News
eYPU Issue 300, 28 April 2010
28 April 2010
The National Youth Agency (NYA) is following pre-election guidance in preparing this newsletter. This means some items referring to funders, other government programmes and local government activity will not be included until after the general election.
The NYA has produced an overview of the key issues which will impact on the lives of young people, as set out in each party’s manifesto, along with a more detailed briefing of each party’s proposals.
Youth volunteering
The NYA is carrying out research into the impact of the recession on youth volunteering. This has two elements: the first stage, undertaken in partnership with youth research specialists Dubit, explored young people's perceptions and experiences of volunteering. This stage has been completed and will be published soon after the election.
The second stage will use telephone interviews to gain the views of staff in volunteer-involving organisations, both those working specifically with young people and those involving volunteers of all ages, on how the recession has affected their involvement of young volunteers. The interviews will explore the extent to which volunteering can act as a lifeline for young people during recession, while also considering whether some young people, particularly the more marginalised, are missing out on volunteering opportunities because of competition from more experienced and/or qualified adults. Specific aspects to be covered include changes in young people's interest in or motivations for volunteering, the role of training and accreditation, the availability of appropriate opportunities, and the benefits of volunteering in the context of the long-term impact of recession on young people.
We are aiming to involve a wide range of organisations - if you would like to have your say on this important issue and would be prepared to take part in a 30 minute telephone interview before mid-May, please contact NYA Associate Carolyn Oldfield - carolynoldfield@talktalk.net as soon as possible.
Education, employment and training
A report published by education charity the Sutton Trust has claimed that children's levels of achievement are more closely linked to their parents' background in England than in many other developed nations. Education Mobility in England studied a 16,000 14-year-olds and found that England was 'significantly behind similar nations' in creating an equal chance of achieving high exam grades for pupils from least well-educated households compared to those from the most well-educated households. The study placed 56 per cent of children from degree-educated parents in the top 25 per cent of test scores at age 14, compared with 9 per cent of children whose parents left school without O-levels.
The Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics has published a report on the impact of the current recession on trends in youth unemployment. Jobs and Youth Unemployment: It's bad, but not as bad as you might think finds that young people have fared badly during the recession, with larger increases in their unemployment rates than adults, but claims there is no evidence that they are doing relatively worse this time round than in previous recessions. More worrying, the report argues, is that the fact that youth unemployment and NEET rates were high going into the recession having been rising since 2004. This is partly due, it finds, to changes in the Employment Service, which targeted other ‘at risk’ groups such as lone parents and people on incapacity benefits and put less emphasis on the young unemployed.
Safeguarding
Researchers at Kingston University London have published an evaluation of the ThinkuKnow (TUK) programme managed by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). The programme is part funded by the European Commission‘s (EC) Safer Internet Plus programme and aims to provide internet safety advice to children and young people aged between 5 and 16, as well as information for parents and support for professionals who work directly with them. The research aimed to explore young people‘s understanding and awareness of messages from the CEOP TUK Internet safety programme, whilst also exploring young people‘s internet use and risk taking behaviour. It found that a high proportion of young people reported having engaged in high risk behaviour online, and fewer but still a high figure, said they would continue to do so. One in five young people had received a ‘threatening’ experience online. The study also found that safety advice appears to have little effect on past or planned risk-taking behaviour, however, young people who have had TUK training were more likely to say they would report a threatening experience online via ThinkuKnow or Childline.
Research from LV= Streetwise, a charity that educates children and young people about safety, has found that children today have less freedom than previous generations, as risk-averse parents make them wait on average two years longer than they did to go outside on their own. The research found a quarter (24 per cent) of children aged 15 and under say they aren’t allowed to sleep over at a friend’s house, 60 per cent are not allowed to use public transport on their own, and 43 per cent can’t visit their nearest park without being accompanied by a parent.