A paper examined the relative importance of local labour market conditions and pupil educational attainment as primary determinants of the post-compulsory schooling decision. The key drivers of the schooling decision were found to be pupil educational attainment and parental aspirations rather than local labour market conditions.
Source: Elena Meschi, Joanna Swaffield, and Anna Vignoles, The Relative Importance of Local Labour Market Conditions and Pupil Attainment on Post-Compulsory Schooling Decisions, Discussion Paper 6143, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the analytical and empirical basis of knowledge concerning 'NEETs' (young people not in education, employment, or training), in the light of more general conceptualizations of social exclusion and the individualization of social risk. The research evidence showed that individualized approaches based on the personal and cultural characteristics of NEETs were inadequate to understand this group and to frame policy. It was necessary to recognize the basis of NEET issues in wider social inequalities.
Source: Ron Thompson, 'Individualisation and social exclusion: the case of young people not in education, employment or training', Oxford Review of Education, Volume 37 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
A rapid review concluded that the most effective approaches to re-engaging young people not in education, employment or training ('NEETs') were those that: were supported by funding and a commitment to a reduction in youth unemployment; adopted a 'whole-area' approach to planning and delivery, backed by political commitment; and involved young people, together with employers and local businesses, in strategic development, implementation, and review.
Source: Julie Nelson, Strategies to Re-Engage Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training: A rapid review, Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Dec
A report presented the preliminary results of research into the situation of young people in Europe, focusing specifically on those who were not in employment, education or training. It explored the economic and social consequences of their disengagement from the labour market and education.
Source: Young People and NEETs in Europe: First findings, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Dec
Researchers examined the early educational and labour market transitions made by young people aged 16-19. It compared the outcomes of those who initially took jobs without training with those who initially took jobs with training.
Source: Claire Crawford, Kathryn Duckworth, Anna Vignoles, and Gill Wyness, Young people?s Education and Labour Market Choices Aged 16/17 to 18/19, Research Report RR182, Department for Education
Date: 2011-Dec
A paper said that the existing funding and delivery model for apprenticeships was 'dysfunctional'. A 'substantial proportion' of apprenticeship funding was being swallowed up by the bureaucratic processes needed to account for it.
Source: Hilary Steedman, Apprenticeship Policy in England: Increasing skills versus boosting young people?s job prospects, PA013, Centre for Economic Performance (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Dec
The coalition government published a cross-departmental strategy designed to maximize the participation of young people aged 16-24 in education, training, and work. Five priorities for action were:
• Raising attainment in school and beyond to ensure that young people had the skills they needed to compete in a global economy.
• Helping local partners to provide effective and co-ordinated services that supported all young people.
• Encouraging employers to offer more high-quality apprenticeships and work experience places.
• Ensuring that work paid, and giving young people the personalized support they needed to find it.
• Putting in place a new 'youth contract' with £1 billion funding over three years to help get young people into education or work.
Source: Building Engagement, Building Futures: Our strategy to maximise the participation of 16-24 year olds in education, training and work, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills/Department for Education/Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Strategy | Hansard | DBIS press release | DE press release | Conservative Party press release | Barnardos press release | Catch22 press release | Labour Party press release | NCB press release | NIACE press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Dec
A report examined the geographical distribution of young people not in education, training or employment (NEETs). It identified 'blackspots' where as many as 1 in 4 young people were NEET. Without targeted action to address the problem of NEETs in these places there was a real danger that a generation of young people, often those living in towns and cities that were already less economically successful, would face long-term problems in the labour market. Both national and local government needed to focus their efforts on young people in these cities.
Source: Neil Lee and Jonathan Wright, Off the Map? The geography of NEETs, Private Equity Foundation
Links: Report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2011-Nov
A report said that the coalition government's reforms aimed at tackling worklessness and benefit dependency prioritized young people only from the age of 18, whereas opportunities for those aged 16-17 to acquire the skills needed for work were rapidly declining. It highlighted the barriers faced by some young people seeking to progress through post-16 education, training, and employment. It outlined cost-effective solutions that could break intergenerational cycles of worklessness.
Source: Jessica Cundy (with Ritu Patwari), Levelling the Playing Field: Achieving social mobility for 16 and 17-year-olds, Barnardo's
Links: Report | Summary | Barnardos press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A think-tank report said that between 2007 and 2010 an average of almost 50 per cent of pupils in cities left the education system without good grades in GCSE maths and English. This had implications both for young people's own futures and for the economies of the cities in which they lived.
