Services for young people

Memorandum submitted by the Institute of Education, University of London

1. The remit of this inquiry is extremely broad, encompassing services that are provided by schools, Local Authorities, the voluntary sector and the private sector. Across the country similar services may be available through different types of provider. The nature, purpose and aims of these services are also very varied.

2. A widely accepted framework for out-of-school activities in the UK covers three key areas:

· curriculum extending activities, which support delivery of the mainstream curriculum (e.g. homework clubs, revision activities and subject-based activities such as ‘maths clinic’);

· enriching activities, which encourage development of pupils’ own interests outside of the formal curriculum (e.g. arts activities, chess, sports); and

· enabling activities, which help young people to access the curriculum (e.g. literacy clubs, community activities, life-skills and team-working activities) (DfEE, 1998).

3. Some services will simply be concerned with enriching the lives of young people and providing them with opportunities to develop a wide range of skills. Other services play an essential educational role without which young people would not be able to pursue particular careers – most notably, high level musical ensembles and sporting activities. In the case of music, school provision alone cannot develop in pupils the skills necessary for further study. These young people must access locally provided activities, which in turn feed into, for example, youth orchestras. Another group of services serve a crucial role in supporting at risk young people (e.g. Kids Company). Such services can make the difference between these young people being able to lead a productive life or one characterised by dependency on a range of state-funded services. A further group of services support children who are experiencing challenges in their home lives, such as young carers.

4. Research from the United States suggests that strong and positive effects on young people’s emotional well-being, behavioural adjustment and school attainment may be fostered through engagement with out-of-school activities (NSBA, 2005; Durlak and Weissberg, 2007). Extracurricular activities, offering supportive and safe contexts for the development of skills, meet needs that schools often cannot; they may even have as much bearing on pupil success as activities undertaken during the school day (Miller, 2003). Barber et al. (2000) suggest that participation in extracurricular activities has far-reaching effects, impacting on lifelong learning and wider life choices. Engagement in out-of-school arts activities has been found to nurture cognitive, social and emotional competence (AEP, 1999), while participants in after-school sports activities have been found to benefit in terms of health and well-being (Mahoney et al., 2005).

5. For young people participating in musical groups, there are particular benefits. Involvement in musical groups promotes friendships with like-minded others; self-confidence; social skills; social networking; a sense of belonging; team work; self-discipline; a sense of accomplishment; co-operation; responsibility; commitment; mutual support; bonding to meet group goals; and increased concentration. It also provides an outlet for relaxation (Hallam, 2006).

6. Similar benefits are found within sport. For disaffected young people there is evidence to suggest that organized sport programmes can contribute to reducing youth crime by giving young people a positive identity and feelings of empowerment, and by helping them acquire leadership, teamwork and self-governance skills under adult supervision (Jamieson and Ross, 2007).

7. While out-of-school hours provision can offer valuable opportunities for young people, provision can have a negligible impact on participants – and may even pose risks for them – if staff are not appropriately trained (Mahoney et al., 2004). Workforce development is important in ensuring the high quality of provision.

8. The diversity of services offered requires staff with very different skills. For some services staff will need high levels of expertise in a particular domain. In other cases staff will not need high levels of subject expertise but training in working with children and young people. Young people at risk require a caring environment and personal supportive attention from staff that enables relationships to develop. These young people also require opportunities to be successful (Hallam and Rogers, 2008).

9. A further issue is the accessibility of facilities and high quality tuition. While large urban conurbations tend to provide a variety of opportunities this is not the case in smaller towns and rural areas. To take the example of music, while there may be opportunities to learn to play a wide range of instruments in cities where there are Arts Council Regularly Funded Organisations and therefore musicians available to teach, in much of the country such opportunities are not available unless they are provided through Local Authority services.

10. The devolution of funding to schools creates problems for the provision of services for children and young people who attend a number of different schools or colleges. In some areas of England, for instance Greater London, there may be issues for young people who are educated outside of their Local Authority and how they access services. Barriers to participation, including cost and transport, will also be of concern to young people and their families: funding for this may be critical.

December 2010

References

AEP (1999) 'The arts and after-school programmes'. Arts Educational Partnership; http://www.arts.gov/pub/ArtsAfterSchool/artsedpub.html (Accessed 4 December 2010).

Barber, B., Eccles, J. & Stone, M. (2000) Whatever happened to the Jock, the Brain and the Princess? University of Arizona, Research paper.

DfEE (1998) Extending opportunities: A national framework for study support. London: DfEE.

Durlak, J. A. & Weissberg, R. P. (2007) 'The impact of after-school programmes that promote personal and social skills'. Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL); http://www.casel.org/downloads/ASP-Full.pdf (Accessed 4 December 2010).

Hallam, S. (2006) Music Psychology in Education. London: Institute of Education, University of London.

Hallam, S. and Rogers, L. (2008) Improving Behaviour and Attendance at School. Milton Keynes: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.

Jamieson, L. M. and Ross, C. M. (2007) Research update: Using recreation to curb extremism. Parks and Recreation, February, 42(2).

Mahoney, J., Eccles, J. & Larson, R. (2004) 'Processes of adjustment in organized out-of school activities: Opportunities and risks'. New Directions for Youth Development, 101, 115-144.

Mahoney, J., Lord, H. & Carryl, E. (2005) 'After-school programme participation and the development of child obesity and peer acceptance'. Journal of Applied Developmental Science, 9, 202-215.

Miller, B. (2003) Critical Boosts. Boston: Nellie Mae Foundation.

NSBA (2005) Building and sustaining after-school programmes: Successful practices in school board leadership. National School Board Association, Alexandria VA.