The social construction of young people within education policy: evidence from the UK's Coalition government

Abstract

Since assuming power in May 2010, the UK's Coalition government has devoted considerable energy to formulating its policies with respect to young people. Evidence of this can be found in Positive for Youth: a new approach to cross-government policy for young people aged 13-19, a policy text that outlines a wide range of measures to be implemented across nine government departments. Nevertheless, we know little about the understandings of young people that underpin Coalition policy or the political ideology that informs them. This paper starts to redress this gap by exploring the ways in which young people have been constructed within education policy, specifically, and the extent to which such constructions constitute continuity or change with the understandings of previous governments. It argues that while some constructions of young people can be seen primarily as an extension of New Labour understandings, other constructions should be more accurately viewed as reconfigurations or, in some cases, as new understandings, initiated by the Coalition government.

Volunteering, choice and control: a case study of higher education student volunteering

“…As Brown et al (2003) argue employability is both absolute and relative, students at university need to acquire transferable skills in preparation for graduate employment, but at the same time need to be able to compete with their peers in an evertightening job market. The emphasis on employability places the responsibility of securing a graduate job on students themselves rather than on external structural factors, such as the conditions of the labour market and the enhanced global competition for graduate employment (Brown et al, 2010).…”

“…[Pro-VC pre-1992 HEI] Thus while employability places the emphasis on students' ability to sell their human and personal capital (Brown et al, 2003), their capacity to do so is increasingly recognised as falling under the remit of universities' responsibilities. Moreover universities are scrutinised in how effectively they meet their obligations of enhancing student employability.…”

Learning providers’ work with NEET young people

“…Coffey and Farrugia themselves start out with a very broad definition of agency in which they refer to active subjectivity, intentional action, decision-making and self-expression (2014,462). This chimes with the UK Coalition Government's policy (Hutchinson et al 2015) which expects young people to develop 'good characters' that are independent and autonomous (Brooks 2013) in particular in developing their employability (Lahusen et al 2013). Positioning young people as developing and dutiful citizens (Brooks 2013) is a continuation of the workfarist approach to youth unemployment adopted by successive UK governments.…”

“…This chimes with the UK Coalition Government's policy (Hutchinson et al 2015) which expects young people to develop 'good characters' that are independent and autonomous (Brooks 2013) in particular in developing their employability (Lahusen et al 2013). Positioning young people as developing and dutiful citizens (Brooks 2013) is a continuation of the workfarist approach to youth unemployment adopted by successive UK governments. The explicit supply-side orientation puts further pressure on NEET young people to develop their agency and 'take control of their lives' (Evans, 2002).…”

Delivering NEET policy packages? A decade of NEET policy in England

“…Given the continuing, high levels of NEETs (Department for Education 2014), the success of these and previous NEET policies is questionable. Although there has been research into the Coalition's discourse of worklessness and dependency (Wiggan 2012) and educational policy (Brooks 2013), the government's treatment of NEET young people has been subject to much less scrutiny. This article will therefore explore how the Coalition has sought both to prevent young people from becoming NEET, and to manage and support those who are already NEET.…”