Addressing the Problem of Youth Unemployment and Disaffection in the UK Essay

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Reaching out to Address the Needs of NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) Adolescents

This paper will provide an overview of the phenomenon of youth unemployment and measures to address it. Coping with the needs of NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) adolescents requires the use of a variety of interventions, spanning from more effective solutions to address truancy; social support for disaffected youths and their parents; and creating a more effective job preparation curriculum within the educational system.

Categories of NEET adolescents

Truancy and NEET

Programs to Address the NEET Problem

Structural Issues

This paper will provide an overview of the problem of disaffected and unemployed youth and the various programs and methods that have arisen to address this issue. Recent economic instability has increased the number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET), despite longstanding attempts to rectify this problem within the United Kingdom. One of the reasons for this is the complexity of the reasons for unemployment, spanning from membership in an economically disadvantaged family with few positive role models of economic success to psychological detachment to job loss. What is clear is the devastating impact of unemployment early in a young person's vocational career. According to the 2009 research study Tackling the NEETs Problem: "Research shows that disengagement at this age is disastrous in personal terms." Unemployed young people are more apt to engage in criminal activities and/or become permanently dependent upon welfare (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009).

Despite the economic recovery within some sectors, youth unemployment has risen. At the beginning of 2015 it was reported that "the number of people aged 16-24 who are not in full-time education or employment has increased by 8,000 ... With 498,000 in that age group without a job, an analysis by the House of Commons library for Labour shows that young people now fare comparatively worse than at any point since 1992" (Boffey 2015). From the January-March period of 2015, "just under half (46%) of all young people in the UK who were NEET were looking for work and available for work and therefore classified as unemployed" (Palmer 2015). This indicates that many NEET adolescents have given up actively looking for employment due to disaffection or discouragement with their vocational prospects. Addressing the problem requires a combination of both educational and sociological interventions to address the economic and psychological consequences of systemic unemployment.

Categories of NEET adolescents

According to a NFER analysis of Youth Cohort Study data, three essential categories exist within the NEET demographic, all of which demand different approaches to rectifying the problems which affect them (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009, p. 3). The first group, the "open to learning" subset (41%) may have made poor choices and dropped out but are eager to attain new qualifications and improve their circumstances (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009, p. 3). The second, the so-called "undecided" (22%) are floundering because they are uncertain of their career paths: "Typically they exhibit negative attitudes to school and the provision now available to them and often they appear to lack the resilience or skills to access suitable opportunities" even though they may not be permanently disaffected from society (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009, p. 3). The most difficult to reach are the "sustained" (38%) who are "coming from deprived backgrounds, no recent history of employment; [have] low educational attainment; and very negative experiences of school, including a record of truanting in many cases" (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009, p. 3).

The divisions into these different classifications suggests that while proactive educational support and job training may benefit more committed students suffering from disaffection and employment, psychological counseling and outreach may be required for those from families with more entrenched social alienation. However, other research has indicated that there are general trends which may impact NEET status. Another study found "the chief reasons for 16- to 18-year-olds NEET are often given as poor relationships with institutions in general (schools) or their ages (teachers); the perceived irrelevance of the curriculum or social problems, for example: SEN, personal difficulties and bullying" (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009, p. 12).

Truancy and NEET

Truancy is one of the surest predictors that a young person will fall into NEET status, particularly those characterized as sustained unemployed. "Just 35% of pupils who miss a month or more of lessons in primary or secondary school each year manage to achieve five GCSEs at grade C or above, including English and maths ...

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just 3% of teenagers who miss more than half of school achieve such results" (Shepherd 2015). In an effort to reduce the truancy problem in many districts, more than 150 schools in England have employed School Home Support workers "to identify pupils with low attendance records and play surrogate parent to them ... Unlike teachers, who are confined to the classroom and playground" support workers can engage with children "in their homes, checking they are ready for school in the mornings and that they have done their homework and are in bed at a sensible hour" (Shepherd 2015). The use of social workers to provide such intensive support is a departure from using punitive sanctions such as fining parents for truancy (Taylor 2012). Critics of the punitive policy suggest this simply alienates parents even more from the educational system and its goals.

Programs to Address the NEET Problem

One program designed to engage NEETs is the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) which provides at-risk young people with small stipends if they make progress in finding employment or embark upon educational opportunities. "Some 20% and 45% of the total cohort of 'long-term' NEETs" are represented within the program" (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009, p.5). Young people report being initially drawn by the financial incentives, but some have found engagement and success thanks to the activities offered. "Having skilled and motivating advisers, who are engaged in 1-to-1 relationships with participants, can also be critical in maintaining their commitment" (Tackling the NEETs Problem, 2009, p.5). As with the anti-truancy program, having personal and sustained attention and mentorship of at-risk individuals has been found to be particularly effective.

For students whose educational paths diverge from the conventional path of secondary school to university, further education (FE) colleges have traditionally filled this gap. Unfortunately, budget cuts have slashed funding for this critical bridge from NEET status to employment for many young people. "Since 2009, England and Wales's Further Education (FE) colleges have been drastically hacked back, and they now face truly hair-raising economies. Reliable estimates suggest that funding for the vital post-18 courses taken by thousands of people at FE institutions every year is currently being cut by around 24%" (Harris 2015). FE colleges enable students to turn their lives around given that it is estimated that as much as 40% all UK students depart school without five GCSEs (Harris 2015). The FE schools enable them to rectify their inadequacies and without such support, many will flounder, critics of cutbacks fear (Harris 2015).

Structural Issues

However, simply focusing on providing support for adolescents themselves to attend school is not enough, many contend, and does not address the systemic poverty that in particular keeps the most entrenched members of the NEET subset jobless. One reason for the rise in unemployment statistics, is the increasingly large gap between the wealthiest and the poorest members of society within the UK. "High-income households are projected to see their incomes rise 11 times as quickly as low-income households" (Boffey 2015). In the long run, income disparities hurt the overall economy, given the creation of an underemployed working class without the skills to thrive or the ability to engage in consumption. "The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development calculated that increasing income inequality since 1985 in the UK had reduced growth in the 1990s by 9%. Over a longer period it claims that British GDP would have grown by 7% had income inequality been at the same level as in France" (Steer 2015).

Research also indicates that there may be a disconnect between the curriculum's emphasis on liberal arts and the growing need for students with proficiency in the sciences. "A report by Centre for Cities suggest there is a correlation between youth unemployment and poor GCSE results in Maths and English" (Pettinger 2012). Although unemployment rates are high, according to employers there is often a disconnect between their needs and the skill levels of available young people. "Employers tell us that 1 in 5 of all job vacancies in the UK economy today are hard to fill because of a shortage of skilled and experienced workers" (Catch 16-24, 2014, p.6).

This indicates that the problem with unemployment may not purely be psychological amongst young people but may have profound structural roots in the nation's educational system. "Structural unemployment results when workers possess skills that aren't.....

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