scholarly journals European Youth Work Policy and Young People’s Experience of Open Access Youth Work

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
JON ORD ◽  
MARC CARLETTI ◽  
DANIELE MORCIANO ◽  
LASSE SIURALA ◽  
CHRISTOPHE DANSAC ◽  
...  

Abstract This article examines young people’s experiences of open access youth work in settings in the UK, Finland, Estonia, Italy and France. It analyses 844 individual narratives from young people, which communicate the impact of youthwork on their lives. These accounts are then analysed in the light of the European youth work policy goals. It concludes that it is encouraging that what young people identify as the positive impact of youth work are broadly consistent with many of these goals. There are however some disparities which require attention. These include the importance young people place on the social context of youth work, such as friendship, which is largely absent in EU youth work policy; as well as the importance placed on experiential learning. The paper also highlights a tension between ‘top down’ policy formulation and the ‘youth centric’ practices of youth work. It concludes with a reminder to policy makers that for youth work to remain successful the spaces and places for young people must remain meaningful to them ‘on their terms’.

Author(s):  
Richard Dorsett ◽  
Lucy Stokes

Apprenticeships are the key means by which the UK government aims to build skills and tackle the problem of youth unemployment. However, not all young people are able to secure an apprenticeship. Traineeships, a voluntary six-month programme of work placements and work preparation training, were introduced in England in 2013 to help equip young people with the skills and experience required to secure an apprenticeship or employment. The analysis in this paper uses linked administrative data on the population of trainees and a comparison sample of non-trainees to evaluate the impact of the programme on employment and apprenticeships. It uses a local instrumental variable approach, which allows selection into a traineeship to be influenced by unobserved preferences and for impacts to vary according to these preferences. The heterogeneous impacts can be aggregated to form an estimate of the average impact of treatment for all participants. The results show no overall impact on employment for younger trainees (16-18 year-olds) but an across-the-board positive impact on the probability of becoming an apprentice. For older trainees (19-23 year-olds), no significant impact on either employment or apprenticeships is evident among participants as a whole but the results suggest that, for those more resistant to participating, traineeships may actually reduce the probability of becoming an apprentice. These results confirm the effectiveness of traineeships as a means of facilitating apprenticeships among younger people. As such, they support the policy target of achieving 3 million apprenticeships by 2020.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Hallam ◽  
Kevin Rogers

There is increasing international evidence that playing a musical instrument has a positive impact on attainment at school but little research has been undertaken in the UK. This study addresses this drawing on data on attainment at age 11 and 16 relating to 608 students, 115 of whom played a musical instrument. The findings showed that the young people playing an instrument showed greater progress and better academic outcomes than those not playing with the greatest impact for those playing the longest. The findings are considered in relation to the possible reasons for this, and the implications for education.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liat Levita ◽  
Jilly Gibson Miller ◽  
Todd K. Hartman ◽  
Jamie Murphy ◽  
Mark Shevlin ◽  
...  

COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented disruption of normal social relationships and activities, which are so important during the teen years and young adulthood, and to education and economic activity worldwide. The impact of this on young people’s mental health and future prospects may affect their need for support and services, and the speed of the nation’s social recovery afterwards. This study focused on the unique challenges facing young people at different points during adolescent development, which spans from the onset of puberty until the mid-twenties. Although this is an immensely challenging time and there is a potential risk for long term trauma, adolescence can be a period of opportunity, where the teenagers’ brain enjoys greater capacity for change. Hence, the focus on young people is key for designing age-specific interventions and public policies, which can offer new strategies for instilling resilience, emotional regulation, and self-control. In fact, adolescents might be assisted to not only cope, but excel, in spite of the challenges imposed by this pandemic. Our work will feed into the larger societal response that utilizes the discoveries about adolescence in the way we raise, teach, and treat young people during this time of crisis. Wave 1 data has already been collected from 2,002 young people aged 13-24, measuring their mental health (anxiety, depression, trauma), family functioning, social networks, and resilience, and social risk-taking at the time of the pandemic. Here we present a preliminary report of our findings, (Report 1). Data collected 21/4/20- 29/4/20 - a month after the lockdown started).


