Work experience may be defined as a placement on an employer's premises in which a pupil carries out a range of tasks or duties, more or less as would an employee, but with an emphasis on the learning aspects of the experience. (Department for Education and Employment).

Other activities in which students spend time on employers' premises include: work shadowing (in which individual students are assigned to shadow an individual employee as they go about their normal activities in order to allow close observation of activities which the student cannot themselves perform), work observation or visits (in which individual students or group of students are guided around the workplace in order to observe a range of activities or processes), work-based projects (work-related problem solving exercises), company briefings (students following vocational courses are invited to a seminar held in company premises), mock interviews (in which students are given experience of job interviews) and mentoring (in which individual students meet on a regular basis with an employer to enhance their motivation, knowledge and skills).

Work experience is central to achieving the goals of:

o Making education more work-related.

o Developing the skills and attitudes which young people need for the world of work.

o Assisting organisations to have a well-trained and motivated future workforce.