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An apprenticeship scheme, developed by the Southampton Skills Development Zone (SSDZ), has involved an innovative attempt by the four public sector employers represented on the SSDZ Board to work with partners to create new training and employment opportunities for local unemployed 18 to 25 year olds. A team from the [Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies] LLAKES Centre undertook research into the scheme from August 2010 to December 2011. The research aims included: the development of an evidence base for the apprenticeship scheme, with information on the numbers starting and completing their apprenticeships, and being offered permanent contracts with their employers; the provision of accounts of the experiences of all the major stakeholders of the scheme and their perceptions of its strengths and weaknesses; and the identification of the key features of the scheme, and an analysis of its perceived benefits which can contribute to its dissemination and expansion.

Published abstract from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) website. Show less

The 2008 White Paper, 'Back on Track: a strategy for modernising alternative provision for young people', set out a plan to transform the quality of alternative education for those who are excluded from, or who for some other reason are unable to attend school. This report sets out the findings from research into the Back on Track alternative provision pilots. The overarching aim was to develop insights from the 12 specifically funded projects as part of the Back on Track pilot program to investigate what can work in alternative provision, how and for whom, in order to advance understandings and inform future policy and practice. To achieve this, the study focused on developing knowledge through the varying experiences of the Back on Track pilots in relation to: the structure, content and operation of the alternative provision pilot projects; the key ingredients of delivery that lead to effective alternative provision in the pilot projects; and the outcomes, impacts and achievements of the alternative provision pilot projects.

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The Youth Unemployment Committee was appointed to make recommendations on youth unemployment, education and skills. Its report focuses on these key areas and also makes wider recommendations about apprenticeships, careers guidance and inequality in the labour market. According to the Committee, young people in the UK are not receiving enough support to get into work and urgent action is needed on the part of the government.

The report's main conclusions and recommendations are: (1) there are skills gaps and shortages in existing and emerging sectors, damaging productivity; the UK government must develop a long-term national plan for identifying, anticipating, measuring and addressing skills gaps and shortages with a focus on the needs of the digital and green economy; and to ensure young people are equipped with essential knowledge and the technical, cultural and creative skills, the government must recalibrate the compulsory components of the national curriculum and performance measures, putting skills development at the centre; (2) access to high quality careers education is improving but equal provision remains patchy; and the government must make careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) a compulsory element of the curriculum in all schools from Key Stage 1 to 4 alongside religious education, and sex and relationships education, as part of a Career Guidance Guarantee; (3) further education (FE) has been undervalued and significantly underfunded; the government must devise a new method of funding for FE, determined by student demand, and students accessing the Lifetime Skills Guarantee at levels 2 and 3 should attract automatic in-year funding determined by a tariff; and this would ensure the availability of places, and result in extra funding so that institutions can recruit high quality teachers and obtain the latest industry-standard equipment; (4) apprenticeships are in short supply, and current funding mechanisms tend to benefit older workers; and the government must require that any employer receiving funding from the apprenticeship levy must spend at least two thirds of that funding on people who begin apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 before the age of 25; (5) groups including Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups, those disadvantaged by socio-economic background, and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) face significant barriers to work; the government must launch an Education and Workplace Race Equality Strategy, focussing on removing barriers including mandating regular collection of data; and it must ensure every disadvantaged young person has access to tailored careers guidance; and (6) youth unemployment policy is created in silos, resulting in a confusing landscape of initiatives and a lack of accountability at the top; and the government must appoint an independent Young People's Commissioner to be the voice of youth aged 16 to 24. Show less

Investment in apprenticeships by UK companies has been relatively low in recent years, primarily because of the fear that apprentices will leave and the investment will go to waste. This chapter examines corporate investment in education and the idea that apprenticeships can be used to improve access to the professions for disadvantaged young people. The authors set out the business case for this approach to supply a wider pool of talent for the professions. A case study is provided of an apprenticeship scheme for school-leavers to encourage a wider variety of young people into the professions, including accountancy. Show less

