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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