Scottish School Leavers and their Understanding of the World of Work

This report presents results from case study research commissioned by Futureskills Scotland to examine in more detail employer perceptions of school leavers' attitudes to work.

From the Scottish Employers Skill Survey  2003, 43 per cent of employers who had recently recruited school leavers reported that their recruits were poorly prepared for work in terms of their core skills, with 35 per cent reporting the recruits being poorly prepared in terms of their technical skills.  These levels of preparedness are very low in comparison to college and university graduates.

In addition, Careers Scotland asked us to find out from employers their experiences of young people's attitudes to work and understanding of the world of work.  Employers' responses were clear.  Based on their recent experiences of recruiting school leavers:

• 79 per cent disagreed that, most school leavers understand the world of work; and
• 57 per cent disagreed that, most school leavers have a positive approach to employment.

Careers Scotland asked us to investigate these findings in more detail.  29 employers who had participated in the 2003 survey agreed to act as case studies for this research. They cover a range of industries and localities.  Summaries of these case studies are presented in a separate report below.

What do employers mean when they report that young people 'don't understand the world of work'?

• Nearly all of the employers had hired some young people who understood what was expected of them at work.  Nevertheless, nearly all had also hired young people who had been poorly prepared.
• School leavers who have a poor understanding of work can often be identified through frequent absence, being late, an inability to work on their own, poor attitude to training and career development and appear to lack a sense of responsibility to their employer.

What difference does it make to the performance of the organisation in which a young person works if they present negative characteristics of these types?

• There was a consensus around the main impacts on employers, with the time wasted recruiting and training school leavers who then prove to be unsuitable the most frustrating negative impact for employers.
• Other significant negative impacts on the business, including decreasing staff morale, an increased incidence of poor customer service and the need for increased supervision of school leavers which limits the time managers can spend growing their business.

Are there differences between deficiencies in 'attitude' and deficiencies in skills?

• Among employers who commented on core skills, around a third thought that school leavers were poorly prepared.  Typically, school leavers had difficulties communicating, were unreliable, could not organise themselves and found it difficult to work with others.    
• Employers were less concerned about school leavers' technical skills, as two thirds said that they did not expect them to have these skills in any case.    Provided young people had the correct attitude to work, they were generally able to develop these skills when in work.   However in some cases this can take a very long time and difficulties around young people's abilities to generalise skills across tasks and upgrade their skills had been experienced. 

What did employers feel could be done to improve the preparation for work of school leavers?

• Few employers are involved in any school to work preparation activities and of those who are, only a limited number find that any of these activities are rewarding. 
• The majority of suggestions made by employers to improve workplace preparation related to the need to improve attitudes to work, understanding of work and core skills. 
• Most employers felt that core skills could only be developed through experience; hence better work placements and encouraging more school students to get a part time job whilst they are still at school would be helpful. 
• Improving education for work and education industry links would help pupils develop a more accurate understanding of the workplace.
• There is also a need for improved information about the different occupational areas on offer to young people. This would help to correct misperceptions and to attract more young people to go into particular occupational areas.

More details can be found in the Summary Report and Full Report below. For further information about Futureskills Scotland, please Contact Us.

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