The National Youth Agency - eYPU Issue 230, 12 November 2008

eYPU Issue 230, 12 November 2008

12 Nov 2008
This issue includes details of additional funding for local authorities to provide additional activities for young people on Friday and Saturday nights and a change in the law to place a duty on schools to consider the views of children and young people.

Positive activities

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has announced that 77 local authorities will receive additional funding of £25,000 each to provide activities on Friday and Saturday nights in neighbourhoods where crime and anti-social behaviour are a concern. The announcement forms part of proposals highlighted in the Youth Crime Action Plan.

Also of interest...

Results from the Teen Talk survey, published by the DCSF, has highlighted that the majority of young people are tired of being labelled as 'lazy' and want more positive things to do. Almost three quarters of the 3,500 16 to 19-year-olds surveyed said they would rather be involved in positive activities such as football, dance, going to the gym, music and martial arts. Many young people are also keen to participate in youth groups and community volunteering.

Participation

After decades of campaigning by children's rights advocates, the law has now been changed to place a duty on all maintained schools in England and Wales to consider the views of children and young people. The provisions are introduced as new Section 29A of the Education Act 2002. A consultation on the regulations will take place in Spring 2009.

Workforce

The Association of Principal Youth and Community Officers has agreed to broaden its remit and membership to include the full range of professionals who work in services delivering Integrated Youth Support.

An Ofsted report evaluating the impact of the Train to Gain initiative on skills in employment has found that the programme is successful in giving employees the opportunity to gain nationally recognised qualifications and improve their motivation in the workplace. However, employers have been slow to take advantage of funding, while some employees aren’t always getting the skills development they need.

Safeguarding

Following new research that shows young people need bolder and more forthright communication about road safety, the Department for Transport has launched a new £1.5m THINK! campaign to warn children aged 6 to 11 about the dangers they can face on the roads. Television adverts will be accompanied by a new website with interactive games for children and educational material for teachers and parents. The Government is also investing £140m in the Travelling to School project and another £140m in cycling, which includes funding for an extra 500,000 10 year-olds to take part in Bikeability cycle training.

The DCSF has provided a £1.6m grant to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in partnership with the National Children's Bureau to establish a Child Safety Education Coalition (CSEC). The CSEC will work to improve the provision of practical safety education to give more children and young people the skills, knowledge and confidence to keep themselves safe in a range of situations.

Heath

The annual report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction shows that the UK remains at the top of the European 'league table' for cocaine abuse for the fifth consecutive year, with 12.7 per cent of young adults aged 15 to 34 having used the drug. Britain is also now fourth in the European league table for cannabis use amongst 15 to 24-year-olds, with 39.5 per cent saying they have tried it and 12 per cent saying they have used it in the last month. However, the report also claims that there are good signs of the declining popularity of cannabis across Europe, with a strong downward trend especially noticeable among British school students. Published alongside the annual report is a review of drugs and vulnerable groups of young people.

Crime

The Howard League for Penal Reform has published a new report, ‘Punishing Children’, which examines and compares different youth justice systems across Europe. The report contrasts the welfare based approach across Europe with the UK where punishment is the most common response to children in trouble with the law.

Social exclusion

In contrast to the Cabinet Office's report ‘Getting on, getting ahead’ published last week, which suggested that family background is now less important to academic success, a new report from the National College for School Leadership claims that despite more than a century of free, compulsory education, family income and status are still the most significant indicators of success in the school system, and poor white pupils are being left behind.

Citizenship

The Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study has published its sixth annual report. Entitled ‘Young People’s Civic Participation In and Beyond School: Attitudes, Intentions and Influences’, the report focuses on young people’s civic participation in and outside of school, and draws on a longitudinal survey of Year 11 students (age 15 to 16) that was conducted in 75 schools in 2006-2007. The study looks to identify, measure and assess the short-term and long-term effects of citizenship education in schools on students over time.