One in four 15 to 18-year-olds have 'no idea' what they want to do in the future, NotGoingToUni high school study finds

Less than a quarter say they wouldn't consider university as an option as NotGoingToUni CEO blames the views on the rise of education costs in Britain

(Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

One in four 15 to 18-year-olds say they have ‘no idea’ what they want to do when their compulsory education comes to an end, a new study has found.

NotGoingToUni – a website which shows young people their options outside of going to university – spoke with just over 81,500 Year 11 to 13s and asked them if they had an idea of what the ‘future you’ does.

With just over 45 per cent saying they had a clear picture of what they wanted to do, but don’t know how they would achieve it, over 27 per cent said they had ‘no idea’ what they would do.

Upon leaving school, only 24 per cent said they would consider university as an option, while a collective number of almost 40 per cent said they would like to do either an apprenticeship, take a gap year, or go straight to work.

CEO of NotGoingToUni, Sharon Walpole, said the results were “interesting” and added: “It is particularly noteworthy that less than a quarter of the 80,000 youngsters polled currently feel as though university is a viable option for them – something which is most likely due to the media attention surrounding the expensive nature of studying for a degree.”

Although she said it was “very positive” to see almost half of the students realise an apprenticeship is a good, and more cost effective, way to help them progress to higher education (45.5 per cent), she described how it was “worrying” to see how many wrongly believe they are only useful for people who have no academic skills or want to drop out of school early (34.3 per cent).

Ms Walpole added: “Apprenticeships are far more beneficial than a degree for many reasons; you’re earning whilst learning, the hands-on experience is invaluable, and a lot of the time you’re guaranteed a job with the company you’ve been training with at the end.”