LIMITED OPTIONS FOR SCHOOL LEAVERS

 

As the new year begins, and clutching their latest batch of exam results, many young people across the country are gearing themselves up for entry into college or university.  But what of the options available to those who did not do as well as they’d hoped, failing to achieve the necessary grades for the university or course of their choice?

What of their future life ahead? I was seriously alarmed to discover recently the extent to which colleges seem to take something of a cavalier attitude towards cancelling courses at the last minute. 

I raise this because I was a victim of this myself some years ago. Having reached a ripe old age, and wanting to keep my employment opportunities open, after gaining my teaching qualification I elected, at my own expense, and in my own time, to take a TEFL course offered by Trinity College Cambridge. The course was to be an intensive month long, and in order to do this I had to put in place suitable domestic arrangements, in addition to securing time off work. Thus I was less than pleased to be informed just days before the start of the course it had been cancelled, due to lack of numbers. I felt I’d been left up the proverbial creek without the paddle, but tenacity is second nature to me so I set to, finding the same course on offer, at the same time, in Prague. Despite the stress caused, the upside was that the course was considerably cheaper, even taking into account accommodation, in an ex-communist block of flats.

This was some time ago so I hadn’t given much thought to this until recently, when I was alerted to the plight students who’d not done as well as they’d hoped in their exams, thereby failing to be given places to study for ‘A’ levels.

They enrolled on a business studies course at a local college, only to be told, on the day of registration, the course had been cancelled. They now find they are reluctantly enrolled on other courses. I fear for their future success in life. In my experience the best way to motivate someone is to get them engaged in something they are interested in, not offered a poor second option. I would not be at all surprised to find that sooner or later they have dropped out. I do appreciate that with tighter funding colleges are not in a position to offer courses where the take up is low and they need to consider carefully the viability of the courses they run, but there must surely be another way forward. I am also mindful of the ‘zero hours’ contracts that many tutors continue to be employed under, despite recent criticism of this practice. As colleges compete for student places someone must take active responsibility for ensuring the right courses are offered, and marketed appropriately to ensure healthy levels of take up; avoiding the disappointment that can be so damaging to youngsters at a vulnerable point in their lives, as they step out into the world hoping to make their mark.