Source: Paul Swinney and Naomi Clayton, Learning Curve: Schooling and skills for future jobs, Centre for Cities
Links: Report | Centre for Cities press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Nov
A report said that 1 in 8 young people with an advanced level apprenticeship (broadly equivalent to A-level) had gone on to higher education – more than double the number previously thought. Students who entered higher education having completed an advanced level apprenticeship were more likely to live in disadvantaged areas than HE students generally.
Source: Sharon Smith and Hugh Joslin, Apprentice Progression Tracking Research Project Report: Longitudinal tracking of advanced level apprentice cohorts progressing into higher education 2005-06 to 2009-10, Centre for Work-Based Learning/ University of Greenwich
Links: Report | University of Greenwich press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A think-tank report examined ways of strengthening the role of apprenticeships in society and the economy, how to create more and better apprenticeships, and what an institutional framework for flourishing apprenticeships would look like. If designed properly, apprenticeships could have an important role to play in helping to tackle youth unemployment. To support disadvantaged groups, the government should consider funding more pre-apprenticeship training to help young people reach the level needed for entry into an apprenticeship programme. In England, the state provided a 'feeble' regulatory framework, largely leaving it to the market to determine the demand for and quality of apprenticeships – the inverse of the European social partnership model that underpinned strong apprenticeship systems.
Source: Tony Dolphin and Tess Lanning (eds.), Rethinking Apprenticeships, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
A paper examined the purposes of vocational qualifications, and considered whether they were fit for those purposes. It said that judging the validity of vocational qualifications was much more complicated than envisioned: the purposes of vocational qualifications had expanded and also varied for different stakeholders
Source: Cathy Stasz, The Purposes and Validity of Vocational Qualifications, Research Paper 105, Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (Cardiff and Oxford Universities)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Nov
Researchers examined what types of firms engaged with the apprenticeship programme, and sought to identify whether there were key determinants of firms' engagement with the programme that might be susceptible to policy intervention.
Source: Steven McIntosh, Jin Wenchao, and Anna Vignoles, Firms Engagement with the Apprenticeship Programme, Research Report RR180, Department for Education
Date: 2011-Nov
An article compared the development in apprenticeship training in England with that in other European countries, particularly Germany. In both countries, the apprenticeship system displayed high levels of gender segregation. Attempts to improve and expand apprenticeships in England, including tackling occupational segregation, were unfolding in a climate of severe economic recession and public finance restraint.
Source: Jim Campbell, Emily Thomson, and Hartwig Pautz, 'Apprenticeship training in England: closing the gap?', Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Volume 19 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on participation by young people in education and training. It accepted that the abolition of the education maintenance allowance had happened 'relatively quickly', resulting in 'some uncertainty'.
Source: Participation by 16-19 Year Olds in Education and Training: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report, Eighth Special Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1572, House of Commons Education Select Committee, TSO
Links: Response | NASUWT press release
Notes: MPs report (July 2011)
Date: 2011-Oct
Two research reports examined the implementation and outcomes of new diploma qualifications for young people (2008-2010). Learners appeared generally satisfied with their diploma course: but there was some evidence to suggest that it had not always met expectations. The majority of pre-16 diploma learners had progressed to post-16 education destinations.
Source: Tami McCrone, Sarah Lynch, Clare Southcott, Kelly Kettlewell, and Gill Haynes, National Evaluation of Diplomas: Cohort 2 – The Second Year, Research Report RR166, Department for Education | Sarah Lynch, Kelly Kettlewell, Clare Southcott, and Tami McCrone, Outcomes for the First Cohort of Diploma Learners, Research Report RR162, Department for Education
Links: Report (1) | Brief | Report (2) | Brief
Date: 2011-Oct
A study examined young people's aspirations in deprived urban areas. It challenged the view that low aspirations among young people and their families in disadvantaged areas explained their educational and work outcomes. Barriers to achievement varied significantly among deprived areas, and policy to increase social mobility needed to be tailored accordingly. Better information was required to support young people in understanding how schooling, post-compulsory education, and work fitted together.
