For every pupil who loves burying their face in a book there is another equally desperate to end their studies to find employment.
Many less academic children leave school at 16, or earlier, to begin their search for a job, but a new vocational qualification could encourage more students to prolong their education.
Deira International School (DIS) in Dubai is one of eight schools around the world assessing the vocational version of the International Baccalaureate. Ten pupils at the Dubai school are spending time on work experience instead of lessons in a trial of the IB Career Related Certificate (IBCC).
The IBCC is an alternative to the more academic IB Diploma, the school-leaving qualification taken every year by hundreds of UAE students.
Jenny Bastable, the DIS’s co-ordinator for the IB, said the IBCC filled a gap in education provision.
“I remember teaching Shakespeare to a class. The majority of students had no interest. Many of the boys would’ve been far happier stripping a car engine,” she said.
“There has never been anything for those students. This is a good opportunity for teenagers to get some training so they can enter the workforce and not have to be sent back to their home country to face an uncertain future.
“However, taking the IBCC doesn’t preclude students from going to university or college – they still do a core of academic subjects.”
Under the programme, students take at least three academic subjects, including a foreign language, compared with six during the IB Diploma course. As well as spending two afternoons a week in a vocational training centre or the workplace, they also carry out community service, take courses in critical thinking and produce a “personal reflective project”, usually based around their experiences at work. Projects can deal with subjects such as recycling in shops or the roles of men and women at work.
DIS’s IBCC students, who come from the UK, Syria, Australia, the Philippines and South Africa, have worked at stores such as Toys R Us and Ikea, and at Toyota motor showrooms in Dubai.
The shops and car dealerships are all part of the Al-Futtaim Group, which owns DIS.
“They are learning everything and going through the whole range of activities, including learning about systems and what’s going on in management – it’s not just how to operate a cash register. The things they are learning are very transferable,” Mrs Bastable said.
The IBCC trial at the DIS began late last year – at the start of the current academic year – and students are due to complete it next year.
If the trials are successful, then from 2011, students at more than 2,000 schools will also be able to choose the IBCC.
“You not only learn what you wouldn’t in school, you actually get to go out into the real world. You find out things that will help you in later life,” said Ross Cabradilla, 18, a pupil from the Philippines who hopes to either study nursing or go to flying school when he completes the IBCC.
During their visits to the Toyota dealership, the students learnt about the launch of a new car.
“They were teaching us about different events that take place, including one for the media, the work that goes on and the problems they face. That was really interesting,” said Gemma McLintock, 17, from the UK.
At a furniture store, the young people were asked to recreate a typical teenager’s bedroom for a display. “Employers are more likely to pick us for a job because we have this type of experience,” said Gemma.
The IBCC has elements that would be useful for every student, according to Mrs Bastable.
“I look at what they’re doing and I think all students should be learning about this,” she said. “It is educating the whole person and finding out about the real world.
“That’s what good education should be – preparation for life, not sitting with books in a classroom.”