For Race Across The World 2026, the survey points to a clear demand from UK teenagers: more work experience at school and more guidance on applying for jobs. More than four in 10 want extra work experience opportunities, and a similar proportion want help with job applications before they leave full-time education.
Survation carried out the online survey for the, asking 2,000 young people aged 13 to 18 about the world of work and the support they need to secure employment. That puts a specific number on a pressure many teenagers already feel as they move from school into work: the gap is not just interest in jobs, but the practical route into them.
Newcastle students on placements
As part of the Teen Summit project by Radio 5 Live and Bitesize, four students from Newcastle were followed while they tried out roles for the first time during work experience placements. Param was among them, giving the survey results a concrete setting: these were not abstract opinions about school, but teenagers meeting work up close for the first time.
McKenzie, Jasmine and Javaris were also part of that Newcastle group, which helps show how the same need can look different once teenagers step into a workplace. Some want more time to test roles; others want clearer guidance on how to apply for them. The survey does not split those responses into separate groups, so the strongest reading is the broad one: a substantial share of teenagers want both experience and instruction.
survey and teen views
The survey asks a useful question because it sits at the point where school ends and work begins. Teenagers aged 13 to 18 are close enough to leaving full-time education to judge whether their school has prepared them, but young enough that a short placement can still change what they think they need next.
That is where the friction in the story sits. Teenagers want more work experience and more job-application guidance, yet the story does not say whether schools are able or planning to provide either one. For a student about to leave full-time education, that leaves the request hanging on the school side of the equation.
What matters now is the practical gap the survey exposes. Young people have said they want more chances to try work and more help getting into it, and the has put four Newcastle students in that setting through the Teen Summit project. The question left on the table is simple: will schools respond by building more of that support into everyday teaching, or will teenagers still have to find it elsewhere?
