Are young people ready for the world of work? - 25 May, 2006

Under-18s will get the opportunity to make their voices heard in a Hansard Society online debate - Whistle while you work? How do you rate your job prospects?

The forum will run from June 12 to June 30, 2006 at www.HeadsUp.org.uk

The Whistle while you work? How do you rate your job prospects? forum puts key questions to the participating young people:

• Do you feel that you have to go to university to complete a degree in order to get a decent job?
• Are there good vocational courses out there? Are they as valued as university degrees? Do you need degrees?
• Have you undertaken work experience or volunteering yet or do you plan to in the future? What was it like?
• Is there a sufficient amount of reliable career advice being given to you at school or elsewhere about your possible future career path?

This forum has attracted the online involvement of a range of decision-makers, these include:

• Bill Rammell MP - Minister of State for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning
• Parmjit Dhanda MP - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families
• Justine Greening MP - Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party and a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee
• Barry Sheerman MP - Chairman of the Education and Skills Select Committee
• Maria Miller MP - Shadow Minister for Education
• David Laws MP - Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
• Stephen Williams MP - Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Further and Higher Education
• Natascha Engel MP - Member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee
• Tim Boswell MP - Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions
• Michael Foster MP - Member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee
• Danny Alexander MP - Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Work and Pensions

Barry Griffiths, HeadsUp Project Manager, commented: "The HeadsUp team are really looking forward to this job prospects debate as it will be fascinating following the interactions between young people and parliamentarians. If you are under 18, it's never too late to get involved in HeadsUp - I just wish I had this type of opportunity, to have my opinions heard by decision-makers, open to me when I was 16!"

HeadsUp is a vital resource for teaching the political literacy element of the Citizenship Curriculum and ensuring young people's voices are heard by decision-makers. In addition to the forum where school students explore and debate the political issues and ideas that matter to them, there are teachers' notes, ideas for classroom activities and background information all available on the HeadsUp website.

Young people taking part in this HeadsUp Forum are available for interview

For more information contact Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1225, 07812 765 552 or mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk

Editors' Notes

• HeadsUp (www.HeadsUp.org.uk) is an innovative website where under-18s debate political issues and processes. The site is fast becoming established as a non-partisan, cross-party educational resource that provides a secure, structured and student-centred discussion platform.
• Now two ways to register to participate in HeadsUp:
• Young People - If you are under 18 and want to get involved you need to email us at info@headsup.org.uk. We will then email you back with your unique username and password. Once you're registered you can take part wherever and whenever you want.
• Teachers - can register a whole class/school year/group by completing our online registration form
• All HeadsUp forums are now open to all to view and follow the debate. This will benefit many young people, teachers and parliamentarians as they will now be able to ‘try before they buy' and observe the dynamic of the debates without being registered. Participants will still need to register or login to post comments.
• The project is jointly funded by the DfES (Department for Education and Skills) and the House of Commons.
• At the end of the debate, a summary report detailing young people's contributions will be distributed to officials at both the Department for Education and Skills, and Department for Work and Pensions, government ministers, MPs and relevant all-party groups in Parliament.
• If anyone experiences any problems with the HeadsUp registration process please contact Barry Griffiths on 020 7438 1214.
• HeadsUp is an integration of the Hansard Society's work in Citizenship and eDemocracy.
• 3400 individuals are currently registered with HeadsUp.
• HeadsUp was conceived and developed by the Hansard Society with technical and design support from Glasgow-based digital design agency, Dog Digital (www.dogdigital.co.uk).
• The Hansard Society is an independent, non-partisan educational charity, which exists to promote effective parliamentary democracy.