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e041599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary McCauley ◽  
Joanna Raven ◽  
Nynke van den Broek

ObjectiveTo assess the experience and impact of medical volunteers who facilitated training workshops for healthcare providers in maternal and newborn emergency care in 13 countries.SettingsBangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, UK and Zimbabwe.ParticipantsMedical volunteers from the UK (n=162) and from low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) (n=138).Outcome measuresExpectations, experience, views, personal and professional impact of the experience of volunteering on medical volunteers based in the UK and in LMIC.ResultsUK-based medical volunteers (n=38) were interviewed using focus group discussions (n=12) and key informant interviews (n=26). 262 volunteers (UK-based n=124 (47.3%), and LMIC-based n=138 (52.7%)) responded to the online survey (62% response rate), covering 506 volunteering episodes. UK-based medical volunteers were motivated by altruism, and perceived volunteering as a valuable opportunity to develop their skills in leadership, teaching and communication, skills reported to be transferable to their home workplace. Medical volunteers based in the UK and in LMIC (n=244) reported increased confidence (98%, n=239); improved teamwork (95%, n=232); strengthened leadership skills (90%, n=220); and reported that volunteering had a positive impact for the host country (96%, n=234) and healthcare providers trained (99%, n=241); formed sustainable partnerships (97%, n=237); promoted multidisciplinary team working (98%, n=239); and was a good use of resources (98%, n=239). Medical volunteers based in LMIC reported higher satisfaction scores than those from the UK with regards to impact on personal and professional development.ConclusionHealthcare providers from the UK and LMIC are highly motivated to volunteer to increase local healthcare providers’ knowledge and skills in low-resource settings. Further research is necessary to understand the experiences of local partners and communities regarding how the impact of international medical volunteering can be mutually beneficial and sustainable with measurable outcomes.


Author(s):  
Geoffrey Meen ◽  
Christine Whitehead

Affordability is, perhaps, the greatest housing problem facing households today, both in the UK and internationally. Even though most households are now well housed, hardship is disproportionately concentrated among low-income and younger households. Our failure to deal with their problems is what makes housing so frustrating. But, to improve outcomes, we have to understand the complex economic and political forces which underlie their continued prevalence. There are no costless solutions, but there are new policy directions that can be explored in addition to those that have dominated in recent years. The first, analytic, part of the book considers the factors that determine house prices and rents, household formation and tenure, housing construction and the roles played by housing finance and taxation. The second part turns to examine the impact of past policy and the possibilities for improvement - discussing supply and the impact of planning regulation, supply subsidies, subsidies to low-income tenants and attempts to increase home ownership. Rather than advocating a particular set of policies, the aim is to consider the balance of policies; the constraints under which housing policy operates; what can realistically be achieved; the structural changes that would need to occur; and the significant sacrifices that would have to be made by some groups if there are to be improvements for others. Our emphasis is on the UK but throughout the book we also draw on international experience and our conclusions have relevance to analysts and policy makers across the developed world.


Author(s):  
Nathalie Huegler ◽  
Natasha Kersh

AbstractThis chapter focuses on contexts where public discourses regarding the education of young adults have been dominated by socio-economic perspectives, with a focus on the role of employment-related learning, skills and chances and with active participation in the labour market as a key concern for policy makers. A focus on ‘employability’ alone has been linked to narrow conceptualisations of participation, inclusion and citizenship, arising in the context of discourse shifts through neoliberalism which emphasise workfare over welfare and responsibilities over rights. A key critique of such contexts is that the focus moves from addressing barriers to participation to framing social inclusion predominantly as related to expectations of ‘activation’ and sometimes, assimilation. Key target groups for discourses of activation include young people not in education, employment or training (‘NEET’), while in- and exclusion of migrant and ethnic minority young people are often framed within the complex and contradictory interplay between discourses of assimilation and experiences of discrimination. These developments influence the field of adult education aimed at young people vulnerable to social exclusion. An alternative discourse to ‘activation’ is the promotion of young people’s skills and capabilities that enables them to engage in forms of citizenship activism, challenging structural barriers that lead to exclusion. Our chapter considers selected examples from EduMAP research in the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland which indicate that as well as framing the participation of young people as discourses of ‘activation’, adult education can also enable and facilitate skills related to more activist forms of citizenship participation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurotimi Maurice Fems

