Equality and Human Rights Commission

This enquiry explores implications for young people in terms of changes to the law about their education and training.

Some background

Young people who started secondary school in 2008 will be required by law to stay on in education or training until they are 17 (rising to 18 in 2015). There will be three routes, full-time education, work-based learning or a combination of employment with part-time training. It is hoped that this initiative will reduce the numbers of young people who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), and widen choices on learning routes, for example offering more practical, hands-on opportunities alongside the more traditional academic options. However, 37% of all young people develop a fear of failure in education, which leads some to drop out entirely. 18% of young people say they have not had enough information, advice and guidance to make the right choices about their futures. This rises to 23% of young people with a disability and a quarter of those from ethnic minority backgrounds. Those who are more likely to drop out are young people who are poor, disabled, from ethnic minorities and teenage mothers. 

More information can be found on http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/stayingon

A scenario

Imagine that you are a head of a school that includes a sixth form. It is small and overcrowded. The school is out in the countryside, not near any workplaces except a few farms. Lots of your students leave school at 16 to work on the farms or to go off to bigger towns to find work (or to go on benefits). When some parents find out about this new law they aren’t happy because it might mean less money coming in. They decide to protest to you, the head. You can understand how they feel and are worried about how you will manage the change but the law is here to stay so you have to make it work. What could you do? For example, how will you involve parents and students? How will you make links with different employers so that they can do training that suits them?

As a second stage, imagine that the head decides to let students design their own learning experience for two years. If you had that freedom what would you do? How do you learn best? Where would you go? Who would teach you?

Artist inspiration

Emily Cummins

Not a fine artist, but a very creative and talented product designer, Emily Cummins is a young person who created her own training opportunities from an early age. She took a gap year in Namibia in Africa, where she discovered what communities needed and designed an innovative solar-powered fridge and a water carrier with a wheel. Find out more about how she developed her skills and her designs here: http://www.emilycummins.co.uk/#/my-grandad/4520903906

Illustration with permission (select image to enlarge):

Emily Cummins with her Solar Fridge design.