News
National Youth Agency Stands by IAG Research Findings
10 September 2010
Press Release
Immediate
9 September 2010
NYA responds to comments made about the research it undertook in conjunction with the Local Government Association on young people’s views of information, advice and guidance provision in London and the South West.
In a comment posted on the CYPN website, the National Youth Agency said that it stands by the methodology and findings of the study and strongly believes that young people should have the right to give their views through research of this kind.
“‘Young people were involved right through the project - in the design of the research, as facilitators in the focus groups and in the analysis. It would be grossly unfair if we represented their views in any other way,” said Fiona Blacke, NYA’s Chief Executive.
The National Youth Agency clarified that this work was part of an ongoing project in partnership with the LGA and further research will take place in October which will cover the North West, North East, West Midlands and East Midlands.
Fiona Blacke, National Youth Agency chief executive, said: “We are encouraged to see this research has sparked such a passionate and informed debate on the value of information, advice and guidance.”
“As a former chief executive of Connexions, I know and value the role Connexions plays in providing advice and guidance to young people and we feel this report provides a real insight into the experiences of young people that do and don’t engage with the service, in these specific geographical areas - highlighting the differences between targeted and universal IAG provision.”
The report found that those young people surveyed who had close contact with Connexions found real value in the service they received. However, some young people felt that the provision was only targeted to the most vulnerable – identifying possible areas where Connexions could improve their approach to make it more personalised.
For this phase of the research, the National Youth Agency’s remit was to conduct a small, qualitative study in one or two regions of England and a total of 79 young people participated across eight focus groups, which took place in secondary schools, alternative education provision, youth-group settings and third sector IAG centre.
ENDS