ABSTRACT
Our aim in this paper is to question how work experience for school pupils, which has now become a standardized and universal national policy in England and Wales, fits with some recent developments in labour markets, work conditions and the lives of young people. We shall do this by looking at a range of rationales given for the policy over recent years at national level by government, educators and employers. These will be compared with the reactions of those directly involved in providing, or, indeed, refusing to provide work experience in one local labour market. 1 Because of changes in the conditions of work in certain sectors and in the employment position of many students, new reasons are emerging for the involvement of some employers in the policy and the non-involvement of others. Such changes may come to make difficulties for the policy of work experience for all secondary school pupils just as it has become almost universal.
