FOR many teenagers, taking part in work experience may be the first time in their lives that they are treated like an adult.
Michael Mander recently joined the Gazette team for a two-week work placement, and he revelled in the responsibility given to him.
The 15-year-old Billericay boy now believes the experience provides a vital hands-on taster for young people wrestling with the raft of further education options and career choices.
"Having heard that many people of my age group are losing the opportunity to do a work placement while at school, I wanted to say how valuable I believe it is," he said.
"I'm considering a career in journalism and my two weeks at the Gazette taught me so much about what the job entails and what is expected of you.
"Maybe I was a bit lucky in my choice, but they gave me the opportunity to do some proper reporting."
For decades schoolchildren have faced the daunting plunge into the world of nine to five.
But is 15 the right age to get a glimpse into the world of work, and are enough teens actually getting an opportunity to make the most of their chance, or are they just being handed a stint as an office junior or a tea-maker?
The Government believes work experience should be a feature of sixth-form study.
Last year the Wolf Report, commissioned by the Department for Education, made a statement that vocational training at schools, in the main, doesn't lead to jobs and university places.
It also recommended an end to pre-16 placements, instead suggesting it be shifted to Year 12 to keep GCSE pupils focuses on academic studies, but ultimately the decision lies with schools.
Brentwood County High School cancelled Year 11 work placements ahead of this academic year, and as yet it has not been moved into sixth form.
Head teacher Stephen Drew, who took up the post in September, believes there are "ongoing concerns with the quality of placements".
He said: "Getting work experience for 240 Year 11s in one two-week hit, you will get a varied experience.
"If you have a person who is very positive about the school and has a bad work experience, that does not really help."
Mr Drew believes that if pre-16 work experience is to be offered it needs to be targeted to those considering vocational studies after the school leaving age, but students following an academic pathway would get a better experience in the sixth form.
His deputy head girl, Nula Gooderson, 17, was one of the last to complete a placement as a 15-year-old in 2010.
She spent a fortnight at Lloyds of London, the City insurance market.
She said: "I think everyone should do it pre-16.
"I think when you move into the sixth form you have refined your choices, but you needed that work experience before you make your A-Level choices.
"What I think is the problem with it is that I got my experience from my dad, and the people that do not have these connections, for whatever reason, are left to use the Trident scheme.
"The problem with that is that you could end up working up your local High Street. That's not really emulating the reality of real life at work with the travel involved.
"It's important that you are taken out of your comfort zone on work experience."
Many current year 11 students across Brentwood and Billericay completed their stint last week, but will they be the last to get afforded the opportunity?
Students at The Billericay School only discovered the October scheme had been ditched at an assembly in July, but one student who spoke to the Gazette, asking not to be named, doesn't think she is missing much.
She said: "I know a bit about work and employment but I don't know how the business environment would treat me and how I would cope in certain situations.
"I don't think my insight about A-Level choices would improve with work experience because the school keeps us up to date. We have talks with our form tutors about the options available to us."
Meanwhile, Mayflower High School will be continuing to run work experience in Year 11.
Jonathan Rowlands, deputy head at the school, said: "We believe work experience is an essential element to develop knowledge, skills and understanding in the workplace, and all students can benefit from it.
"We may move work experience into sixth form, but at the moment work experience is an important element of our Key Stage 4 curriculum.
"We've just won an award for our careers education".
