Hodgson, Ann; Spours, Ken; (2013) Tackling the crisis facing young people : building 'high opportunity progression eco-systems'. Oxford Review of Education , 39 (2) pp. 211-228. (In press).

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Abstract

there is international concern about high levels of youth unemployment and an urgent cross-national debate about how to facilitate young people’s transition from education to working life. In England young people are facing a crisis of opportunity in terms of employment that is currently affecting 18-25 year olds, but has the potential to undermine 14-19 year olds’ participation, progression and transition into further/higher study or the workplace. This is at a time when the government intends to raise the age of participation to 18 by 2015. We identify a range of factors that affect both the decisions and actions of young people and those working with them and propose a multi-level ecological model to aid understanding and positive intervention. At the heart of this model lies the ‘local learning ecology’ (LLE), which we argue can take on a different form depending on the mediating actions of education professionals and other social actors at the local levels. We describe the features of two ideal types of 14+ LLE – ‘low opportunity progression equilibria’ and ‘high opportunity progression eco-systems’ – with the latter more likely to benefit all young people in a locality. We conclude by suggesting that the ecological model has the potential to be adapted for other public, private or third sector areas of activity.

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