An article examined students' views on the reform of qualifications, examinations, and assessment at ages 14-19. The impact on students of the reforms could be confusing, unsettling, and ultimately detrimental to future success.
Source: Jannette Elwood, 'Qualifications, examinations and assessment: views and perspectives of students in the 14-19 phase on policy and practice', Cambridge Journal of Education, Volume 42 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
An article said that the negative effect of early school leaving on income was reduced by educational inclusiveness at the country level in Europe. This was because educational expansion decreased the influence of a disadvantaged family background, which accounted for the net interacting effect of educational inclusiveness itself.
Source: Stan van Alphen, 'The benefit of educational inclusiveness for early school leavers in the European labour market', European Journal of Education, Volume 47 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined the effect of multiple independent socio-economic risk factors in shaping the transition from school to work; and identified potential protective factors enabling young people to 'beat the odds'. Some young people exposed to even severe socio-economic risks avoided being NEET (not in education, employment or training). Factors that appeared to reduce the cumulative risk effect included prior attainment, educational aspirations, and school engagement, as well as the social mix of the school environment.
Source: Kathryn Duckworth and Ingrid Schoon, 'Beating the odds: exploring the impact of social risk on young people's school-to-work transitions during recession in the UK', National Institute Economic Review, Volume 222 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
The final report was published of an independent review of qualifications for young people in Wales aged 14–19. It recommended building on and strengthening the Welsh baccalaureate.
Source: Review of Qualifications for 14 to 19-Year-Olds in Wales: Final Report and Recommendations, Welsh Government
Links: Report | Welsh Government press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | Plaid Cymru press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report called for a unified approach and a single line of responsibility for all forms of education and training for young people aged 14–24. All young people should have: a choice of different types of high-quality provision, including academic, vocational, and work-based learning; the opportunity to experience some vocational education in the context of a broad curriculum offer from the age of 14; access to high-quality and impartial guidance to help them make effective choices and transitions; and assurance that the programmes they undertook allowed effective progression either to further learning or to employment with training.
Source: Mick Fletcher, Effective Transitions From School to Work: The key role of FE colleges, 157 Group
Links: Report | 157 Group press release
Date: 2012-Oct
An article examined the position of young people who leave education at the end of compulsory schooling to enter 'jobs without training' (JWT). Unless young workers and their employers were committed to the acquisition of accredited qualifications, raising the participation age in England (to 17 from 2013 and to 18 from 2015) would be seriously undermined, and intervention to support school-to-work transitions among the JWT group would remain negligible.
Source: Sue Maguire, Thomas Spielhofer, and Sarah Golden, 'Earning not learning? An assessment of young people in the jobs without training (JWT) group', Sociological Research Online, Volume 17 Issue 3
Links: Article
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined the involvement of business with the education sector, focusing on the development of the new diploma qualifications as part of 14–19 education reform in England. Diploma development represented an extreme manifestation of employer engagement. Employers were enthusiastic and committed: but it was open to question whether they were stretched beyond their capacity.
Source: Prue Huddleston and Andrea Laczik, 'Successes and challenges of employer engagement: the new diploma qualification', Journal of Education and Work, Volume 25 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Aug
Researchers examined the curriculum and qualification needs of young people at risk of temporary disconnection from learning.
Source: Gill Bielby, Michelle Judkins, Lisa O Donnell, and Tami McCrone, Review of the Curriculum and Qualification Needs of Young People who Are at Risk of Disengagement, National Foundation for Educational Research
Date: 2012-Aug
A think-tank report examined the nature of young people's transitions from school to work in London, and the implications for national policy. In the long term, supporting smoother transitions from learning to earning would require a combined economic and skills strategy to improve the quality of the jobs available to young people and ensure that vocational courses supported mobility and progression in the labour market.
Source: Tess Lanning, From Learning to Earning: Understanding the school-to-work transition in London, Institute for Public Policy Research
Date: 2012-Aug
The coalition government announced (following consultation) reforms of the funding system for education and training for young people aged 16-19. It said that it would introduce funding per student from 2013–14, in order to ensure that schools and colleges made decisions about programmes of study that were in the best interests of students. This would replace allocations per qualification and per qualification passed, which had led to an increase in qualifications that were easier to achieve but that were often not valued by employers or universities.
