A-level results day | Alternate career routes for school-leavers

A-level results day can be an extremely nerve-wracking time for students. School leavers from across the country will have received results back from their exam boards this morning and will be deciding their next steps towards the employment world.

Whether that route is going to university, taking on an apprenticeship, or getting stuck into the working world straight away, there are many decisions that school-leavers will be faced with today.

For many years, university was seen as the go-to route into employment. School-leavers would undertake three years of hard graft to earn themselves a gleaming piece of paper that they could wave in front of any employer willing to pay attention. Of course, there were many reasons for an inflation in the number of people attending university.

In the minds of many, the poster boy for increased university education take-up was Tony Blair. In 1999, as Prime Minister, he pledged that half of young people would attend higher education; numbers of students in higher education have risen rapidly since. Yet rising student debts have caused backlash against the affordability of higher education so some school-leavers may be considering an alternative route into work – and one that helps employers gain young, fresh talent and plug skills shortages.