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Agreed, well said David.

In good times, we always employed school leavers as office juniors (both 16, and 18 year olds). They would always be paid above NMW and would be enrolled onto an architectural technology course at a nearby college on a day release basis funded by the practice.

Depending on the individual, we could train the school leaver in house and have them earning fees drafting within six months.

If we can do this with school leavers with no architectural education whatsoever, then there is no excuse for not paying Part 1, or Part 2 placements a fair wage. Obviously, the workload (current and predicated) has to be there in the first place to sustain another salary.

Students should not devalue themselves too, by offering to work for free.