Let’s make 2014 the year we make NEETs history

The latest report from Impetus – The Private Equity Foundation (Impetus – PEF) calls on the Government to take radical action in 2014 to make youth unemployment a thing of the past.  Why 2014?  It’s the year the millennium kids, those young people born in the year 2000 turn fourteen – an important year for them as they make choices about the GCSE’s they will study which can have a profound impact on their future career chances.  What advice and support the millennium kids receive this year is critical if we are to ensure they are adequately prepared to make a successful transition from education into work when their time comes to do so.

There are some scary statistics in the report, but maybe the starkest is the wage scaring effect of youth unemployment.  A young person who spends as little as six months unemployed before they reach twenty-four will on average earn less than their counterparts well into their forty’s.  A non-graduate young person who has been NEET will lose nearly £50,000 compared with another non-graduate who hasn’t been NEET and nearly £225,000 compared with a graduate.  A shocking £6.4 billion wages our millennium kids will lose.

So how do we reduce the risk of young people becoming NEET?  The report makes three recomendations that are all designed to tackle the structural causes of Britain’s NEET epidemic: create a Secretary of State for School to work transitions who will be responsible for building and realising the vision for Britain’s youth labour market and ensuring there is a clear line of responsibility for making NEETS history.  Second the report calls for changes to the pupil premium, making schools more accountable for disadvantaged student’s post-education destinations not just their academic attainment.  Third the report recommends ofsted be charged with holding schools to account for their efforts to produce school leavers who are ready to work.

Neither the report nor its recommendations will come as much of a shock to those working with young people either inside or outside of school.  We can predict with high levels of accuracy those young people who are most at risk of dropping out of education, the risk factors are well documented and understood.  Yet the links between education and work readiness are often ignored.  If we are to reverse the youth unemployment trend policy must not only focus on those who are already NEET, but also on what experiences, qualifications and skills are fourteen, fifteen and sixteen year olds require whilst at school to prepare them for employment.  Let’s make 2014 the year we act, we owe to our millennium kids – let’s make NEETs history.

School to work transition: lessons from Australia

With support from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, earlier this year I undertook a traveling fellowship to Australia looking at what we could learn about how they prepare young people for the world of work. Historically the Australian system of education and vocational training was modelled on that in the UK but, whilst we had a significant dip in Apprenticeship numbers during the 80s and 90s, their buoyant economy has seen considerable growth and innovation.

Here are seven lessons we could learn from our Australian counterparts:

1. We  should make employer’s needs more central to the vocational training and Apprenticeship system. In Australia although some money still goes to the training provider, most of the financial support for Apprentices is aimed at employers. As recommended in the Richard Review, the bulk of skills funding in the UK should go to employers, so that they can then invest in the training provider of their choice.

2. We  should use other financial incentives sparing and to encourage the employment of disadvantaged groups, including 16/17 year olds, young people with disabilities and, in some professions, young people of underrepresented gender/ethnicity. In Australia there is a complicated system of financial support, which at first sight appears very attractive (http://www.australianapprenticeships.gov.au/).  However, over time they have come to be seen as entitlements and a review by Deloitte seemed to show that they had very little incentivising power.

3. We should develop the system of group training organisations, so that in industries where there is a high turnover of employees, e.g. construction,  Apprentices can be passed between host companies more easily.  In Australia, about 10% of Apprentices are now employed through a group training organisation (http://www.grouptraining.com.au/).  They provide a particularly attractive option for employers who find it difficult to add additional permanent employees to their headcount or who simply want more support.

4. Progression planning should begin much earlier, with the first conversations about the world of work starting in primary school and occurring regularly thereafter. By the time young people enter Key Stage 4, they should have clear post-16 pathways mapped out and be clear how to get there. In Australia they ensure this by establishing links between schools and businesses, so that young people and teachers have access to industry knowledge. In the UK, all young people, and particularly those who come from workless families, need to have access to engagement opportunities with employees, work skills training and workplace experiences.

5. We should provide more support for young people to stay in school and improve their behaviour and attendance. In Australia I saw the work of the Beacon Foundation (http://beaconfoundation.com.au/), which aims to help young people make informed, high aspiration decisions about their future pathways. High quality pastoral support from a school-based tutor/mentor, backed up by life skills development and access to a network of specialist support, is the best way of ensuring all young people leave with the best possible achievements.

6. We should explore the options for School/College-Based Apprenticeships, perhaps within a ‘TechBacc’ framework, so that young people are able to start high quality work-related learning earlier. Although the UK’s Young Apprenticeship programme was stopped following the recommendations of the Wolf Review, in some Australian states it has provided a high quality alternative route to employment. It may also enable young people to tap into the growing part-time job market and, if paid, offset recent reductions in financial support for 16-19 year olds.

7. The proposed new system of Traineeships should provide high quality pre-Apprenticeship training for young people who are not yet work-ready.    The current foundation learning offer should be enriched to be more like the  Australian approach, which includes qualifications more directly leading into Apprenticeship opportunities and some real, paid work experience.

Kevin Munday is the ThinkForward Programme Development Manager at Private Equity Foundation.

The youth unemployment crisis

 

The latest figures out today show that there has been a slight fall in the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).  However, now is not the time to be complacent, the figures are still very high.  Today we launch a small scale piece of research which examines what would improve the employment rate for young people.  We would love to hear from others about your experiences of what steps need to be taken to help, particularly the most vunerable young people into secure sustained employment.

Download the full report here

The report was undertaken pro bono for PEF and examines what would improve the employment rate of young people, and particularly within small and medium enterprises. It recognises the practical issues faced by education providers and employers alike in the context of economic stringency, and offers pragmatic recommendations to improve the supply of suitably qualified young people to the workplace.

It considers that both education providers and businesses alike fail to fully understand on a regular basis ‘what is really needed’ in order for young people to successfully gain employment. Despite sincere motives, some employers are poorly informed about what schools actually achieve; some schools are poorly informed about what prospective employers are looking for.

The report recommends that the drive for achieving effective progression to work is the primary responsibility of schools and colleges and that:

  • Government should be clearer to schools that they have the option to retain work experience for 14-16 year olds
  • OfSTED should include a specific focus the effectiveness of the preparation made by schools for its students to succeed in the workplace, and on the scope and impact of their liaison with their local business community.
  • The PEF ThinkForward model of a ‘consistent professional ‘should be applied to support those vulnerable young people who are looking for employment
  • Local authorities should be reminded of their opportunities to create employment for young people through their procurement practices

Alan Lazell is a freelance education professional. He has extensive senior management experience at divisional director level in a local authority, with a particular emphasis upon 14-19 issues.