education which arc available extensively across the country (OECD, 2025[11] [10]). In Canada, the Supervised Alternative Learning programme explicitly includes both community volunteering part-time work as options for severely disengaged students to become involved in positive activities alongside reduced core learning.

Qualitative studies also demonstrate that student volunteering enables the active development of student human, social and cultural capital (OECD, 2025[10]). In Scotland again, a large-scale survey of teenagers finds that young people commonly seek out volunteer opportunities to develop their skills and improve their employment prospects (Volunteer Scotland, 2022[98]). Volunteering is strongly associated with increases in student self-esteem, personal agency and confidence and with fewer behaviour problems in school. Many schools, notably in the United States, actively encourage and accredit volunteer work in the community through programmes of Service Learning (OECD, 2025[10]). Different types of employers tend to engage with students in different roles through volunteer work, part-time employment and work experience (Massey, 2014[99]; Volunteer Scotland, 2023[100]). Consequently, consideration can be given to encouraging and enabling TWE students to consider the potential of part-time employment and volunteering as well as through traditional work experience to provide students with work-based experiences of value, increasing the pool of potential options available and the likelihood of an effective match between the student and their experience.14

Use of digital resources

Considering volunteering opportunities and part-time working as locations for work placements alongside traditional placements increases the likelihood of identifying opportunities that align well with student interests. Consideration may also be given to online provision. However, here greater caution is warranted. Over recent years, the use of digital technologies in secondary career guidance has expanded rapidly. Within the UK and in Finland, innovations have included virtual internships. In Finland, the Virtual TET model is made available to secondary school students across the country by the relevant national agency. Over one week, students engage with multiple employers. Prior to the placement, they receive video presentations, podcasts and other learning materials about relevant industry and employers where they will be placed. During the placement, students hear employee stories, undertake livestreamed company tours, learn more about the industry and the skills and talents most valued by employers. They participate in project work, sometimes in a group, often providing insights of value to employers on corporate social media presence, branding and testing new approaches (OECD, 2O23[101]; Vaara, 2021[102]). In the UK, not-for-profit Speakers for Schools has delivered more than 60 000 virtual work placements. In its model, students participate in virtual placements of 3-5 days joining live interactive sessions, including Question and Answer sessions, workplace tours, group discussions and CV/interview skills workshops. Students complete a project designed by the host employer (OECD, 2023[103]; Saunders and Akande, 2021[104]).

While virtual work experience in general secondary education is growing in popularity globally, it has yet to become firmly established in Wales. Internationally, such provision is poorly evaluated as a form of career development beyond perception surveys undertaken by organisers which do suggest positive responses from students. A lot is unknown about how students interact with such virtual experiences and how the benefits of provision can be optimised. It may be that virtual programmes resonate well with students born into worlds where online communication is commonplace and well organised placements may give students authentic insights into working life, allowing them to develop meaningful new social relationships and enabling active investigation of working worlds through personalised dialogue and observation. However, online experiences will struggle to replicate the visceral power of entering a workplace for the first time and meeting new people in the flesh. Initial OECD analysis suggests that it cannot be taken for granted that online guidance in general automatically enhances provision for young people (OECD, 2O24[105]). With research in this field very much in its infancy and many questions remain unanswered (OECD, 2024[105]), cautious consideration should be given to including virtual work placements within the TWE offer with advisors assessing their relevance in terms of the capacity of opportunities to provide authentic insights and substantive personal connections to emerge from experiences. In this regard, it will be helpful to reflect on the results of an ongoing pilot study in England which is assessing the benefits of virtual work experience placements following a model where groups of thirty students undertake three day projects through interactive workshops led by industry professionals (Careers and Enterprise Company, 2024[196]).

It can be expected more confidently however that digital provision will provide opportunities of value for students exploring career interests and seeking insights into professions not easily accessed within their locality as well as providing additional insights into careers where work placements have been identified. Shorter, information-rich provision such as digital workplace visits, job shadowing and career talks notably15 as well as online career interest self-assessment and sources of labour market information (notably job advertisements) can expected to enrich student experience if delivered in ways that appear authentic and relevant to student interests. For students particularly struggling with social anxiety, such provision may build confidence and serve as a stepping stone towards deeper reengagement with wider social life.

