NEETS and mainstream education and society

NEETS and mainstream education and society

NEETS and mainstream education and society

Introduction

NEETS and education

The number of NEETs, or people not involved in employment, education or training, is rising among those in their mid-20s and older, a government white paper said Friday. The 2009 white paper on youths said NEETs aged between 15 and 24 stood at 260,000 in 2008, down 30,000 from 2002, and that the population of NEETs aged between 25 and 34 rose by 30,000 to 380,000 over the same period. That boosted the total number of NEETs to 640,000 — a gain of 20,000 between 2002 and 2008, the white paper said. The major factors in determining whether one becomes a NEET are said to be truancy and quitting high school, said the white paper, which was compiled by Yuko Obuchi, state minister in charge of declining birthrate and gender equality.

Young people (defined as those under 30) accounted for 29.8 percent of the population, which stood at 127.69 million as of last Oct. 1. It is the first time the ratio has fallen below 30 percent, the report said. Since 1997 in the UK there has been an unprecedented emphasis on forms of public policy directed specifically at young people. A central focus of these policies has been around the issue of 'social exclusion' and its effects. This focus has brought with it a concern with youth employment, and specifically with the retention of young people in education and training, and their transition from education to work. Getting lost in this transition or failing to make it successfully is seen as one of the key risks of social exclusion for young people in the UK and elsewhere. Youth policy measures designed to combat these risks can be seen, for example, in the Norwegian Follow Up Service and in the Australian Youth Allowance programme.

Explanation

key issue of concern

Reflecting this, policy literature and research places a good deal of emphasis on the 'NEET and EET' status of young people*that is, whether they are not in employment, education or training, or they are in employment, education or training. Originally, early discussions in the UK in this arena recognised the diversity of different groups making up the NEET population, and the key focus was on the varying obstacles and difficulties that young people face that may be associated with exclusion and disengagement (e.g., Social Exclusion Unit 1999, 2000). There evolved, however, a policy perspective in England that tends to eschew this holistic focus, and specifically to identify being NEET as a negative situation, conceptually connected to a locus of disadvantage. This is illustrated in a 2002 research report from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES): Educational underachievement; unemployment; inactivity/not currently in the workforce; poor physical or mental health or disability; substance abuse; and crime were identified as being associated with being NEET. As this suggests, being NEET has become viewed inherently in a bluntly negative manner in policy terms*as reflective of a raft of ...