Supporting young peoples' journey from education to work

• Main Authors: Carter, A., Gould, S., Parry, E.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/121508/; http://www.eawop.org/ckeditor_assets/attachments/855/final_version_abstract_book_dublin_2017.pdf?1497813734

Youth unemployment remains a significant problem in UK, Europe and many other developed countries. Government and industry reports describe difficulties young people experience in the transition between education and work (IPPR, 2014; SKOPE, 2012; Symonds et al., 2011); but, there is little psychological research in this area. The IPPR report (2014) cites poor links between schools and businesses; and failing careers’ services as reasons for difficult transitions. The ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE, 2012) note the experiences of many young people as extended and risky transitions from education to the labour market involving few jobs, poor quality jobs (e.g., lacking in working hours), skill-mismatches, over-qualification and jobs lacking subsequent progression (p. 4). This Scientist Practitioner Collaborative Forum will describe interventions with young people from the supply side of the labour market describing work with young people in the UK, The Netherlands and Iceland. Then we will go onto describe new empirical evidence from the demand side looking at what employing organizations can do to help young people to gain entry to the workplace and the benefits this will provide those employers. Further, this symposium will provide two discussants (one academic from Poland and one practitioner from Ireland) who will examine the content of these papers in relation to their own experiences across Eastern and Western Europe. There will be ample time for audience interaction to debate and discuss potential solutions and interventions to assist young people to gain suitable employment and research into further development in this important area.