Consideration 2: increasing anticipated programme effectiveness by enhancing student career preparation

Developing career provision at Key Stage 3 as a preventative measure and to increase the readiness of at-risk students to engage successfully on the TWE

In programmes such as the TWE, success is strongly related to students feeling that they have genuine choice in identifying workplace opportunities of interest and actively participate in decision-making (QCA, 2OO9[107]). Career education aimed at young people in Wales is completing a review process which promises to enhance provision for all students across primary and secondary education and provides the context for targeted provision aimed at students at greatest risk of poor outcomes at the conclusion of KS4. In 2026, the Welsh Government will complete the full roll out of a new curriculum for Wales for learners aged 3 to 16, including Careers and Work-related Experiences (CWRE) as an area of learning that sits across the whole curriculum (Welsh Government, 2O24[108]). At the same time, Careers Wales are piloting a new quality award for school delivery of CWRE with a view to launching the award across the country (Welsh Government, n.d.[109]). Improving career exploration and thinking prior to KS4 notably for students at risk of poor outcomes, can be expected to enhance long-term outcomes and may also increase immediate student engagement in education. In addition, rapid career guidance interventions for students selected for the TWE in KS4 will support student capacity to benefit from the programme through enabling informed and active choices.

PISA data highlights that poor career thinking is particularly found among low academic performers. Over recent years, the percentage of students stating that they have no clear occupational expectations in PISA surveys have risen sharply both internationally and in Wales where this proportion has grown from 18% in 2015 to 44% in 2022. Career uncertainty is particularly high in Wales among low performers on the PISA academic assessments, including 47% of such students in 2022. PISA also shows that when students do express career plans, they are often poorly related to labour market demand and suggest high levels of confusion especially among lower achievers. In Wales in 2022, 49% of students (naming an occupational expectation) anticipated working in one of ten popular occupations, a level of concentration which has risen since 2015. In 2022, 51% of low performers expected to work in such employment, higher than the OECD average of 44%. More than half (51%) of low performers in Wales expect to work as a senior manager or especially as in a professional occupation (major groups 1 and 2 of the International Standardised Classification of Occupations), jobs which typically require a university education. Between 2015 and 2022, the percentage of low performers who expected to complete a university education rose sharply from 30% to 52%.16 However, 40% low performers in Wales still expect to work in a job that typically requires a university education, but do not plan themselves at the age of 15-16 to complete such levels of education (Mann, Diaz and Zapata Posada, 2025[57]). This is a sign of confusion about how the recruitment within the labour market operates. Like teenage career uncertainty such misalignment of career and educational plans is routinely associated in longitudinal studies with poorer than anticipated ultimate employment outcomes (OECD, 2024p io]).

International research provides much insight of value in understanding how guidance activities can enhance such career thinking. Forms of career explorations which are typically associated with better ultimate employment outcomes in adulthood include participation in job fairs and career talks, workplace visits, career conversations, application and interview skills development activities and school-based career reflection activities, such as career questionnaires and career classes (Covaccvich et al., 2021 [6]). It is notable that forms of career development where confidence in long-term impacts is greatest routinely enable and/or require students to engage directly with people in work. Analysis of PISA data demonstrates significant relations between participation in career development activities and forms of beneficial career thinking, notably in relation to greater certainty, higher educational ambition and better alignment of educational and occupational plans (Covacevich etai., 202Mann, Diaz and Zapata Posada, 2024, p. 95 (Table 43)[39]). As described in Box 1 in this paper, new PISA analysis shows that compared to peers with minimal career guidance experience, low-performing students who engage in exploratory and reflective career development activities in combination with internships by the age of 15 are:

* twice as likely to have a clear career plan,

* more than half as likely to have aligned educational and career plans

* two-thirds more likely to expect to complete tertiary education.

While these students still express lower confidence in the capacity of education systems to enable their progression, they have taken important steps in their journeys of career development, becoming better placed to critically explore the relationships between education and employment success. Reflecting on their learning experiences, reviews show that students from Big Picture Learning programmes most often saw value in the capacity of the programme to develop confident self-knowledge ("knowing my own strengths and weaknesses' and "naming my own interests and passions') (Arnold and Mihut, 2020[78]). A perspective also found by Fischetti et al. (2024[79]) in interviews with Australian BPL graduates.

