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Research by The Prince's Trust
has found that many disadvantaged young people do not understand
how to go about improving the skills they need to achieve
their aims in life. However, they often have clear perceptions
of the barriers that hold them back, with 41% recognising
that a lack of qualifications stops them achieving their goals.
In 2000 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation carried out an in-depth
study of one disadvantaged neighbourhood, Willowdene in Teesside
in North East England, exploring the ways in which young people
grow up and get by in the context of social exclusion. For
a summary visit www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/030.asp.
The major review of research
on parental involvement in children's education carried
out by Charles Desforges included research on young people.
The Young Adults
Learning Partnership (YALP) was commissioned by the
National Research and Development Centre for adult literacy
and numeracy to undertake research and development work in
the field of basic skills and young adults. YALP is a joint
initiative of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education
and the National Youth Agency, and ran a project on "Success
factors in informal learning". The project ran until
March 2005, and its first phase consisted of a literature
review and a mapping of provision. It has now published its
final report, Success factors in
informal learning: young adults' experiences of literacy,
language and numeracy.
For more information, visit www.niace.org.uk/projects/successfactors.
This page also links to a list of resources suitable for use
with young people and available through the internet.
The Prince's Trust / Royal Bank of Scotland Group, 2003
Background to the study
This UK research study interviewed more than 900 14-25 year
olds, involving quantitative and qualitative methods, to explore
the aims and aspirations of disadvantaged young people, and
the obstacles that held them back from achieving their aims.
Four categories of young people were included: the unemployed,
educational underachievers, ex-offenders and serving prisoners
and those in or leaving care, aged 16-21. In practice, 62%
of the disadvantaged sample fell within more than one category.
A control group of young people who were not disadvantaged
were also included in the sample.
Aspirations
The findings showed that the aims and aspirations of disadvantaged
young people were very similar to the control group, although
do shift with maturity, and include having a family, an interesting
job, and sufficient money to support their lifestyle. However,
for many disadvantaged young people, there was a lack of understanding
as to how they would achieve their aims in life. The underlying
importance of having a home and family was important to the
majority of those interviewed: 82% cited either family or
having a nice home as one of their most important aspirations.
Barriers
Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds had clear perceptions
of the barriers that held them back from achieving their goals
and 41% identified that a lack of qualifications was a cause.
However, only 33% of educational underachievers recognised
that a lack of qualifications was an obstacle to their success.
The barriers identified were different for disadvantaged males
and females and the focus shifted with age. Females were more
likely to mention a lack of confidence, not having enough
experience and being a parent as holding them back, despite
enjoying the time spent with their children. Males were more
likely to mention bad behaviour. Some specific findings:
- 24 per cent of 22-25 year-old males said that drug, alcohol
or other substance abuse was an obstacle to achieving what
they want in life
- 38 per cent of disadvantaged males aged 18-21 said they
were most held back by a criminal record
- 45 per cent of those held back by drugs or other drug,
alcohol or other substance abuse were also held back by
a criminal record.
Specific personal barriers such as racism, bullying and harassment
were mentioned surprisingly infrequently.
Conclusions
The report concludes that any social intervention measures
need to recognise the common aspirations of all young people,
and work to tackle the barriers specific to socially excluded
young people. While disadvantaged young people are aware that
their poor educational achievement holds them back, they do
not fully understand the long-term implications of leaving
school without qualifications until they are much older and
therefore it is crucial that there are tangible incentives
to remain in education - the Government's 14-19 agenda is
much needed. Critical intervention points are when leaving
education, care, or prison; becoming a parent; losing a job;
getting a record or, in the case of young mums, returning
to work. Finally, young people want to be able to make their
own choices, so social services need to be able to provide
a range of options; however, the nature of the benefit system
greatly limits the options available.
Links:
More on the 14-19 curriculum
To read a more recent version of this report visit www.princes-trust.org.uk
(this link goes straight to the relevant page)
The Way It Is: young people
on race, school exclusion and leaving care April
2002
Summary
It's Like That: the views and hopes
of disadvantaged young people February 2001
To download a summary visit www.princes-trust.org.uk
(This link goes straight to the relevant page)
Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000
This is an in-depth study of one disadvantaged neighbourhood,
Willowdene in Teesside in North East England, exploring the
ways in which young people grow up and get by in the context
of social exclusion.
For a summary visit www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/030.asp
Education maintenance allowances offer 16 to 19-year-olds
from low-income households up to £30 per week to help
them stay in full time education. They were introduced in
pilot areas in 1999 and were extended nationally in 2004. For the DfES research Implementation of the education
maintenance allowance pilots: the third year, 2001/2002,
visit www.dfes.gov.uk/research
and run a keyword search on "education maintenance allowance".
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