Source: Keith Kintrea, Ralf St Clair, and Muir Houston, The Influence of Parents, Places and Poverty on Educational Attitudes and Aspirations, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2011-Oct
A study found 'little evidence' to support the hypothesis that offering vocational options in year 10 (at age 15) could help improve levels of educational engagement and subsequent outcomes among young people disengaged from education. Disengaged young people who reported following vocational courses did not differ from those who chose not to take these courses in terms of their subsequent engagement or destinations.
Source: Andy Ross, Rosie Green, Vicky Brown, Kevin Pickering, Ingrid Schoon, and Anna Vignoles, The Impact of KS4 Vocational Courses on Disengaged Young People's Engagement with Education 15-18, Research Report RR165, Department for Education
Date: 2011-Oct
The coalition government began consultation on a framework for post-16 educational studies (following recommendations by the Wolf review). All students under 19 who did not have GCSE qualifications (at grades A-C) in English and/or maths would be required as part of the programme to take a course that either led directly to those qualifications or provided significant progress towards them.
Source: Study Programmes for 16-19 Year Olds, Department for Education/Young People s Learning Agency
Links: Consultation document | DE press release
Date: 2011-Oct
A new book examined the experiences of young people attending a work-based learning programme for those who were not in education or employment. It critically appraised the social, economic, and political context; and it challenged conventional stereotypes of the 'NEETs' as dysfunctional and lacking aspiration.
Source: Robin Simmons and Ron Thompson, NEET Young People Training for Work: Learning on the margins, Trentham Books
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Sep
A report examined how apprenticeships could be better used to tackle the problem of youth unemployment.
Source: Learning a Living: A research report into apprenticeships and reducing youth unemployment, Working Links
Links: Report | Working Links press release
Date: 2011-Aug
A report by a committee of MPs said that there had been an overall improvement in the educational achievements of young people aged 16-18 over the previous 4 years. Students in larger providers had generally achieved better results. Smaller providers, by collaborating, could achieve some of the benefits of size, including economies of scale and improvements to quality and choice. But the competitive market in which providers operated could be a barrier to collaboration. The report also called on the coalition government to assess how participation in education would be affected by the proposed abolition of the education maintenance allowance.
Source: Getting Value for Money from the Education of 16- to 18- Year-Olds, Forty-second Report (2010-12), HC 1116, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | UCU press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Aug
A report examined the scale and nature of the problem of early school leaving in the European Union. It looked in detail at how member countries were trying to tackle the problem; and it identified the characteristics of effective policies, leading to a range of recommendations for action at European and national level.
Source: GHK Consulting, Anne-Mari Nevala, and Jo Hawley, Reducing Early School Leaving in the EU, Committee on Education and Culture, European Parliament
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Aug
An article examined young people's occupational aspirations, transitions to employment, and the antecedents of 'NEET' (not in employment, education or training) status. Young people with uncertain occupational aspirations or ones misaligned with their educational expectations were considerably more likely to become NEET by age 18. Uncertainty and misalignment were both more widespread and more detrimental for those from poorer backgrounds.
Source: Scott Yates, Angel Harris, Ricardo Sabates, and Jeremy Staff, 'Early occupational aspirations and fractured transitions: a study of entry into "NEET" status in the UK', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 40 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the coalition government allocated funding for student support for 2011-12 for young people aged 16-18 far too late to allow students to make informed decisions. The government should have done more to acknowledge the impact of the (abolished) educational maintenance allowance on participation, attainment, and retention before it decided how to restructure financial support.
Source: Participation by 16-19 Year Olds in Education and Training, Fourth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 850, House of Commons Education Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Evidence | Additional written evidence | Labour Party press release | NAHT press release | NUS press release | UCU press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Jul
A report examined how effectively local areas were developing and implementing their approaches to the prospective extension (by 2015) of compulsory participation in education/training to those aged 18.
Source: ISOS Partnership, Evaluation of the Phase 2 Raising the Participation Age Trials – Final Report, Research Report RR135, Department for Education
Date: 2011-Jun
Three reports examined implementation of the new diploma qualification for young people aged 14-19 in England.