Data from PISA 2022 (Figure 4) also shows that low performers in Wales are already more likely to receive greater career development in important fields of exploration (worksite visits and job fairs) and reflection (speaking with a career advisor) than high performers, but they engage less in more personalised internet research. While this is a positive sign of more equitable provision, the data suggest that still greater career engagement is needed. Across all OECD jurisdictions, including Wales, it is typically only around half or fewer students who engage in forms of career exploration (worksite visits and job fairs) where they have opportunity to gain authentic new insights into the labour market. Only two-thirds speak directly with career counsellors. In Ireland, schools working in low-income areas are targeted to receive greater funding to support career development activities, recognising the need for greater state intervention to address inequalities in family-based resources linked to career development (Department for Education and Skills, 2017[71]; OECD, 2024[7]).

Effective provision for all students, but particularly for lower performers, begins in primary and especially lower secondary education (OECD, 2024[7]) and in this context the full roll out of the CWRE covering ages 3-16 in Wales is welcome. Effective provision prior to KS4 will encourage, enable and validate student curiosity, exploration and reflection linked to their long-term visions for adult life and how education and training can enable fulfilling outcomes. As with older students, underpinning career exploration with authentic engagements with the working world can be expected to deepen student career thinking. For the youngest learners, models such as Primary Futures are designed provide practice examples of relevance. The WE3 model of career development designed by Australian educationalist Dave Turner and adopted by some New Zealand schools, argues that schools will benefit from harnessing the power of employer engagement to challenge students to reflect on their career plans and how they relate to their investment in education. Within the model, students between the ages of 10 and 14 are presented with ideas, information and concepts about the world of work and career development. Typical activities include: discussions of parental occupations, career talks from people in work about the jobs they do and the value they find in them, discussions of the gendered characteristics of work, workplace visits and the integration of workplace examples into related curricula (described in (Mann, Denis and Percy, 2020[9])). Schools can ask students through lower secondary education to articulate their career plans (which might lie in multiple areas) and if they have any, to invite them to describe the education and training pathways that they would expect to take, helping them to undertake research and facilitate online and in-person connections with people working in fields of interest while discussing thinking with teaching staff with relevant expertise. More intensive interventions can be targeted at students who are uncertain and confused about their plans and among lower performers who will often need to invest more heavily in education to secure their ambitions. The career education framework of the Canadian province of New Brunswick for example builds on Irish models to adopt a Response to Intervention model in assessing student need for guidance provision, identifying interventions to be aimed at all, some or a few students (OECD, 2024[7]).

In this vein, importantly TWE students in Wales have access to additional professional career guidance. Big Picture Learning offers potential opportunity for learning about intense career guidance interventions aimed to help disengaged students to think seriously about their interests and how these can be explored within personalised extended work placements. In reviews of the programme, former students notably value the capacity of the programme to enhance their self-understanding in the context of possible career development (Taylor-Dunn, White, and Newman, 2024[83]).

The aspirations of young people are commonly shaped by their social background (OECD, 2024[7]). PISA 2022 shows for example that in Wales and across the OECD high performing students from the most socially disadvantaged quartile are less likely to anticipate completing tertiary education than low-performing students from the most socially advantaged quartile (Mann, Diaz and Zapata Posada, 2025[57]). Career thinking is also heavily gendered (OECD, 2024p]). Across both fields, the social environment of students can lead to assumptions about the forms of employment which are reasonable to aspire to: girls don't become engineers, boys don't become nurses, people like us don't go to university or do apprenticeships. In presenting the TWE offer, there is scope to support students to reflect intensely on their interests, preferences and capabilities, undertaking psychometric testing and actively exploring potential careers through online resources such as the iCould library which features videos from hundreds of people in work, exploring careers on linked-in, reading job advertisements and speaking with people working in such professions. Multiple TWE placements can also be offered to help students embrace a culture of curiosity and exploration as they seek to bring new meaning to their engagement in education.

Consideration 3: enhancing opportunities for reflection and insights of value to emerge through nurtured new social relations

