The National Youth Agency

eYPU Issue 229, 05 Nov 2008

5 Nov 2008
This issue includes findings from an evaluation of the Empowering Young People Pilots and new announcements relating to young people and crime.

Positive activities

Findings from a baseline survey of the Empowering Young People Pilots reveal that 96 per cent of young people had taken part in at least one activity in the four weeks preceding the survey. The data will be used by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to measure the impact of the pilots through a follow-up survey. The pilots, currently taking place in nine local authorities, aim to encourage disadvantaged young people to participate in positive activities through supported access to funding.

Also of interest...

Crime

A new national billboard campaign encouraging young people and communities to stand together against knife crime has been launched by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. The new interactive campaign will run for the next three months in areas across England and Wales, including the ten areas involved in the Tackling Knives Action Programme. Young people will be encouraged to show their support by adding their own anti-knife photo pledges to the Bebo social networking website.

The Home Office has announced a programme of work aimed at developing new and innovative design solutions to help prevent robberies of popular new gadgets, and to ensure that public safety is considered in the design of new public spaces and housing. The programme, led by the Design Council, will work on developing solutions to a wide range of crime-related problems, particularly those which affect young people, including: helping to reduce problems of bullying, fighting and petty theft in schools; making personal electronics more ‘crime proof’; and finding design-led ways of reducing the harm caused by alcohol-related crime.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has launched an action plan on youth crime and violence in the capital. The plan will involve five core projects that the Mayor’s office will work on alongside a range of organisations; specialist Mayoral Academies across London to help equip the city and young people with the skills for the future; and a central ‘library’ of information about what works in practice.

Workforce

A new report by Ofsted has found that pupils are benefiting from school workforce reforms which have seen the introduction of staff from a wider range of backgrounds, skills and life experiences. It suggests that learning mentors and higher level teaching assistants are among the roles that have made a positive impact on pupils’ achievement, especially among those likely to truant, underachieve, or be excluded from school.

Extended schools

The DCSF has launched a new online directory of extended schools, a leaflet to help parents work with their schools, an extended schools publicity toolkit for schools and local authorities so they can promote their services and an updated extended schools prospectus. Children and Young People’s Minister Beverley Hughes has said that parents can help encourage more schools to offer a programme of extended services by demanding more out of hours activities at their local schools.

Community cohesion

As part of its broader work on anti-social behaviour and tolerance, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a report on promoting intergenerational understanding. The study summarises an independent evaluation of the 'Thinking Village project', which was designed to develop intergenerational understanding in a neighbourhood, using the principles of 'community philosophy' – based on a US approach that convenes discussion groups through which participants learn news ways to speak and listen to one another.

Health

A DCSF research report into the use of alcohol amongst young people found that young people feel confident they know how to drink safely and tend to dissociate themselves from the problems caused by underage drinking. The study also found that many parents and carers facilitate and even overtly encourage underage drinking.

Social exclusion

A report into social mobility published by the Cabinet Office has suggested that investment in early development and primary education may be paying off and that for the first time in three decades children from disadvantaged backgrounds may be able to overtake their parents on the social ladder. One of the key findings of Getting On, Getting Ahead, shows that family background is less important to the academic success of 15-year-olds now than it was for the same age group born in 1970.

Conferences/events

Youth Work Week runs from 1 to 7 November and will see local events all around the country helping to promote the voice and influence of young people. From a borough-wide Positive Images campaign in Halton tackling stereotypes of young people to an awards ceremony in Hartlepool and a youth art exhibition in Bury St Edmunds, thousands of young people are expected be involved.

The Local Government Association is organising a conference entitled ‘A better world for young people: working in partnership to provide positive activities for the young people in our communities’ on 26 November 2008. It will look at how councils and their local partners are making progress on delivering an integrated youth offer, delivering positive activities and responding constructively to those at risk of offending or involved in anti-social behaviour.

Opening Doors: broadening youth access to positive activities is the National Youth Agency’s new free monthly eBulletin aimed at practitioners, managers and policy makers in organisations and partnerships which provide positive activities for young people. Each edition will include a news and policy round up and provide information on practice examples, new research and resources, consultations, training opportunities funding and more. To subscribe contact Rita Kotecha.