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Young people

What do you think about your education? How would you change it? We need your voice to help us tell policy makers how to shape the education system of the future. Browse the page below to see some of the ways you can get involved- have your say on practical and vocational learning, review the Youth Commission report or show your support by becoming a fan of our Facebook page or following us on Twitter.

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What's your view
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Joanna Tomlin
Nowadays education is the key to life so it is KEY that we aren't always learning in a boring classroom environment, to take sessions outside the classroom is what we need, in order to achieve- as whilst out we can get experiences employers need to see in order to take confidence when employing. Putting programs or lessons designed by children into the syllabus may encourage learning.

Abi D
I think that education is the most important thing in your life. But for you to be able to recieve the best education I believe that you should be able to focus more on the subjects you like most. I don't like that we are learning things that we are never going to use when we are older, it is to stressgul and puts you off learning.

anonymous
Im currently in year 11 and I just find school so boring. The choice of subjects we got offered at GCSE didn't interest me at all so I just picked 3 random ones and now I'm really bored with them. We got quite a small range of subjects offered to us and none of them is really gonna help me with what I want to do when im older. We had the choice of the diplomas in either engineering or construction but none of them interested me, I think definitely at GCSE level a wider range of vocational subjects should be offered because then I could pick exactly what I want to do and want to work hard to achieve good results. A lot of people in my year, including me tend to not go to school everyday when we should be going because we just find it so boring and the lessons are really dull. To most people in my year it seems like school is a total waste of time. We're tending to work less harder and as a result me and quite a few other people in my year are underachieving and not getting the results we should. I think if school was more interesting and we could pick from a wider range of subjects then we would all be motivated into achieving the best results possible.

Taz
Vocational education is so essential but the only way it seems people try to legitimise it is by making it look academic. It's like the theory is that more that the vocations resemble the academic routes, the more credible they will be e.g. McDonald's giving degrees in business management (?). But vocationalism has legitimacy of its own! It doesn't need to rest on the reputation of the academic subjects because they are different! It annoys me so much that vocational subjects are looked down upon when the most prestigious uni degrees are actually heavily vocational (law and medicine).

I currently study sociology at university and know that whilst I am satisfying my own personal interests, I will soon be amongst the most useless graduates. Essentially I learn analytical skills - but I know from work experience and internships that a lot more skills than that are needed. I was amongst the most highly achieving students at my school, but I was the most incompetent member of the workforce at my weekend job at Pret A Manger.

Everyone is better at some things and worse at others. I am very lucky that my intelligence is the traditionally valued type of intelligence in our society, but this is in no way fair or rational, and the consensus must change.

Maria Christie
I am 50 years old and I am proud to have several NVQ qualifications to Level 4 - all obtained in the last 9-10 years or so working in Administration. I left school at 16 with only a few CSE's (Certificate of Secondary Education) as I found taught classes very difficult, and hard to understand, and I didn't learn much at all. Practical and vocational learning was the only comfortable route for me. Carrying out hands-on tasks in the workplace being assessed to prove competency, together with my computer has given me a real sense of achievement. I wish employers would recognise these qualifications more than they do currently, as many still want applicants with degrees and will only pay a decent salary to those who have one. Having an academic qualification on paper does not always mean you can do the job - competence needs to seen hands-on.

Janine
I had a placement at Matthew Boulton and The Rep when they decided they were no longer in partnership and no-one has helped me find a replacement position they didn't reply to emails or voice mail or offer any alternatives, I have been left out and other courses are already full what am I supposed to do now wait another year. I have worked hard through education and outside sources to achieve good grades and reports for my Dance, Gymnastics, Music, Trampolining. I was also the Youth Representative for Birmingham at the R.S.C Strattford. I have even worked abroad as a Holiday Kids Club Rep, all I want is a decent chance at further education and employment.

Adrian Oldfield
When you are starting out on life's great vocational journey, very often you find that your aspirations change after just a few years or even months. When you leave education you start learning in other ways, make sure you capture this learning in any way you can, company courses or NVQs are great.

anonymous
i enjoy work based learnin to school and college as both school and college was to classroom based for me.I found you had no variety in the school day.

Simon
I would disagree with your proposed manifesto. Education remains the key to life, and learning for its own sake remains worthwhile. Your proposals do not take into account the very real benifits to be gained from studying purely theoretical subjects. Whilst it is laudable that the less academic should not be forced to study esoteric subjects that do not interest them, any change should not impinge on the study of academic disciplies.

Sammie G
Im in year 9 at the moment and am just coming up 2 taking my options!! And it is scary,,, i think the teachers need to ask what the students want a bit more rather than what they think is 'best' for us, because what they might think is best might not be! They should be a bit less hard on us and make school less stressful for us, not more stressful. They need to see it from our point of veiw. We need to find out what we really want to do,, what drives us to the max and what encourages us 2 learn. For example, i love 2 dance, but i didnt see myself going anywhere with it, so i wasn't going 2 take it for an option,, but i have people who have encouraged me, put my spirits up,, helped me believe that anything can happen,, they are Diversity,, they are dance legends and they are also my inspiration, i believe all young teenagers like myself should have people/ things that inspire them and that will help them achieve their dreams and go far in life and education.

Adrian Oldfield
If you are looking to gain valuable work experience why not consider a Saturday job? Earn and gain experience! register soon on wwwfindmeasaturdayjob.com Over the coming months we will be putting up a range of opportunities from saturday jobs, summer jobs and work experience.

Jesse Jones
there are only a couple of subjects that I enjoy in school and the rest just put me off and make me want to skyve sschool i think that there is a real problem with the education system and it is a failure!!

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Your experiences

"It’s not that a career wasn’t something we discussed or talked about and its in now way a reflection on the quality of my education, its just all my subjects were academic and none of them really had a vocational focus."


"My experience in education guided me into an area which i didnt really enjoy."

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