Given the importance of social relationships in confirming, challenging and developing student perspectives on their educational and occupational futures, some related programmes require employers which host students on periods of extended work experience to identify mentors (Arnold and Mihut, 2020[78])- There is good reason to believe that the nurturing of such new relationships will be of typical benefit to students. Many comparable work-focused programmes require the identification of a workplace mentor, including Big Picture Learning, JOPO and the Key Stage 4 Engagement Programme, to support the development of new and deeper social relationships. It is notable too that mentoring is identified by UK school staff as a form of career development that can be expected to be of greater value to students at risk of poor outcomes (Mann, Dawkins and McKeown, 2017[32]) and meta-studies indicate that secondary school students who participate in formal mentoring programmes or who can identify informal mentors in their lives can on average expect to improve their academic performance, if moderately so (DuBois et al., 2011[112]; Eby et al., 2008[113]; Raposa et al., 2019[114]). As Erickson, McDonald and Elder (2009[ii5j) show from their analysis of US longitudinal data, secondary school students who can identify informal mentors enjoy greater educational achievement in high school and post-secondary education.17 While socially disadvantaged students are less likely to identify informal mentors than their more advantaged peers, educational benefits are significant when they do so, especially where mentors have a teaching role (Erickson, McDonald and Elder, 2009[115]). Moreover, using the same data (McDonald et al., 2007[116]) find that teenagers who have such informal mentors experience better employment outcomes in their mid-twenties. As Rennison et al. (2005p [117]) find from a UK context, young people who become NEET are less likely to have been able to draw on people who could provide advice at 16 than peers who went onto full-time education, training or work. They were also less likely to have received, and to have valued, career guidance provision.

US sociologist Frank Linnehan explores the benefits of students having access to informal mentors within periods of extended work experience. Following 200 low-income US students on such a programme, he finds that positive outcomes improve with time on the programme (Linnehan, 2001[H8]). Students who spent at least six months on the programme showed significant improvements in their academic performance and school attendance, whereas this was not the case for students who participated for fewer than six months. Students with identified mentors were moreover significantly more likely to demonstrate higher levels of self-esteem and to believe that schooling was relevant to their working lives ahead (Linnehan, 2003[119]). In the programme reviewed by Linnehan (2001[118]), mentors received modest initial training focused around the academic demands facing students.

Mentors attend a 2-h training session given by school district personnel prior to meeting and selecting their students. During these training sessions the mentors are advised of the basic competencies and academic standards the school district has set for all students. Standards have been established in such areas as math, technology, and communication. These standards then are incorporated into a learning plan document cowritten by district personnel and the mentor, which serves to integrate the student 's work experience with the academic curriculum. The plan identifies school activities that are used to enhance a student's competence in each area. Mentors identify work activities that, in conjunction with the school activities, will help students achieve the academic standards in these areas. As further evidence of the program 's link to academic performance, mentors also may conduct tutorial sessions with their students by setting aside a specific time during the day (up to 30 min) for students to study while they are at work. ... The mentors also are instructed in their training sessions to focus on establishing a personal relationship with the students and to help them develop life skills such as improving their ability to interact with other social and cultural groups (Linnehan, 2001[118]).

In a further related study, Linnehan (2004[i20]) explores the interaction of 150 15 year old girls from socially disadvantaged backgrounds with adults they met through a job shadowing programme. Before and after the intervention, Linnehan tests the self-confidence of students that they will be able to get a job after education and belief that employer engagement programmes like job shadowing will help them in their career progression. The study finds that the strongest positive changes in attitudes related to adult informal mentors discussing more frequently their own experiences of their job and the student's views on it, and most importantly, how credible the mentors appear in the eyes of the student (Linnehan, 2004[120]). In his work, Linnehan draws on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, a psychological theory that attitudinal change is likely to follow either high elaboration (where individuals are persuaded through argument) or low elaboration (where they are persuaded by the attractiveness of a message without actively scrutinising it). Such techniques can be actively encouraged, including within an educational context, see for example; (Mengstie, 2022[121]) and in the context of the TWE by encouraging or requiring students to undertake projects within their placement where they are required to speak with employees to understand their educational and career journeys.

OECD (2021 [122]) summarises studies which have explored the role of conversations in career development which may be very informal or more managed. Studies find that conversations which are genuine dialogues between a young person and adult (including subject teachers in schools as well as people encountered in workplaces) are more likely to be effective in allowing a student to reflect on and develop their career thinking and see value in any work placement. Consequently, schools can help students to prepare for interactions (especially on placement) by encouraging questioning approaches and becoming familiar with such experiences. In career exploration events, career carousels or speed networking events (where small groups of students meet with a number of different employee volunteers in rotation over a period of time) provide students with space to practice their interactions with adults who are not parents or teachers. Compared to job fairs and career talks, surveys show that students participating in career carousels arc more likely articulate improvements in career awareness (they are more likely to agree for example that they learned something new and useful from the activity) and educational engagement (Rehill, Kashefpakdel and Mann, 2017[123]). Continued engagement of TWE students in guidance activities designed to encourage a culture of curiosity about how they can relate their educational decision-making to desirable and achievable futures can be expected to build on insights from internships which offer intensive (rather than extensive) insights in possible futures in work.

