Young people not in education, employment or training - Children, Schools and Families Committee Contents


Introduction

1.  The number of young people who choose to continue their education beyond the age of 16 has been rising steadily for a number of years. In 1985, 32% of 16-18 year olds in England were in full-time education; by the end of 2008, this figure had risen to 64.1%. But in spite of ever increasing levels of participation in education, the proportion of 16-18 year olds who are not in education, employment or training ("NEET") has fluctuated between 8 and 14% over the same period, with no discernible trend. The question of how to reduce the size of this group has attracted attention from policymakers, think tanks, the third sector and many others.

2.  Necessarily, in view of the impending general election, our own inquiry into this subject has had to be brief. We issued a call for written evidence on 30 October 2009, and our work has been greatly assisted by the nearly 70 written submissions we received in response. We held five oral evidence sessions early in 2010, and we are very grateful to all those who took part; a list is published at the end of this report. We also met informally with a group of young people who had been, or had been at risk of becoming, NEET in order to discuss their experiences; we are extremely grateful to them for their willingness to help us in our work. Our inquiry was also informed by a visit to the Netherlands, a country with consistently low rates of youth unemployment.

3.  We would like to extend our thanks to our Specialist Advisers for the inquiry, Professor Alan Smithers, Director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research, University of Buckingham, and Professor Geoff Whitty, Director of the Institute of Education, University of London.[1]

4.  Time has not allowed us to produce a full report on this subject. The scope of this matter is so broad that many of our other inquiries and reports are either directly or indirectly relevant. In particular, our recent report on Sure Start Children's Centres addresses the question of early intervention with young children at risk of becoming NEET later in life.[2] Our report on looked-after children addressed the needs of a group of young people disproportionately likely to become NEET.[3] We conducted pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Apprenticeships Bill, a measure designed to improve the provision for young people for whom classroom-based learning is not an attractive option.[4] In this report we hope to make a useful contribution to particular areas of the debate surrounding provision for 16-18 year olds who are already NEET.


1   Professor Geoff Whitty declared interests as Director of the Institute of Education, Member of Trustees, IFS School of Finance, Member of Trustees, University of London, and Member, Universities UK.  Back

2   Children, Schools and Families Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2009-10, Sure Start Children's Centres, HC 130-I Back

3   Children, Schools and Families Committee, Third Report of Session 2008-09, Looked-after Children, HC 111-I Back

4   Children, Schools and Families Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2007-08, The Draft Apprenticeships Bill, HC 1082 Back


 
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