Young People's Development Programme shows how to engage vulnerable young people

Evaluation by researchers based at the Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) at the Institute of Education, University of London shows that the three-year Young People's Development Programme pilot to work with disadvantaged young people has reduced the numbers of temporary exclusions, contacts with the police and aspirations to be a teenage parent in participants.

The research also found that young people said the pilot made them more confident, helped them stay out of trouble, increased their ambitions and made them recognise the importance of education.

The Department of Health funded Young People’s Development Programme (YPDP) was implemented through 27 existing youth projects across England by The National Youth Agency and modelled on the American “Youth Development” approach, which worked with disadvantaged young people to ensure good education and health outcomes.

The independent research found that YPDP had succeeded in working with more than 2,000 “at-risk” young people and that the learning gained could inform the direction of targeted youth support in the future.

The projects worked with 13- to 15-year-olds identified as being “at risk” of substance misuse, school exclusion and teenage pregnancy. They provided a programme of arts, sports, training and employment, life skills, mentoring and volunteering activities.

Crucially, they incorporated explicit health promotion, with a focus on sexual health and substance misuse, and help with accessing linked services. The programme was offered over one year for six to 10 hours each week. On average, young people spent 173 hours over 40 weeks with YPDP. This high level of engagement reflected considerable effort on the part of project staff, who built relationships with school and pupil referral units, youth offending teams, social services and education welfare teams. Finding those not in touch with services was especially challenging and outreach activities in shopping centres and on estates where young people met were effective.

YPDP worked flexibly and tailored services to keep young people engaged and maintained regular contact with those not currently attending, to encourage continued participation.

Although YPDP was a significant challenge, staff saw real benefits from working intensively and over the long-term with young people most in need, taking a more structured approach and integrating health promotion.

However, the evaluation findings were not universally positive. In comparison to those attending existing youth services, young women appeared to experience a number of poorer outcomes. Outcomes did begin to improve in the later stages of the programme, so it may be that projects needed more time to adjust to the new ways of working.

To see an improvement in long-term outcomes programmes similar to YPDP may need to start younger, last longer and be more intense. Greater impact might be achieved by integrating “at risk” teenagers within provision for a wider group of young people, preventing possible negative peer influence.

The NYA’s Youth Work for Health (YW4H) team is already using knowledge gained from YPDP to raise the standard of how health issues are tackled within youth work settings. Good Practice Guidelines for Healthy Youth Work are now available (www.nya.org.uk/yw4h). A new resource drawing together all the valuable learning from YPDP, aimed at those working with vulnerable young people, will be available in the autumn.

The evaluation report is available online >>

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