PISA 2018 shows that 75% of low-performing students (across 14 OECD countries, not including the UK) had spoken to someone about a job they would like to do when they have finished their education. By comparison 88% of high performers report such interactions. From a UK perspective, Payne and Collings (2024[50]) show from their survey of young people aged 15-18 that while 95% of the children of parents with post-graduate qualifications asked friends and family for advice on education and career possibilities, this applied to 69% of the children of parents with a highest level of qualification at GCSE level and 67% of young people who had been eligible for Free School Meals. Conversations can serve to provide students with new and useful information which will actively influence their engagement in education and career progression, and they can also serve as a prompt to challenge or confirm career thinking and be viewed as evidence that students are actively reflecting on their futures, a positive sign. PISA 2018 for example shows that students who had spoken to someone about a career of interest are significantly (and substantially) more likely to agree that education is useful for their futures in work and to be clear and aligned in their career plans (OECD, 2021 [122])-

Consequently, TWE provision can assess whether students are engaging in discussions with different people who they find to be credible in workplaces and explore ways in which beneficial career conversations can be encouraged. One way to support this is through helping students, employers and subject teaching staff to see the links between workplace and classroom-based learning. Programmes such as Big Picture Learning, Cooperative Education and JOPO actively recognise the workplace as a site of learning with JOPO requiring employers to give students feedback, consciously seeking to draw connections with academic motivation.

Billett and Ovens (2007[97]) provide a model for encouraging student reflection within the classroom, proposing one hour sessions where students are asked to describe and critically appraise their experiences in work, exploring differences and commonalities encountered, personal preferences and assessments of suitability and implications for progression pathways. Further guidance interventions encouraging such reflections include self-assessments designed for discussion, rather than determination of potential occupational interests, and psychometric resources exploring student understanding of their preferences and dispositions. Other approaches include the identification of projects which transcend school and workplace experiences (as the case in the ESAP, New Brunswick) and the development of portfolios of work-related learning for consideration within school setting (Big Picture Learning and Cooperative Education). The creation of individualised learning plans is common across comparable work-focused programmes, including Ontario's Supervised Alternative Learning programme.

Similarly, it can be expected that learning sessions which help students to prepare CVs and practice interview skills will encourage students to discuss and reflect on their investment in education and its links to their potential futures in work. This can be expected to be especially the case when employers and people in work provide authentic testimony as to how recruitment processes work (Covacevich et al., 2021 [6]). Within the TWE, specific projects might involve collaboration between school and workplace to help students design CVs in light of those received for real jobs and the perspectives of recruiters, introducing them to the 'rules of the game' in articulating the value of work-based and other experiences to employers and demonstrating how CVs can be adapted to fit the interests of different employers. As Payne and Collings (2024[50]) demonstrate in an important recent UK study, young people who are lower performers and from more disadvantaged social backgrounds consistently show poorer understanding of recruitment processes and how educational success relates to employment than their more advantaged peers.

Beneficial outcomes relate to the quality of the workplace experience. As shown by YouGov (2010[27]) notably, it cannot be taken for granted that students will enter workplaces that are well prepared for them, that they will undertake meaningful tasks while on placement and/or be helped to reflect on how their work relates to skills development or to meet with multiple individuals across a workplace. Through guidance and dialogue with employers, TWE advisors can attempt to shape work placements to optimise the possibility of human, social and cultural capital development among young people linked to their individual circumstances and interests. Close observation can also be put in place to ensure that student experiences are proving to be of actual value, that students are learning things which are new and useful to their understanding of career development through the process, potentially supplementing the primary work placement through other activities.

Consideration 4: connecting more systematically with wider provision to optimise outcomes

Comparable programmes of work-focused alternative provision, including the ESAP, Supervised Alternative Learning, JOPO and Big Picture Learning actively encourage students to participate in short programmes, including the certification of skills, as means to confirm human capital accumulation, renew interest in learning and grow personal confidence. In general, comparable programmes are deliberately broader in the range of support offered to students than is typical with the TWE (Bradley and Hernandiez, 2019[8i]; Ofsted, 2007[74]; QCA, 2009[107]). White and Laczik (2015[89]) for example, review a range of work-related learning programmes aimed at disaffected KS4 learners in England and found that "most initiatives were holistic programmes incorporating a range of education and training along with soft-skills development activities to enable a young person to progress. Programmes typically offered basic skills development, extended work experience, vocational tasters and college tasters, along with activities to develop confidence and self-esteem, anger management, self-management and social skills such as how to behave at work or in school. All this was underpinned by IAG and mentoring support, an individual action plan for each learner and review process." While extended work experience was often seen as the element within programmes which most excited and engaged disengaged students, the authors argue that it should not be seen as a 'magic bullet' in itself, but as a key element within complex programmes designed to support and encourage (re)engagement (White and Laczik, 2015 [89]).

