When young people don’t understand how what they learn in school is relevant to their future careers and lives, they can feel disengaged from education. Real-world learning opportunities, or applied learning, are key to developing young people’s confidence, attitudes, and employability skills.

Knowing how to adapt and use their skills and knowledge in the modern workplace is arguably more important – for Gen Z and Gen Alpha – than it has ever been before. The world of work is changing faster than ever, with the World Economic Forum predicting that up to 97 million roles will be created in artificial intelligence by 2025.

Applied learning provides practical opportunities to put education and skills into practice in real-world settings – for example, through work experience, enterprise challenges or employer insight days.

In the conversations my colleagues and I have with teachers, young people, and their families, we discover that when young people are given opportunities to make a connection between what they are learning and how they can practically use this knowledge in their future lives, they become much more engaged in lessons.

A young person who recently participated in a Young Enterprise programme explained to me how the opportunity helped her re-engage with her education, and her mother described how it had helped increase her attendance. We also regularly hear from teachers about how these interventions can positively impact engagement in learning and progress in attainment. And yet we know that for many reasons, there isn’t a consistent application of practical and real-world-based learning – applied learning – across schools, which means not all young people are accessing these benefits.

Rather than just being a standalone, extracurricular activity, the most impressive results come when applied learning is integrated directly into the school timetable – both into the short breaks between classes, and in the classroom itself. This way the benefits of applied learning can be made available to all schools and all pupils, regardless of their area or background.

Applied learning is not prescriptive. It thrives on creative teaching and learning approaches that help young people join the dots to transfer their new skills and knowledge into different settings. Schools that choose to introduce applied learning can do so in a way that fits their specific context and that meets the needs of their young people. It can be a gradual introduction that is embedded across the curriculum over a period of time or a discrete initiative.

Crucially, opportunities for young people to apply their learning need to be provided in as direct and real a way as possible. The ideal, when it comes to financial education, for example, being to use real rather than fake money – all the better to prepare young people for the real world after school.

Even small investments in terms of carving out teacher time and making applied learning a priority can pay huge dividends which can gradually change a school’s entire culture. We’ve seen Headteachers and senior leadership teams cut through potential barriers – such as scepticism from colleagues, bureaucratic permissions procedures, or a lack of time – to support teachers who want to introduce applied learning. We’ve learned firsthand, that without support from senior leadership, there is always a risk that an initiative becomes just a one-off.

If we’re to secure truly systemic change, then applied learning should also be considered a priority for policymakers. We believe there are 3 ways of doing this without making changes to the curriculum, which we know is difficult in the current climate where teachers continue to be under incredible workload pressures.

• Increase recognition and promotion of applied learning opportunities by key influencers, such as the Department for Education.
• Fully integrate opportunities to apply learning in real and relevant contexts as good pedagogical practice via teacher training.
• Conduct further long-term research into the impact of enabling young people to access opportunities to apply their learning in real and relevant contexts.

More generally, schools should be encouraged to prepare their pupils for adulthood by emphasising this aim throughout the entire curriculum. And it should be made much easier for schools to reach out to businesses and entrepreneurs for support.

At Young Enterprise, we have been helping young people apply their learning by providing opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems since our first enterprise and financial education programme launched in 1963. This is applied learning in action: creating meaningful, practical learning experiences that help young people acquire and apply knowledge and skills – so they know more, remember more and do more – often showcasing potential career pathways they may not have previously considered.

Failing to appreciate the relevance of what they are required to learn can lead some young people to become bored and disengaged, which can have a negative impact on their exam results. Integrating applied learning into the curriculum can help to counter this and can be done with limited resources, even under the most challenging of circumstances.

Effective applied learning can and does provide young people with opportunities to put their learning into practice. It gives young people increased confidence and has the potential to create a more passionate, productive, and motivated future workforce which will lead to increased social mobility and contribute to the UK’s future productivity.

Share Story: