Young people in the middle: pathways, prospects, policies and a new agenda for youth research

Abstract

Recent decades have seen important changes in education to work transitions in the UK. For secondary and further education leavers there are extensive challenges in accessing jobs with prospects. Recently, policy makers have renewed their focus on this middle grouping who are not bound for HE or NEET. However, there is a relative paucity of research into the experiences of these young people and surprisingly little youth researcher engagement with vocational pathways and their framing in policy. The paper interrogates changing experiences and opportunity 'in the middle' and linked policy framings and interventions. Policy remains framed in individualising terms which focus on young people's capacities and positions them, and represents their interests, in very specific ways. School mediated employer engagement is an interesting exemplar here, and is contrasted with alternative interventions which seek to restructure opportunities more fundamentally. The paper argues for a new agenda for youth research which would hold a mirror to experiences in the middle, critically interrogate assumptions embedded in policy and practice and enhance understanding of differentiated pathways and prospects for young people.

Constructing the Higher Education Student

“…This tends to support Harrison's (2019) argument that the massification of HE and the perceived need for a university degree in order to secure even relatively low-level work has reconfigured the perceived social and financial risks associated with attending HE among lower socio-economic groups. We acknowledge, however, that these are the views of the students who were already enrolled in HE and that there remain many young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds, across Europe, who do not progress to HE (Powell et al, 2012;Haj et al, 2018;Irwin, 2020) and may thus have very different views.…”

Policy responses to real world challenges associated with NEET youth: a scoping review

“…Moreover, the mentoring of entrepreneurs has been identified as intervention, enforcing both parties (mentors increased mentoring competencies such as active listening and orienteering skills, feeling good about themselves and a higher self-esteem, social inclusion, and positive attitude toward aging). Also young people in the target group acquired entrepreneurial and vital social competencies, often not accessible to young people, particularly in rural areas and hard to reach in groups (Irwin, 2020;Santini et al, 2020) to prevent young people from falling into NEET status (Maguire, 2015;Jonsson and Goicolea, 2020). In this way, providing a comprehensive and flexible service can improve young people's wellbeing, self-confidence and competencies (Cornish, 2017;Jonsson and Goicolea, 2020), particularly in rural and remote areas (Stain et al, 2019).…”

Representing a Fading Welfare System that Is Failing Young People in ‘NEET’ Situations: a WPR Analysis of Swedish Youth Policies

“…Moreover, the lack of policy attention being directed towards the labour market may also contribute to silencing the situation of young people in the 'missing middle' who are employed (i.e. not classified as 'NEET'), but only as part of the precarious labour force (Irwin 2020).…”