It cannot be taken for granted that student participation in work-focused alternative education will lead to enhanced success in mainstream education. Evaluations of similar work-focused programmes tend to show that success in core subjects remains lower than hoped. In one relevant study Hall and Raffo (2004[66]) provide insight into factors which might work against improved success in core subjects of general education. The study closely follows 110 KS4 students in Greater Manchester enrolled on a work-focused programme aimed at addressing absenteeism and underachievement through extended work experience (1 day a week over 72 weeks across KS4). Young people were offered a choice of placement linked to one of ten vocational sectors which commonly recruit students after secondary education and/or through VET programmes. As with the TWE in Wales, the aims of the programme were to improve qualification achievement at age 16 and to increase participation in structured learning thereafter. Hall and Raffo (2004[66]) finds that the benefits of work-related learning for young people did not automatically transfer to school-based settings and often did not result in improved levels of motivation or attainment at school. The authors argue that as students enjoyed their work-based experience, valued their workplace achievements (including success in securing vocational qualifications) and being treated 'more like an adult', contrasts with school experiences became more apparent, reinforcing negative perspectives particularly when they were strong at KS3. Learning opportunities presented in the workplace were also linked weakly to school-based study.

Consequently, value is apparent in more holistic programmes which seek to draw on workplace experiences in classroom-based activity and support as well the development of positive new social relationships and experiences within educational settings. This is an ambition for example of the JOPO programme in Finland where students are taught in small groups, supported by a youth worker. In the TWE context, this might be captured in flexible reduction of core studies (as in the case of the Danish juniormesterlære), additional learning support and individualised learning plans that include adjustments within schooling. While rare in the UK, across the OECD on average more than one student in ten repeats a year of education by the age of 15. Academic results of such provision are in general mixed with better outcomes expected if students are supported through modified resources or additional instructional resources (OECD, 2018[i24])- In France, with the agreement of their school principals, students in lower and upper secondary education are given the opportunity to study one class or more (but not all classes) online through the Centre national d'enseignement à distance. Rationales for such provision can include poor relations with individual members of teaching staff (Centre national d'enseignement à distance, n.d¿i25]). Careful use of mentoring programmes may also sustain positive changes in academic motivation. A recent randomised control trial of the Rock Your Life! programme in Germany finds interesting results. Here students in mid-adolescence are linked with university students as mentors. The study finds significant evidence of improved academic outcomes, but also changes in the future plans of students from university progression towards work-based vocational provision (apprenticeships), possibly due to greater understanding of the academic demands of university provision due to the authentic testimony of their mentors (Resnjanskij et al., 2024[6i]), so creating space for wider potential pathways to be considered.

Consideration 5: valuing and enabling early transitions into full-time employment as appropriate.

For students interested in accessing full-time employment from the age of 16, the TWE offers a valuable opportunity to increase the likelihood of successful transitions. In addition to the provision of personalised guidance which includes support related to access of post-16 VET programmes, the TWE also has capacity to enable progression directly into employment with or without training.18 Notably, if the TWE placement is in the same field as long-term employment interests, scope for relevant human, social and cultural capital development are substantial, positioning a young person to be of low risk to a potential recruiter. Effective provision can actively support students seeking immediate transitions into the labour market, but this is often a weakness of guidance systems. Surveys of young adults asked to reflect on the value of their school-mediated career development commonly express the opinion that schools provide much too little support for transitions. Studies in England, the United States and Spain show consistent desire for greater help in understanding how employers recruit, how to find and apply for jobs (including interviewing well) and how tax and welfare systems work (Mann et al., 2017[i26j; OECD, 2023 [127]). As well as certifying skills to capture human capital development, the TWE can actively build student understanding of recruitment processes and create relationships with employers who might offer a job or provide a recommendation. An effective TWE experience will provide young people something to draw upon in an application or interview, notably where they are helped by workplace mentors and educational staff to reflect on and discuss experiences which are meaningful tastes of working life. Through the TWE, considerable opportunity exists moreover to change the relationships of students with their schooling from one which is inherently adversarial to one which is supportive, making it easier to engage students in consideration of the long-term strategic value of academic qualifications and potential ultimate re-engagement in programmes of education and training through for example introduction to colleges of further education and other learning providers.

