Schools have begun teaching teenagers how to make phone calls ahead of their A-Level results, with it claimed some young people are suffering from a lack of confidence in conducting professional calls.
Teachers at certain schools have been role-playing with pupils in a bid to help ease their anxiety ahead of clearing, which could see thousands of teenagers forced to speak to university admissions officers if they do not meet their predicted grades.
Despite spending hours each day on their mobile devices and concerns that the younger generation are addicted to their screens, the children mainly use their phones for social media and to send texts.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) hopes to digitise the system so that pupils who missed their original university place will have automatic offers that they can accept or decline online.
However, this will take years to implement, with Jo Saxton, the chief executive of UCAS, aware that several schools have begun conducting phone call lessons with their sixth-form students.
Speaking to The Times, James Johnstone, the head teacher of Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School in Lancashire, said: “They have phenomenal digital literacy but their interpersonal skills are less developed. We see a reluctance to engage readily in dialogue.
He added that a number of pupils had never spoken to utility companies or had to introduce themselves and conduct professional conversations. “It might sound basic to adults but, for them, skills were lacking,” he said.
As a result, the school developed a scheme over six months which consisted of mock university interviews, workshops on how to send emails, and role-playing conversations.
This eventually led to them calling the school office and then a customer service number such as a bank for practice.
“We work in how to manage that anxiety, in terms of breathing, jotting down scripts in advance, what types of questions they want to ask such as, ‘Is the course available and what are the entry requirements; when do I need to decide by?’ Then how to wrap up a professional conversation, such as phrases like ‘thank you for your help today’, and clarifying the next steps,” Mr Johnstone said.
Other aspects of the scheme included workshops on managing student loans, cooking healthy meals, understanding utility bills and tenant rights.
Since 2019, phone calls to UCAS have dropped by a third, with Ms Saxton notign that pupils usually are unaware that they need their identifying number, and are unused to phone call etiquette.
She is pushing for the clearing system to become digital, telling The Times: “That is how difficult teenagers these days can find how to make a phone call. So clearing needs to become increasingly digital.
“Of course we’ll make sure that we keep humans and human experts in the room.
“We are beginning a conversation with the sector about ways we can reform clearing so that it actually better meets everybody’s needs.”
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