Agenda and draft minutes

Please introduce yourselves

(DF)  I am Dara Farrell, the former Chairman of the Kent Youth County Council (KYCC).  I attended St Anselm’s School in Canterbury, where I did my A Levels.  I hope to get a place at the University of Kent at Canterbury to read Politics and Sociology.

(PA)  I am Paul Ayers.  I attended Hartsdown Technology College in Margate.  In Year 12, while I was doing my A Levels, all my course work was lost by the school computer, and as I couldn’t complete my A level course I left and did six months’ work experience instead.

(TM)  I am Tamanna Miah, and am currently the Chairman of the KYCC.  I live in Sevenoaks.

The purpose of inviting you to speak to the Select Committee is to learn about what was offered to each of you in terms of careers guidance, work experience, etc, and what you thought of it. 

Please can you start by telling us about your experiences?

(DF)  I had a basic two weeks of work experience at the end of Year 10; one week at a youth centre and one week in a music workshop in Brixton.  My parents thought my school had not placed enough value on work experience, so I also took on an extra week at a Housing Association.

What careers guidance websites, etc, did you have access to, and when did you start using these?

(DF)  I had no citizenship lessons, ever. Careers advice was included in CET lessons, mixed in with bread making and sex education!  Careers guidance took the form of asking us ‘what do you want to do when you are older?’ and it was very limited as the teacher giving it was not specifically trained and had very limited information to offer us.  I now have less idea of what I want to do that I had previously.  I want to be an MP, but it is difficult to see how to move forward to this. I am a member of a political party but there is no career path, as such, for MPs.

Young people who want to go into politics need a clear career path, and need to have details of how being a County Councillor, for example, fits alongside full time work.  Being a County Councillor does not work for everyone, as you need an income to live on.  I think going to university to study politics is a good start, but you could also consider going to an entrepreneur group to look into being self-employed.

(DF)  I have had informal conversations about my ambitions with youth workers, etc, but the service offered by Connexions and others is very patchy and there is no set standard.  There is only so far a personal advisor can go. Some young people go to Connexions expecting to be offered a job.  Last year I was a UK Young Ambassador and went to Belgium and Spain to business awareness seminars.

It is good for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.