The National Youth Agency - Research Programme Newsletter

Research Programme Newsletter - Jun 2008

23 Jun 2008
Welcome to the NYA Research newsletter, a quarterly service that aims to keep subscribers up to date with research publications relevant to those working with young people.

The newsletter is a summary of a range of publications found on websites and research journals, arranged by topic. It is not meant to be exhaustive, although we do try and capture all the major publications. The full article or report can usually be reached via the links embedded in the text summaries below, however for some articles there is no online link so we have provided a link to the full abstract on our website. All the articles mentioned below are referenced in full, with more detail on content, on our website. Copyright remains with the original publisher.

Also of interest...

We also include news from The NYA’s research programme, and updates of other reports and publications from The NYA.

If you have any comments or queries about this service, or have publications, news, events etc. that you’d like to see included in the next issue, please contact Tricia Jessiman.

The NYA NEWS: Ongoing Research Work

The report on the contribution of non-formal learning to young people’s life chances, a joint project by The NYA and The Fabian Society, is now available.

We have published an interim report of the youth work and social media project. This work is looking at the role of youth workers in supporting young people to stay safe, and make the most of opportunities online. This interim report feeds back on a survey of youth workers and finds that youth work responses have a key role to play in addressing wider concerns about opportunities and risks of online social networking.

We are also working on a review of what works in reducing the level of NEET young people. In partnership with ‘Research in Practice’ this project will have a key focus on the role of non-formal learning.

The Young Researcher Network: Projects are underway on topics including positive activities, health, identity, and media representations of young people. The Network, which promotes research led by young people, is also holding a ‘Planning for change’ day at The National Youth Agency on the 23^rd July.

Other News: The NYA Annual Audit collects information on expenditure, workforce and outcomes from local authority youth services. It focuses on the youth service managed through the local authority. Key points from the latest available Audit data, the financial year 2006-07, are now available.

Research into Participation across the North West: Funded by the North West Together We Can Partnership, the North West Regional Youth Work Unit has been working with young people from Liverpool Youth Service Youth Engagement Team to map participation across the region, identifying common issues and barriers to and make recommendations for change.

The Cabinet Office's Social Exclusion Task Force has published Think Research, a web-based document which gives commissioners and providers of services for vulnerable people guidance on using research evidence during the commissioning process.

Recent Published Research

Themes this quarter include:

Advice
Bullying
Care
Children’s Services
Community Cohesion
Crime and Justice
Digital Media
Disability
Drug and Alcohol Use
Education
Extended Schools
Financial skills
Health
Identity
Mentoring
NEET
Participation
Poverty
Safeguarding
Social exclusion
Society
Workforce

Advice

The Skills Commission has published a review of how advice on learning and careers is delivered and perceived.

Bullying

Stonewall’s survey of 1,658 lesbian, gay and bisexual people across Britain suggests that homophobic bullying in schools is getting worse.

Care

Two reports on looked after children in Scotland have been published recently; the first addresses the support arrangements for looked after young people in school; while the other focuses on the many challenges facing young people leaving care aged 16.

The Children’s Right’s Director for England reports on children’s views on what advocacy is (and isn’t), and how well advocates do at speaking up for children.

The DCSF have published data updating the 2005 Census of children in need.

Children’s Services

The Local Authorities Research Consortium’s report concentrates on the early impact of integrated services for children and young people. A linked report looks at the enablers, challenges and impact of integration based on a literature review.

Community Cohesion

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has published research on the significance of different dimensions of cohesion, including interaction, participation and belonging, of people in Newham, Birmingham and Bradford.

Crime and Justice

A report from the Scottish Government on the 2006 social attitudes survey looks specifically at public attitudes to youth crime. They also report on the impact of the Glasgow Antisocial Behaviour Taskforce.

The JRF report on a Manchester community project that tackles street crime via transformative work with young people.