Source: 16-19 Funding Formula Review: Funding full participation and study programmes for young people, Department for Education
Links: Report | Response to consultation | AOC press release
Date: 2012-Jul
A report (by an official advisory body) examined the barriers to education, employment, and training experienced by young people in England's rural areas. Although there were clear associated challenges for all young people across England, there was also a rural dimension to the issue.
Source: Barriers to Education, Employment and Training for Young People in Rural Areas, Commission for Rural Communities
Links: Report | Summary | RSN Online report
Date: 2012-Jul
A paper examined the relative importance of adolescent skills and behaviours for completed schooling and labour market success in adulthood in four countries (the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Sweden, and Finland). Adolescent achievement, particularly in maths, was a stronger predictor of completed schooling than measures of non-cognitive skills. Achievement skills also out-predicted non-cognitive skills with regard to adult earnings, although the differences were not as striking.
Source: Kathryn Duckworth, Greg Duncan, Katja Kokko, Anna-Liisa Lyyra, Molly Metzger, and Sharon Simonton, The Relative Importance of Adolescent Skills and Behaviors for Adult Earnings: A cross-national study, Working Paper 12-03, Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education (University of London)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jul
A think-tank report examined how the characteristics of 'NEETs' (young people not in employment, education or training) had changed in recent years, and how longer-term labour market change had affected the transition for young people from education into employment. Young people were finding it increasingly difficult to make the first step into work: support from service providers should be concentrated on this important stage.
Source: Paul Sissons and Katy Jones, Lost in Transition? The changing labour market and young people not in employment, education or training, Work Foundation
Links: Report | Work Foundation press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-May
A paper examined the process of transitions from education into the labour market, with a particular focus on the United Kingdom. There was strong evidence from developed countries that, even before the latest recession, transitions were becoming longer, more complex, and conditional than they used to be. The paper explored what structural factors might underlie these changes, and their implications for policy-makers and those working within the education and training system. Insofar as these developments could be addressed by policy, a major consideration was the role that employers might need to play, not least in terms of the attitudes and behaviours that they displayed towards the process of recruitment, selection, induction, and development of new entrants to the workforce.
Source: Ewart Keep, Youth Transitions, the Labour Market and Entry into Employment: Some reflections and questions, Research Paper 108, Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (Cardiff and Oxford Universities)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-May
An article examined evidence from a European Union-funded project designed to find out how more care-leavers could be encouraged to stay in school longer and enabled to access further and higher education. If children and young people in care were to enjoy equal opportunities with their peers, a much stronger focus was needed in all countries on their formal and informal education throughout their time in care and beyond. With low level educational qualifications or none, they were severely disadvantaged in the labour market, especially at a time of high youth unemployment. In addition, their lack of family support and weak social networks put them at great risk of social exclusion in adulthood. Targeted measures to promote social mobility via participation in higher levels of education should be an explicit aim of welfare authorities.
Source: Sonia Jackson and Claire Cameron, 'Leaving care: looking ahead and aiming higher', Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 34 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined the educational situation of young people in Europe with experience of being placed in foster or residential care. Barriers to continued education after compulsory school were found on both the individual and the family level as well as in relation to national policies and welfare regimes – pointing to low expectations from both professionals and carers. Young people from a public care background often lacked the chance to acquire sufficient cultural and social capital, and so chose other pathways.
Source: Helena Johansson and Ingrid Hojer, 'Education for disadvantaged groups – structural and individual challenges', Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 34 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
Researchers examined how different phases of education, especially secondary school, were related to students' attainment, social behaviour, and dispositions at age 14, and the factors that predicted developmental change. It considered the influence of families and communities in addition to that of the schools themselves. Differences in academic attainment and social-behavioural development related to background emerged early (at age 3) and remained fairly stable to age 14. Students who experienced multiple disadvantage in the early years had an increased risk of poorer social-behavioural development and lower attainment at age 14. There was an increasing, though not strong, neighbourhood effect: higher levels of deprivation among children aged under 16 in a local area predicted poorer attainment and social behaviour.