Source: Sarah Golden, Tami McCrone, Pauline Wade, Gill Featherstone, Clare Southcott, Kelly Evans, and Gill Haynes, National Evaluation of Diplomas: Cohort 1 – The Second Year, Research Report RR125, Department for Education | Tami McCrone, Pauline Wade, Gill Featherstone, Clare Southcott, Sarah Golden, and Gill Haynes, National Evaluation of Diplomas: Cohort 2 – The First Year of Delivery, Research Report RR126, Department for Education | Gill Featherstone, Clare Southcott, and Sarah Lynch, Evaluation of the Implementation and Impact of the Diplomas: Cohort 3 Report – Findings from the 2010 Consortium Lead and Pupil Surveys, Research Report RR127, Department for Education
Links: Report 125 | Brief | Report 126 | Brief | Report 127 | Brief
Date: 2011-Jun
The final report was published of a project to find out how more young people in Europe who had spent all or part of their childhood in state care could be encouraged and enabled to remain in education after the end of compulsory schooling and go on to study at higher levels. Around 8 per cent of young people who had been in care as children accessed higher education – about one-fifth of the percentage for young people overall. All five countries examined (including England) showed a remarkably similar pattern, despite marked differences in the organization of social care and child protection services, and very different education systems The child welfare/protection system needed to award education a more central and prioritized status in relation to care and transition processes for leaving care.
Source: Sonia Jackson and Claire Cameron, Young People from a Public Care Background: Pathways to Further and Higher Education in Five European Countries – Final report of the YiPPEE project WP12, Thomas Coram Research Unit (University of London)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
The coalition government announced that it had accepted all the recommendations of the Wolf review of vocational education. All young people would study maths and English to age 18 until they had obtained a good qualification in them – ideally a 'C' grade or better at GCSE. League tables and funding rules would be amended to remove 'perverse incentives' that had devalued vocational education.
Source: Wolf Review of Vocational Education: Government Response, Department for Education
Links: Response to Wolf | Hansard | DE press release | Downing Street press release | Conservative Party press release | ALP press release | AOC press release | ASCL press release | ATL press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | People Management report
Notes: Wolf report (March 2011)
Date: 2011-May
A report examined the transition of young adults with disabilities from school to tertiary education and work in developed countries. Access to tertiary education had improved significantly over the previous decade: but it was still harder than it was for other young adults. Students with disabilities were also less likely than their non-disabled peers to successfully complete their studies, or to access employment.
Source: Education and Training Policy Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Tertiary Education and Employment, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-May
A report said that the government needed to be more imaginative about the opportunities it provided to young people not in education, employment or training ('NEET'). A lack of imaginative policy thinking in this area was partly driven by a limited understanding of the NEET phenomenon, its causes, and potential solutions. Only 1 per cent of young people aged 16-18 were continuously NEET between those ages. A large percentage of young people who 'churned' in and out of the NEET category needed the same opportunity to have positive experiences that built skills and confidence, connecting them to further opportunities.
Source: Matt Grist and Phillida Cheetham, Experience Required, Demos
Date: 2011-May
A study found that educational attainments at the end of the compulsory schooling stage were powerful predictors for post-compulsory educational choices in England. Achieving the government's 'gold standard' in GCSE was a 'highly significant causal effect' when young people chose between the academic or vocational pathway.
Source: William Collier, Javier Valbuena, and Yu Zhu, What Determines Post-Compulsory Educational Choice? Evidence from the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England, Discussion Paper 11/12, School of Economics, University of Kent
Links: Paper
Notes: GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education.
Date: 2011-May
A report examined the 'critical differences' between apprenticeships and higher education, and how the two pathways could best complement each other.
Source: Apprenticeships and Higher Education: Good sound-bites, bad policy making, Centre for Innovation in Learning (Learning and Skills Network)
Date: 2011-May
A report highlighted the need for education and careers information, advice, and guidance that responded to the changing needs of young people and the economy.
Source: Lauren Kahn with Mary Abdo, Sarah Hewes, Bethia McNeil, and Will Norman, The Way to Work: Young people speak out on transitions to employment, The Youth of Today
Links: Report
Date: 2011-May
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that some girls were receiving weak careers education, which was making it difficult for them to make properly informed choices about courses and careers.
Source: Girls' Career Aspirations, HMI 090239, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
Links: Report | OFSTED press release
Date: 2011-Apr
A think-tank report said that youth unemployment was likely to remain at 20 per cent without major improvements to the education system. It recommended ways to improve access to the labour market for the 'forgotten half' of young people who did not go to university. These included technical education such as apprenticeships; cultivation of soft skills; improved literacy and numeracy; and experience of work itself. Schools should provide access to a professionalized careers service, and move away from a focus on academic skills: they should also be more open to local community involvement, including local businesses.
