Ati - in her cadet uniform - says she has valued learning the art of a good job interview, including how to introduce herself

There is a sudden buzz of conversation in a Year 10 class as teenagers split into pairs, sit down opposite each other and start conducting mock job interviews.

It is not for a forthcoming exam. These 14- and 15-year-olds at Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College are working on skills that should help them when they leave school and try to enter the workforce.

Today, they are learning the art of a successful job interview. Around the room, pupils are practising firm handshakes and making good eye contact.

They are rehearsing how to answer questions that you might expect to be asked in a job interview, such as "When was the last time you worked in a team?" and "Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work".

None of them has even reached working age yet, but in forthcoming lessons they'll also be learning about how to write a CV and what their rights at work are. It is all part of dedicated career lessons that they get every fortnight alongside their usual classes.

There are nearly a million young people across the UK - one in eight of all those aged 16 to 24 - who are not in education, employment or training - or Neet - according to the latest estimates.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called the high number both a "moral failure" and an "economic catastrophe".

Pupils at Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College, in Cheshire, learn how to do a good job interview from Year 10

This week, a major independent review, carried out by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn, is expected to set out how the government should tackle the issue of Neets and make recommendations about getting more young people into work.

Some suggested changes to the welfare system have already been announced, but schools are expected to be asked to do more to make sure pupils are "work-ready" when they leave.

Any new recommendations will build on plans the government has already announced to allow students in England to choose new vocational GCSEs from age 14.

Ati is 14 and says she has been learning things about job interviews she did not know before.

"How to speak to people. How to present myself to different people," she says. "Like the fact you have to walk into a room and introduce yourself. I didn't think you really had to do that, but I think that's a good new skill that I've learned."

Fourteen-year-old Myla says Year 10 is "not too early" to be practising job interviews.

She says: "In two years we'll probably start looking at part-time jobs. It definitely helps with nerves and that kind of stuff if you've done it before and tried it before."

Careers teacher Paisley Charlton is teaching employability skills to prepare pupils for the world of work

Careers teacher Paisley Charlton says the aim of these lessons is to make sure the students are ready for the working world. Since the school overhauled its careers education a couple of years ago, none of the students has become Neet on leaving at 18.

"We want to ensure they are confident within themselves to attend things like job interviews, to look for work experience and be able to talk about themselves in a positive way."

The school makes careers education a priority for students as soon as they join.

There is a "speed-networking" event in Year 7 where pupils have one-to-one chats with local employers. Posters describing nine "employability principles" - including resilience and problem-solving - are proudly displayed and followed in every lesson.

"We make sure careers isn't just something that happens at the end of school, or at transition points," says head teacher Ellen Walton. "It's a big world out there and we see it as a moral duty to make sure that we give them everything that they need to make the choices that are right for them.

"We work really hard to make sure they're all in education, employment or training when they leave us."

Head teacher Ellen Walton says her staff "work really hard" to make sure none of their pupils is Neet when they leave school

Around the country, other schools bring in outside organisations like Youth Careers Collective, external, a charity that works with dozens of schools in London.

Chief executive Matt Lent says they "act as a bridge between schools and businesses" by bringing employers into schools and disadvantaged pupils into the workplace for networking opportunities.

He says young people need opportunities to understand and develop employability skills, but "they aren't always embedded into the day-to-day school experience".

Lent warns that work to improve young people's "work-readiness" isn't enough to solve the Neets crisis, and he's "hopeful" that the imminent Milburn review will address this.

"Yes, we need to prepare young people for employment, but employers also need to take responsibility for creating accessible opportunities," he says.

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Schools and colleges across England are legally required to have a careers programme, including expanded opportunities for work experience, and to use the updated Gatsby Benchmarks, external to structure their careers education.

The Gatsby Foundation's Beth Jones, who developed the guidance, says the more careers education benchmarks a school achieves, the less likely it is their students will leave as Neet.

"Careers guidance cannot solve every barrier young people face, but it is an important part of helping them navigate their futures successfully," she says.

There is no doubt that improving careers education and giving pupils more vocational options is part of the plan for schools, but it is not the whole picture for solving the Neet crisis.

As Milburn himself pointed out in his interim report, external earlier this year, from the moment a child arrives at school at age four, the system can predict "who is most likely to fail".

A child starting school without basic "school-ready" skills like potty training at ages four or five is nearly three times as likely to be Neet by the time they reach 16 or 17 years old.

Pupils with special educational needs, from poorer backgrounds, or those with mental health issues are also more likely to be Neet.

The problem might not be identifying the pupils that need help, but finding the funding to help them. The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that a "one-size-fits-all approach" to the Neet crisis was "unlikely to work, given the very different circumstances of young people who are Neet".

It says a "key question for the government will be how much they are willing to invest in the short run in the hope of a pay-off in future years".

Riley, 15, says she feels more prepared for the future after her practice job interview

Back in the classroom, 15-year-old Riley is packing up at the end of her employability class.

She wants to go into acting or possibly work with animals, and thinks the skills she has learned will help her when it's time for her first job interview in the real world.

"You're able to learn a lot about yourself and how you can improve," Riley says.

"It's quite nice because it prepares me for the future."

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