There's a case that students, who could be the next generation of leading scientists, architects, designers and mathematicians, could be slipping through the net through lack of awareness about visual/spatial thinking and the skills that those with a bias towards such thinking can bring to the table.

The tone of the week's announcements responded to the conclusions of a major review of the system undertaken over the last year. This concluded that apprenticeships need to be bigger and better, worn as a badge of honour and positioned as the preferred route to achieving aspirational career goals.

Most people don't spend their weekends doing the same thing they do from nine until five every day of the week and so the more interests you can show an employer the more human you'll come across.

A MBA never hurts, but it is not a golden ticket to a great job, irrespective of market conditions. Academic qualifications aren't a substitute for proven commercial experience and, ideally, a prior relationship of some description with the employer.

By engaging with potential employers and making the most of the chance to gain real, hands-on business experience, young people not only improve their skillset but also get the opportunity to demonstrate they have a possible future at a company.

On World AIDS Day, new research conducted for the Global Monitoring Report 'Youth and Skills: Putting education to work' shows the importance of investing in life skills education in school to ensure children have the confidence and negotiating skills to say no to sex and negotiate condom use.

It's also a myth that IT is only for people with highly technical qualifications. Of course you need an interest in technology, but an IT career can be joined at any level, age or experience. It is an industry open to everyone, and is particularly advantageous for young people.

With unemployment standing firm above the one million mark and competition for work experience places intensifying, the summer holidays mark a pivotal time for thousands of young people as they prepare for the world of work. Facing some of the toughest employment challenges ever, it's understandable that young people are daunted as they look to get their foot on the career ladder- but I do believe there is some cause for optimism.

What does Gove want us back to? He wants young people today to get bogged down in minutiae of detail and take their eye off the goal. He wants worker drones with no sense of their own capabilities and intelligence. He doesn't want people to solve problems, he wants clerks to write down sums in a book, perhaps to help balance the national deficit.

Deciding to block out the existence of mobile phones is like censoring all conversations about sex - the more we avoid something, the more appealing it becomes. We create the taboo and expect children to not be curious. It's a fairly Victorian concept.