Young Adults

Research and Development

The main focus of our work is researching the personal and social circumstances and experiences that shape young adults' attitudes towards learning, such as:

• Young parents' experiences of family learning
• The role of informal education in literacy, language and numeracy development
• The learning needs of young adults with mental health difficulties
• Approaches to providing learning through youth arts activities
• Developing speaking and listening skills
• The needs and experiences of young adult carers
• Effective support for young care leavers

Information services

For practitioners working with young adults, we offer:

• Website information, including reports and publications
• Briefing papers
• E-mail briefings and information

These services are important for knowledge-sharing and in offering support and guidance to practitioners from a wide range of sectors.

What we can offer

• A full range of free and for sale publications addressing key issues in work with young adults.
• Consultancy to national and local organisations involved in learning for young adults.

Key principles underpinning our work

There are a number of key factors in promoting and developing learning with disadvantaged young adults:

• Each young adult is unique
• Age makes a difference. 16-18 year olds are more inclined to move in and out of programmes, sampling different options, but those aged 18 and over tend to be more vocationally-directed and decided.
• Outreach is effective in making contact with those who are disengaged from employment, education and/or training.
• Incentives remain important in motivating young adults to learn
• The curriculum should feature a combination of key and vocational skills and opportunities for personal development
• Clear pathways of progression and continuous support are vital in building on achievement

The Young Adults team has developed a framework of critical success factors in learning provision for young adults - [Word].