Conclusion

The Tailored Work Experience programme in Wales presents a distinct approach to supporting learners at Key Stage 4(14-16) who are disengaged from education and at risk of becoming NEET after the conclusion of compulsory schooling at age 16. Within the TWE, students are offered extended work experience placements personalised to their career interest alongside more intensive career guidance. They also pursue a reduced academic curriculum. Longitudinal analyses provide strong evidence to show that workplace experience around the age of 15 can be expected to enhance adult employment outcomes for young people, notably from more disadvantaged backgrounds. Surveys of school staff and students engaged in work placements suggest that such experiences can be typically linked to stronger student engagement in education, but the strength of impacts is likely to be moderate. New analysis of PISA 2022 data shows that the participation of students (in general secondary education) in work placements at 15 is significantly linked to stronger career development, including for low achievers, but connections with academic achievement are much less likely. Theories of human, social and cultural capital help to explain what happens to students when they engage in workplaces. They can be seen to build knowledge, skills and social contacts relevant to career development, but also to change attitudes and dispositions concerning the role of education in supporting progression. Typically however family derived levels of such capitals shapes engagement in guidance provision within the economic community, reducing capacity to benefit and influencing the quality of experiences. A wide range of vocational/prevocational and alternative education programmes have similarity in design to the TWE, but often go further in ensuring quality of experience and support for successful progression. This paper highlights considerations, grouped across five themes, for possible review in reflecting on the long-term success of the TWE programme:

* as well as work experience placements, student opportunities can be sought in volunteer work and part-time employment.

* careful consideration can be given to the use of virtual work experiences and more confident consideration to wider forms of digital employer engagement in guidance provision focused around career exploration.

* enhanced provision within the new Welsh curriculum related to Career and Work-related Experiences at key stage 1 to 3 focused on career exploration with strong engagement of employers and people in work and reflection activities can harness the motivational benefits of provision underpinning success at KS4.

* students undertaking TWE placements can be encouraged and enabled to benefit systematically from social capital development, nurturing the growth of formal and informal mentors (within workplaces and schools) well placed to provide credible support.

* students undertaking TWE placements can be encouraged and enabled to critically reflect on their workplace experiences through participation in projects exploring the relationships between education and employments and progression into vocational fields of interest.

* KS4 workplace experience alone will often be insufficient to drive academic success and wider forms of academic supports will frequently be of value to students.

* students who seek direct entry into employment (with or without training) after the age of 16 should be actively supported in preparing for their transitions.

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Footnote

1 Key Stage 4 describes the last two years of compulsory education in Wales (Years 10 and 11) during which students follow programmes of study which conclude with standardised assessments across a range of subjects known as General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSE). Students are generally aged 14 to 16.

2 Jobs Growth Wales+ is a training and development programme for 16-19 year olds: https://workingwales.gov.wales/jobs-growth-wales-plus.

3 Further studies which take a different longitudinal perspective also find evidence of better ultimate employment outcomes linked to forms of teenage work exposure. Mann et al. (2017[i26]) find for example that young adults (aged 19-24) in the UK who remembered undertaking a work experience placement while in secondary school were less likely to be NEET after controls for other characteristics had been applied. A similar methodology drawing on data from young adults (aged 19-26) in the state of Virginia, United States finds similar evidence: compared to those who did not regularly participate in volunteering, internship or paid part-time work while in secondary education, those who did so were 3.5 times more likely to be in employment, education or training and 2.2 times more likely to work. If in work, young adults with some teenage experience of work were found to be 1.7 times more likely to earn over USD 40 000, and two times more likely to have a job that was completely or mostly secure (OECD, 2023[i2?j). In Madrid, Spain too, OECD surveys of young adults finds that part-time working, internships and community work was overwhelmingly viewed as helpful (often very helpful) in planning and preparing for their working lives (OECD, 2025[8]).

4 Hughes (2016[23]) notes that the "research literature over the last 20 years on the impact of careers education on student outcomes is largely considered weak and fragmented, due mainly to the complexity of differing elements being identified and reported in differing ways. Overall, there are significant shortages in quasi-experimental and experimental studies in the career development field."

