While many young people do not enjoy school, this is particularly the case for those not intending to go to university. At age 15-16 only a third of young people participating in the Your Life, Your Future survey who said they were not at all likely to go to university reported that, on the whole, they liked being at school. This compared to more than two-thirds of young people who said they were very likely to go to university telling us that they enjoyed school.

​

Young people who said they were not at all likely to go to university were also less likely to say they worked as hard as they could at school, that doing well at school meant a lot to them or that they felt noticed and listened to by their teachers. For these young people, school was largely something to endure rather than enjoy. Where they did enjoy elements of schooling, these were often not the official school curriculum.

​

For those not intending to go to university the strong message they are being given through the hidden curriculum of the school is that their more creative, practical or vocational interests, contributions and aspirations are of less value than those of young people following more traditional academic routes.

​

This same message was reinforced in the careers advice young people received. While some young people told us they hadn’t received any careers advice while at school, where it was available it tended to be skewed towards universities. Teachers typically did not know or tell them about apprenticeships or vocational courses in further education. This reinforced young people’s sense of their interests and contributions not being valued. Some also mentioned that schools were selective in which students they supported and that some careers choices and interests motivated teachers far more than others.

​

More detailed findings with survey and interview data can be found in our Precarious Transitions summary report, published in November 2025.

​

.