Preparing Young People for the World Ahead2 min read

For many graduates, unemployment has sky-rocketed in recent years compared to previous generations.

After three years of full time education at the highest level, many are left with student debt amounting over £30,000 while struggling to secure jobs unrelated to what they dreamed of doing after University.

In the Summer of 2017 in a recorded demographic of 16 to 24 year olds, more than half a million people were unemployed including 180,000 full-time students in the UK.

Many elders blame the younger generation for being too lazy for not being able to secure a good job after studies.

However, one factor can be seen as the catalyst behind mass unemployment among the youth of the country – schools not doing enough to prepare students for the world ahead.

Britain’s education system does well in mirroring studying hours to what the working hours of a full-time job is.

It has also benefitted the youth in taking the core subjects earlier on to shape their career choices.

But these things combined with extra-curricular activities are simply not enough to prepare kids for the world we’re living in today.

With so much demand in hand after suffering from the recession, the youth deserve the help needed to prepare for their future.

One of the ways we can prepare the students is to implement core subjects with real-life scenarios.

Many people graduate university without a clue on how to do taxes and find themselves struggling to learn as adults.

The solution would be prioritising the education of these scenarios in GCSE mathematics as a separate module from the usual work.

Another area to improve on in schools are the career advice services, one private session with an advisor in year 11 is simply not enough to guide some looking to either get into work or study their A-Levels.

Some of the key areas that need to be improved on include having more advice sessions for pupils during their time at secondary school.

A careers workshop once a year between Key stage 3 and 4 with interview training and CV building will help develop the confidence in youth to do well after leaving education.

Work experience should also be a mandatory task that students should take on every year in secondary because unless you do Medicine, Law, Business or IT, employers with a high demand are looking for proven experience over a degree.

Speaking of degrees, adults should encourage younger people that there are other ways of gaining success than going to university.

The government’s Apprenticeship scheme is something that needs to be promoted among young adults who are looking to work in the quaternary sector of industry.

Recent statistics show that one in four students who attend university in the UK end up developing mental health problems from stress trying to get a degree.

If we as a nation help the youth to get through the hardship of adulthood at an early stage, they will create a better tomorrow for the generations to come.