5 See for example the joint publication of six international agencies on the importance of investing in career guidance (The Inter-Agency Working Group on Career Guidance [WGCG], 2021 [128]).

6 An international meta-review of 738 'correspondence tests' where multiple comparable job applications are created for invented applicants (one from the dominant ethnic group in a country and the other from someone with an immigrant heritage) finds that on average the migrant 'applicant' needs to apply for 50% more vacancies before they are called for interview than a native-born peer (Zschirnt and Ruedin, 2016[i29j).

7 In France for example, job seekers are encouraged to highlight what they know ('savoir'), what they know how to do ('savoir faire') and their professional behaviours, values and interpersonal skills ('savoir-etre' literally meaning 'knowing how to be') (France Travail, 2O25[bo]). This form of identity development is commonly integrated into programmes of vocational education and training.

8 The working-class British comedian, Bob Mortimer, illustrates the capacity of cultural capital to shape career development, limiting his capacity to benefit from an educational opportunity. Arriving at university to study law, he decides to join clubs and societies to build his social network, planning on attending "a gathering for all the law students in some refectory room where we could meet each other and have wine and cheese. ...I felt that it was important that I said something about the type of person I was. So, in the hope that it might help me to meet like-minded people I chose a Middlesborough football shirt, a Wrangler denim jacket, skinny beige Levi cords and bright-red kicker boots. When I got to the get-together, my heart sank. Nearly all the lads were wearing dark dinner suits and ties, and the lasses all wore what I have come to know as cocktail dresses. In one visual hammer blow, central Middlesborough came up hard against the Home Counties. I had never felt so out of place in my life. I turned my heels and went back to my shitty room. Things were not going to get better. And so commenced the unhappiest three years of my life" (Mortimer, 2021[131])

9 ESCS is calculated based on parental levels of education, occupation and cultural artefacts, such as books, within the home.

10 Both Emery et al. (2020[82]) and Hayes et al. (2013[80]) find challenges within the delivery model with internships often providing insufficient connection with students' individual learning goals and that access to internships was driven by parents, leading to variation in quality. Consequently, students also often undertake short courses, vocational qualifications, job shadow days and university learning events as well as work placements to supplement their internship learning. The authors also highlight the risk moreover that workplace mentors are not well prepared for their role.

11 At this age, many students in North America will have completed many of the credit requirements for high school graduation and commonly their engagement in co-op education is easily accommodated within their timetable.

12 For a framework for career development which addresses such complexities, (Department of Early Childhood Development and Education, 2024[i32])

13 In its review of Key Stage 4 Engagement Programmes in England, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority recommended honesty about possible difficulties that employers might encounter as well as benefits which might accrue to them through their participation in extended work provision for students at risk of poor outcomes. Risks of poor experiences leading to the loss of long-standing work placements can be mitigated through the management of expectations and strengthening of relationships with organisers from the educational community (QCA, 2009[107]).

14 Comparative studies suggest that while all three forms of workplace exposure can be associated with improvements for students, in some fields varied efficacy is apparent. Fullarton (1999[1зз]), for example finds that while students view part-time working and work placements as comparable in terms of skill development, it is the latter which is more effective in developing career thinking. However, analysis of PISA 2018 data shows that volunteer work is consistently more significantly associated (than part-time working or placements) with students being more likely to believe in their personal effectiveness in unfamiliar situations (Mann, Denis and Percy, 2020[9]). A 2024 OECD survey of young adults in Madrid, Spain finds that young adults valued all forms of teenage workplace exposure, but notably found part-time working to have been of greatest use to them in 'planning and preparing' for their working lives (OECD, 2025[8]; [11]), a perspective shared by employers with experience of both activities surveyed by (Howieson, McKechnie and Semple, 2012[96]).

15 For practice examples, visit: https://www.oecd.org/en/toolkits/odicy.html.

16 While increases in such ambition are positively related with better ultimate educational and occupational success, longitudinal studies show that low performers at 15 are considerably less likely that their higher performing peers to go on to complete tertiary education (OECD, 2016[134])

17 In the study, informal mentors were confirmed when students responded affirmatively to the following question: "Some young people know adults, other than their parents, who make an important positive difference in their lives. Some do not. Has an adult, other than your parents or step-parents, made an important positive difference in your life at any time since you were 14 years old?"

18 It is to the long-term advantage of young people to embark on their working lives with their knowledge and skills in different fields codified in the form of academic and vocational qualifications to enable movement within the labour market.

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Tailored Work Experience in Wales

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