This chapter will analyse ethnic minority students’ educational careers, seen as a sequence of educational transitions. The authors concentrate on ethnic minority students whose parents immigrated, but who themselves were either born in the host country, or arrived there before school start; that is, the groups that are commonly called ‘second generation’ and ‘1.5 generation’ respectively. In many countries, the transition to (upper) secondary school, at around age 15 to 16, is a watershed. Most of those who do not make the transition to upper secondary school are likely to have reached the end of their school career, and if so, they will in many cases find it hard to compete for jobs in a strained youth labour market; and for those who do find jobs, career opportunities are limited without higher education. While the large majority of those who do not make the transition have the formal right to leave school, they can, for practical purposes, be regarded as early school-leavers. The authors study modern Western countries, predominantly with mass education systems, and the sheer size of a student cohort that the early school-leavers represent suggests that in several countries they constitute a conspicuous minority. Countries selected are those for which there are suitable data - Finland, Sweden, France, England, Netherlands, Germany, and the USA.

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How are transitions from youth to adulthood changing? And what do those changes mean for individuals, families and communities, and for organisations working to support young people? These key questions are addressed in this short report commissioned by ProjectScotland, the national volunteering program for 18 to 30 year-olds. By drawing on a variety of existing sources, the report highlights some of the long-term changes in the experiences of young adults but also the way in which these are interacting with the recent effects of the economic downturn in the specific local context of Scotland.

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A central priority for the UK Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is to reduce the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). Entry to Learning (E2L) was designed to provide young people who are NEET with opportunities to improve their skills and employability through strengthening the progression between re-engagement activity and formal learning. This report describes the process evaluation of the four pilot E2L projects delivered in Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Lancashire and Sandwell.

Management information indicates that just over 60 per cent of young people that have started E2L have progressed into positive destinations, about half into education. Stakeholders were overwhelmingly positive about the success of E2L and identified a range of areas where the pilots have worked well, including in relation to: being client centred; the development of management and delivery infrastructures; putting in place flexible pathways; and financial arrangements.

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The stories featured in this publication are young adult carers' (between the ages of 16 and 25) personal accounts of their caring role and the impact that caring has had upon their lives, particularly upon their participation in learning. All of the stories have been written by individual young adult carers, in their own words. Young adult carers have unpaid responsibility for caring for someone, usually someone in their family. Young adult carers don't have the chances in life that many young people and children in the UK have; their schooling is often disrupted, they can't take up the chances post-16 of college or apprenticeships, or a job, because they find it too hard to fit around their responsibilities. This publication shows the transformational effects of learning; how offering chances to these young people, with care and guidance, and with consideration for their needs, can give them the opportunity to develop their skills and think about employment.

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This article explores a hitherto neglected issue: the significance of nature in the learning lives of marginalised young people. Drawing on both post-human and sociocultural perspectives, it develops a theoretical analysis of this important subject. It uses research with 114 young people in jobs without training in rural South-west England to analyse how marginalised young people engage with nature and what they learn from it. It concludes that the intra-activity of young people and nature creates the potential for new worlds and bodies, but ones that are still shaped by social inequalities. Nature is often highly significant in the lives of marginalised young people, potentially offering them the freedom, equilibrium and expertise that had been denied in the formal educational context and opening them up to learning. However, these new learning worlds are transient and social inequalities need to be addressed in order to make them sustainable. Policy makers have become interested in harnessing nature to citizenship drives for young people, for example in the UK National Citizen Service Plan. But the article concludes that regimented initiatives are not the right approach to build on the personal, secret and playful qualities of this learning. The article draws out the important implications of this study for research, policy and practice.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This report presents the views, experiences and aspirations of a wide range of young people aged 14-18, including those not usually heard, regarding how they can be more meaningfully engaged in learning after 16. The findings emerge from a rich range of qualitative approaches designed to maximise the participation of young people. The report highlights that young people learn and progress in different ways. Some young people follow traditional linear pathways through learning after 14, making incremental progress and achieving specific learning outcomes. The pathways of other young people meanwhile become, or are already, chaotic and fragmented, and continue to be so unless addressed. The research also found that receiving the full picture of academic and vocational learning options available after 16 and good advice and support from careers/Connexions advisers, teachers and parents is paramount. Young people generally suggested the following solutions: better information and advice on a full range of learning opportunities after 16; widening the range of vocational options; clearly linking vocational courses to employment outcomes; and widening the availability of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). Disengaged young people stressed the following solutions: reduction in class sizes; availability of hands-on practical learning from age 12 and delivery of learning in community/youth based settings. Young refugees seeking asylum advocated addressing trauma as a barrier to learning.

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