 Purpose: Entrepreneurship education as an influencer of graduate entrepreneurial intention is gaining massive attention amongst practitioners, policy makers and academics across the globe. The proliferation of entrepreneurship courses in universities around the world is evident of this wide acceptance of entrepreneurship education as a strategy for graduate entrepreneurship. The purpose of this research paper is to ascertain the impact entrepreneurship education has on students’ entrepreneurial career intentions.Methodology: The article includes a review of literature in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention to gain background knowledge. This research is a qualitative, interpretive phenomenological study and relies on narrative as a means of knowing, and as a form of communication. The scope of the study is year one students at the Federal Polytechnic of Oil & Gas Ekowe in the departments of Computer Science, Science Laboratory Technology and Statistics. The questionnaire was designed in a semi-structured way and distributed to students to return after 7 days to allow for proper articulation of narratives.Findings: A total of 42 students participated in the interview and 42 returned. 28.57% representing 12 students showed intention to start a business, 40.48% (17 students) desire to get a job after graduation while 13 students (30.95%) are unsure what they want to do after graduation. The results indicate that entrepreneurship education has a positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial career intention but other than EE, it was also revealed from participants’ narratives that age, prior experience and parents’ status have positive influence on graduate entrepreneurial decisions.Implication of Findings: Findings will aid curriculum designers and educational policy makers to scrutinize and re-examine EE programmes and how they are taught to enhance practice.Originality: Narratives and storytelling methods are not the common methods adopted in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention research. More research should be carried out using this method to validate results from this approach.


Author(s):  
Elaine Chase ◽  
Jennifer Allsopp

This introductory chapter provides an overview of youth migration. Youth migration needs to be understood in relation to its negative drivers of persecution, violence, and unsustainable lives in countries of origin, factors that motivated the flights of many young people. But at the same time, there is a need to recognize that such adversity also fuels individual and collective dreams and aspirations for better lives. Without acknowledging this, politicians will struggle to formulate meaningful and workable asylum and immigration policies. The chapter then briefly outlines the differing journeys that young people took in order to arrive in Europe. The chapter explains that the book focuses on how asylum, immigration, and social care procedures are operationalized once unaccompanied children and young people arrive in the UK and Italy, and the impact that these bureaucratic processes have on them over time.


Author(s):  
Kate Hunt ◽  
Nathan Critchlow ◽  
Ashley Brown ◽  
Christopher Bunn ◽  
Fiona Dobbie ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented restrictions on people’s movements and interactions, as well as the cancellation of major sports events and social activities, directly altering the gambling landscape. There is urgent need to provide regulators, policy makers and treatment providers with evidence on the patterns and context of gambling during COVID-19 and its aftermath. This protocol describes a study addressing the following three questions: (1) How has COVID-19 changed gambling practices and the risk factors for, and experience of, gambling harms? (2) What is the effect of COVID-19 on gambling marketing? (3) How has COVID-19 changed high risk groups’ gambling experiences and practices? This mixed-method study focuses on two groups, namely young adults and sports bettors. In workpackage-1, we will extend an existing longitudinal survey of gambling in young adults (aged 16–24 years) (first wave conducted June–August 2019), adding COVID-19-related questions to the second wave (July–August 2020) and extending to a third wave in 2021; and undertake a survey of sports bettors in the UK (baseline n = 4000, ~July–August 2020), with follow-ups in ~October–November 2020 and ~February-March 2021. In workpackage-2, we will examine changes in expenditure on paid-for gambling advertising from January 2019 to July 2021 and undertake a mixed-method content analysis of a random sample of paid-for gambling advertising (n ~ 200) and social media marketing (n ~ 100) during the initial COVID-19 “lockdown”. Workpackage-3 will involve qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of (a) young adults (aged 18–24 years) and (b) sports bettors.


Author(s):  
Jayoung James Goo ◽  
Joo-Yeun Heo

As the fintech industry grows around the world, regulatory issues continue to be a hot topic within the industry. To overcome regulatory barriers of the fintech industry, regulatory sandboxes have been adopted. The regulatory sandboxes are beneficial to create a fintech ecosystem, but their effectiveness has not been empirically supported. This study aims to find the expected effects of regulatory sandboxes on fintech venture investments empirically. We conducted an analysis using a country-level comparative research method. To analyze it, we selected nine forerunning countries which have initially adopted regulatory sandboxes. For the purpose of validations, a comparative analysis and a regression analysis were conducted. In the results, we found that the adoption of regulatory sandboxes had very positive influences on the growth of the fintech venture investment. The results implied that regulatory sandboxes may play a vital role in increasing the influx of venture capital into the fintech venture ecosystem by removing regulatory uncertainty. The findings of this research contribute to providing the empirical evidences to policy makers in interpretations of the positive impact of regulatory sandboxes.


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