A report for a teacher’s union investigates the impact of gangs on UK schools, finding that the journey to and from schools was a particular flashpoint where young people may be at risk. Meanwhile NCH have published the views of children and young people on gun and knife crime, finding that the majority thought that the main reason for a young person getting involved in gun and knife crime was to protect themselves.

Finally the Youth Justice Board have published a review into children abused and/or neglected prior to custody, finding that past maltreatment is present in a greater proportion of young people in the secure estate than in the general population.

Digital Media

Ofcom report on children’s media literacy – their ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts. IPPR (supported by The NYA) also report on developing online media literacy, calling on support from peers, youth services, teachers and parents. The NYA’s own research into youth work and social networking finds that youth workers should have a key role in the development of media literacy amongst young people.

Becta report on the use of digital creativity activities as a tool to engage hard to reach learners.

Finally, research is published looking at the information behaviour of future researchers, looking at the impact and reliance on search engines like Google.

Disability

The evaluation of the Integrated Children’s System in five local authorities has published a study looking specifically at the impact of children and young people with disabilities.

Drug and Alcohol Use

A study of the drinking behaviours of 15 and 16 year olds in the north-west reports on the level of alcohol use and its impact on young people in the region.

A report in the British Journal of Psychiatry links cannabis use with symptoms of psychosis in adolescence

Education

The Fabian Society report (supported by The NYA) looks at the impact of non-formal learning and youth work on young people’s life chances. The Scottish Government has carried out a study looking at the implications of the NIACE/NYA report for the NRDC on success factors in informal learning.

The Sutton Trust explore the impact of financial considerations on young people’s decisions on participation in higher education.

Ipsos Mori report that media coverage of A-level results are seen to be unhelpful and 28% of students find the coverage upsetting.

The DCSF report on proximal factors that influence the size of ethnic, social class and gender gaps in educational attainment.

Extended Schools

NfER have published research evaluating the impact of social care professionals working with extended schools.

Financial Skills

Rainer have published a report that focuses on the challenges faced by young people managing money, and a provide an overview of the level of debt amongst 18-24 year olds.

Health

Imperial College have published a report into the role of primary mental health workers in child and adolescent health services.

Identity

Ipsos Mori report that young people have a lack of emotional resonance with the concept of ‘Britishness’.

Mentoring

The evaluation of a peer mentoring project in 180 schools has been published by the DCSF suggests the greater impact may be on those most in need.

NEET

The Department of Work and Pensions has published a report into the longer-term impact of the New Deal for Young People.

Participation

Another JRF report, this time on designing citizen-centred governance, finds that more debate is needed on the principles and purposes underlying citizens’ involvement in governance.

Poverty

The Department of Work and Pensions reports on the nature of persistent poverty for families with children. Similarly, Save the Children report on persistent child poverty in Northern Ireland.

The Department for Communities and Local Government reports on the support needs of families and 16/17 year olds accepted as homeless, finding 16/17 years olds significantly more vulnerable than families.

Safeguarding

The NSPCC report that a more targeted and culturally-appropriate approach is required in responding to the needs of South Asian women, children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse.

The DCSF have published data following up on the outcomes for children and young people removed from their parents care and placed with members of their extended family or social networks (kinship care).

Social Exclusion

The Children’s Society have published research into destitution amongst asylum seeking and refugee children. A JRF study into youth homelessness has found that at least 75,000 young people experienced homelessness in the UK in 2006-7.

Social interaction

NfER have published a review of intergenerational practice, suggesting there is a wide variety of activities taking place but a lack of clarity around the definition, particularly around the age of participants from the two generations involved.

Society

The JRF’s web survey of ‘social evils’ finds that respondents’ commonest concerns include a decline of community, individualism, consumerism, and greed.

Workforce

The Children’s Workforce Development Council has published statistics on the children’s social care workforce in England.

Young People

The latest report from the Good Childhood enquiry summarises children and young people’s views on what they think makes for a good childhood in the UK today.