Source: Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Pam Sammons, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, and Brenda Taggart (with Katalin Toth, Rebecca Smees, Diana Draghici, Aziza Mayo, and Wesley Welcomme), Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education 3-14 Project (EPPSE 3-14): Report from the Key Stage 3 Phase – Influences on Student s Development from Age 11-14, Research Report RR202, Department for Education
Links: Report | Brief | IOE press release
Date: 2012-Mar
A report reviewed available statistics, data, and commentary in order to inform policy in response to young people aged 16-24 who were not in employment, education or training ('NEETs'). Young people described as NEET were not a homogeneous group: the term spanned a core of young people with deep-rooted problems; an element whose NEET status was short-term and who were generally able to find a future; and those at risk either because of personal lack of direction, or because they were adversely affected by shifting economic circumstances.
Source: Tim Allen, Palak Mehta, and Simon Rutt, Hidden Talents: A statistical overview of the participation patterns of young people aged 16-24, National Foundation for Educational Research
Date: 2012-Mar
A literature review explored successful approaches to supporting young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) at a general level as well as at the level of the different NEET sub-groups.
Source: Julie Nelson and Lisa O Donnell, Approaches to Supporting Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training: A review, National Foundation for Educational Research
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper examined the speed of transition of students to permanent employment in European countries, and sought to identify possible discriminatory effects. The gender discrimination that had affected most countries at the beginning of the 1990s had faded away by the end of the decade, replaced by a positive discrimination in favour of graduates from vocationally oriented programmes.
Source: Christelle Garrouste and Massimo Loi, School-to-Work Transitions in Europe: Paths towards a permanent contract, MPRA Paper 37167, Munich Personal RePEc Archive
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that almost one-third of young people aged 18 with special educational needs were not in any form of education, employment, or training. Although central government provided funding for young people aged 16-25 it was left to local authorities in England to decide how it was spent. The system was so complex that some families lost hope of getting any help.
Source: Oversight of Special Education for Young People Aged 16-25, Seventieth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1636, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Disability Rights UK press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Feb
A study used a longitudinal study of young people in England to investigate the possible correlation between poor mental health and poor educational attainment. Programmes aimed at improving the mental health of adolescents might be very important for improving educational attainment and reducing the number of young people who were 'NEET'.
Source: Francesca Cornaglia, Elena Crivellaro, and Sandra McNally, Mental Health and Education Decisions, DP136, Centre for the Economics of Education (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb
A report summarized the findings by experts from a European network on the topic of policy interventions aimed at re-engaging young NEETs (aged 15-29).
Source: Jo Hawley, Anne-Mari Nevala, and Tina Weber, Recent Policy Developments Related to Those Not in Employment, Education and Training (NEETs), European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Feb
A report said that the coalition government's new 'Bursary Fund' was an 'unfair and totally inadequate' replacement for the education maintenance allowance. Lower levels of money and a lack of access to the fund – which was awarded partly on a discretionary basis – were both key factors that were forcing many young people to consider dropping out of education and training altogether due to financial hardship.
Source: Jane Evans, Staying the Course: Disadvantaged young people s experiences in the first term of the 16-19 Bursary Fund, Barnardo's
Links: Report | Barnardos press release | Labour Party press release | UCU press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Feb
The coalition government announced a new scheme targeted at young people aged 16-17 who were out of work and not in education or training – focusing on the 55,000 young people with no GCSE at grades A-C. Charities and businesses would be invited to bid for contracts worth up to £2,200 for every young person they helped into work or training. £126 million of new money would be made available for the scheme.
Source: Press release 21 February 2012, Cabinet Office
Links: Cabinet Office press release | DE press release | ALP press release | ATL press release | CBI press release | Centrepoint press release | CIPD press release | ERSA press release | Labour Party press release | NAHT press release | NAVCA press release | NUT press release | REC press release
Notes: GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education.
Date: 2012-Feb
A report said that the number of 'NEET' young people (not in employment, education or training) had been rising over the previous decade, since well before the latest economic crisis had begun, compounding fears that this was a long-term structural problem.
Source: Jack Britton, Paul Gregg, Lindsey Macmillan, and Sam Mitchell, The Early Bird Preventing young people from becoming a NEET statistic, Tomorrow's People
Links: Report | Summary | CMPO press release
Date: 2012-Jan
An annual report tracked how content young people were with their lives, and how confident they were about the future. It highlighted the finding that young people with lower school grades were more than twice as likely as others (26 per cent as against 10 per cent overall) to claim that their days 'lacked structure and direction' while growing up.
Source: The Prince s Trust Youth Index 2012, Prince's Trust
Links: Report | Summary | BBC report
Date: 2012-Jan
