The Young Lives, Young Futures research has highlighted that experiences of bullying, long hours and unsafe practices are all too common among young people in work today. Yet in schools, as workshop participants pointed out, while there is often a focus on preparing students for how to behave at work, employer behaviour is rarely considered. The resources we are producing have been designed to help teachers address this gap and support young people to know their rights and better navigate problems at work. Working with the young people, teachers and trade unionists on developing them has been a hugely enriching experience and we are immensely grateful to all involved.
Sharon Gewirtz, Professor of Education at the School of Education, Communication and Society
29 September 2026
Young people meet with trade unionists and educators in workplace rights workshop
The School of Education, Communication and Society welcomed students and educators for a workshop tackling the range of problems faced by young people on entering the workplace.
Students from Hampstead School and their teacher visited King’s to meet with trade union representatives, teachers and researchers working on Young Lives, Young Futures - a six-year research project examining how young people who don't go to university could be better supported in their education-to-work transitions and better supported once in work.
Although 50% of young people do not go down the university route upon finishing compulsory education, and many go straight into work, there is no curriculum entitlement for learning about employment rights or trade unions at school. As a result, many young people enter the workforce knowing little about the protections they are guaranteed by law, or what to do when employers fail to provide a working environment in which they can succeed.
Starting in Autumn 2025, a group of Year 12 students at Hampstead School and educationalists from King’s have co-produced teaching and learning resources designed to help young people understand their rights at work, and the role trade unions play in protecting and promoting their interests.
Once completed, these will be offered to schools and colleges as a free resource for use in PSHE (personal, social, health and economic wellbeing) lessons and as part of the vocational curriculum in colleges.
The workshop, organised by Professor Sharon Gewirtz and Dr Peter Burgess, aimed to evaluate these resources and further explore what young people need to know about work, their rights and trade unions—and the most engaging ways to teach this in schools and colleges.
Participants at the workshop engaged with a selection of co-produced resources, the centrepiece of which was a series of videos featuring the words of young workers interviewed for the Young Lives, Young Futures project and spoken by acting students from Arts University Bournemouth. Feedback from workshop participants generated ideas for additional learning topics and activities and suggestions for encouraging their take-up in schools and colleges.
The workshop received positive feedback from participating students, teachers and trade unionists, including the following comments:
“I thought today was very beneficial; especially as a young worker myself, I wasn’t fully aware of what rights I had when I started this project. Now that I know more, I think it is really important that we get this information more into schools and PSHE." –– Student
“It was an amazing and insightful day. Very informative and eye opening for everyone and [for] understanding real world scenarios and problems”. ––Student
“I think we identified a lot of common problems that we see between trade unions and what is being taught in PSHE in schools. I think this type of collaboration is 100% essential to us fixing the problem of there not being enough literacy when it comes to this.” –– Trade union officer
All participants - students, teachers and lecturers, trade unionists and academics – fed back that they would like to take part in further events about young workers' rights and trade union education.
Further information on the project, future events and how students, teachers, trade unionists and young workers with an interest can become involved is available from Sharon Gewirtz sharon.gewirtz@kcl.ac.uk or Peter Burgess peter.burgess@kcl.ac.uk.
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Professor of Education
Research Affiliate