Research project to help young people thrive Thursday, February 17, 2011 - 14:41

At a time when the numbers of young people who are out of work, training and education continues to rise - the latest figures suggest that one in five young people are unemployed - NIACE is conducting vital research for BIS, to help understand the barriers that prevent third-sector organisations from working with these young people.

Sue Southwood, NIACE Programme Manager, said:

"Some young people face disruption to their initial education and lives which all too often leads to them out of work, education or training. The economic recession has only made finding work and learning opportunities more difficult for more people. For some young people, thankfully, this will be a temporary setback but for others it will have a long term negative impact on their lives."

"This research is about finding out why third-sector organisations don't engage with these young people as much as they would like to. Your views are crucial to helping us understand what some of the barriers are and what can be done to overcome them, so your organisation, and others, can have an even greater impact on helping more young people back into work, training and learning. We want to know about the support you need to boost engagement and improve retention."

NIACE surveyed third-sector staff who are working in some way to provide informal learning, volunteering or employment opportunities to young people. This included practitioners, managers, youth workers, advice workers, vocational tutors and health workers.

A report on the survey's findings will be produced by NIACE in March.

If you have any queries about this survey or require the questionnaire in an alternative format, please email Linda Dixon at linda.dixon@niace.org.uk.