Source: Jonathan Birdwell, Matt Grist, and Julia Margo, The Forgotten Half, Demos
Links: Report | Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Mar
The report of an independent review examined how vocational education for young people aged 14-19 could be improved in order to promote successful progression into the labour market and higher-level education and training routes. Many young people were on courses that the league table systems encouraged, but which led children into 'dead-ends'. They were not being told the truth about the consequences of their choice of qualification. High-quality apprenticeships were too rare, and an increasing proportion were being offered to older people rather than teenagers.
Source: Alison Wolf, Review of Vocational Education: The Wolf Report, Department for Education
Links: Report | Hansard | DE press release | Conservative Party press release | AOC press release | ASCL press release | ATL press release | Barnardos press release | BCC press release | ISC press release | Labour Party press release | NASUWT press release | NIACE press release | NUT press release | TUC press release | UCU press release | Unionlearn press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2011-Mar
A report presented the findings from the second in a series of three surveys investigating higher education institutions' views and experiences of diplomas for young people aged 14-19.
Source: Gill Haynes and William Richardson, Evaluation of the Implementation and Impact of Diplomas: Findings from the 2009/10 survey of higher education institutions, Research Report RR093, Department for Education
Date: 2011-Mar
The interim evaluation was published of the European Union 'Youth in Action' programme, aimed at building capacities through non-formal education. The programme was reaching its objectives: but there was room for improvement, especially in relation to the rationale of the programme.
Source: Andrew McCoshan et al., Youth in Action: Interim Evaluation – Final Report, European Commission
Date: 2011-Mar
An audit report said that increases in expenditure on education for young people aged 16-18 had been matched by improvements in students' achievements and increasing participation in education. But there was still too much variation in the arrangements for accountability, performance monitoring, and intervention where poor performance existed.
Source: Getting Value for Money from the Education of 16- to 18-Year-Olds, HC 823 (Session 2010-11), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | AOC press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Mar
The government began consultation on a new £180 million bursary scheme in England to help the most vulnerable young people aged 16-19 to continue in full-time education. The scheme was made up of two parts – a guaranteed payment to a small group of the most vulnerable young people, and a discretionary fund for schools and colleges to distribute. Around 12,000 people would be given guaranteed bursaries of £1,200 per year – made up of children in care, care leavers, and those claiming income support (such as teenage parents). Schools and colleges could distribute the rest of the money to support any student who faced genuine financial barriers to participation such as costs of transport, food, or equipment.
Source: Financial Support for 16 to 19 Year Olds in Education or Training, Department for Education
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | DE press release | AOC press release | ASCL press release | ATL press release | Catch22 press release | Centrepoint press release | IFS press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NPI press release | NUS press release | NUT press release | UCU press release | UNISON press release | YPLA press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Notes: The new bursary scheme was designed to replace educational maintenance allowances, on which annual spending was around £560 million.
Date: 2011-Mar
Researchers evaluated pilots designed to help re-engage young people (aged 16 or 17) not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Financial incentives, such as the weekly payment made to young people, acted as a powerful engagement tool.
Source: Sue Maguire and Becci Newton, Activity Agreement Pilots: Trialling different approaches to re-engaging young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) – Evaluation of the 2009-10 extension, Research Report RR086 , Department for Education
Date: 2011-Feb
The European Commission approved an action plan designed to help member states achieve the 2020 headline target of reducing the European Union average rate of early school leavers to under 10 per cent, from the existing level of 14.4 per cent.
Source: Tackling Early School Leaving: A key contribution to the Europe 2020 agenda, European Commission
Links: Action plan | Working paper | European Commission press release
Date: 2011-Jan
A briefing paper examined issues relating to young people in Northern Ireland aged 16-25 who were not in employment, education or training.
Source: Goretti Horgan, Ann Marie Gray, and Clare Conlon, Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training, ARK (Queen's University Belfast/University of Ulster)
Links: Briefing
Date: 2011-Jan
The Welsh Assembly Government responded to a report by an Assembly Committee on young people not in education, employment or training.
Source: Welsh Assembly Government Response to the Enterprise and Learning Committee's Recommendations in the Report: Young People not in Education, Employment or Training, Welsh Assembly Government
Links: Response
Notes: Report
Date: 2011-Jan