February 21, 2012

It’s Who You Meet: Why Employer Contacts at School Make a Difference to the Employment Prospects of Young Adults

February 21, 2012

** Please note that deeper statistical analysis of data first presented this report identified lower levels of improvements in NEET outcomes than initially set out in this publication.  Please see Anthony Mann’s blog of 15 November 2015 ** This report published by the Education and Employers Taskforce examines youth unemployment within the UK and provides […]

Read more

January 24, 2012

Work Experience & Social Mobility: Understanding the Issue and Bucking the Trend

January 24, 2012

This seminar focused on the problem of work experience favouring those with social capital rather than promoting social mobility. Abstract: Work experience has the potential to make a real difference in the lives of young people. Unfortunately, according to research carried out by Hatcher & Le Gallais in 2008, all too often work placements tend powerfully […]

Read more

October 22, 2010

Diplomas: The Second Year – An Evaluation of the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Diplomas for 14 to 19 year olds

October 22, 2010

A report by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) This report is based on a series of Ofsted evaluation visits to 21 Diploma consortia between September 2009 and March 2010, amounting to 42 schools, 21 colleges of further education and sixth form colleges, three work-based learning providers and four local […]

Read more

October 22, 2010

Early Occupational Aspirations and Fractured Transitions: A Study of Entry into ‘NEET’ Status in the UK

October 22, 2010

A report in the Journal of Social Policy, October 2010 (Yates S, Harris A, Sabates, R. and Staff, J.) This report summarises analysis of the British Youth Cohort Study, comprising data from over 17,000 individuals born in Britain in April 1970. Logistic regression is used to estimate the impact of aspirations, educational expectations and socio-economic […]

Read more

June 22, 2010

Is Science Me? High School Students’ Identities, Participation and Aspirations in Science, Engineering and Medicine

June 22, 2010

A report by P.R. Aschbacker, E. Li and E.J. Roth, Journal of Research in Science Teaching 47: 564-82 The article describes the findings of a study based on interviews over three years with 33 high school students in California to investigate the role of ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic background in shaping students’ motivations, persistence and […]

Read more

June 21, 2010

Key Stage 2 Career-Related Learning: Pathfinder Evaluation

June 21, 2010

A report by Pauline Wade, Caroline Bergeron, Karen White, David Teeman, David Sims and Palak Mehta, NFER This report evaluates the Pathfinder pilot, a programme run that was across seven local authorities in 2010 to enable pupils to learn about career options available to them. The programme included workplace visits, in-school career insight talks with […]

Read more

June 21, 2010

The ‘Hidden Givers’: A Study of School Governing Bodies in England

June 21, 2010

A report by the University of Bath (Chris James, Steve Brammer, Michael Connolly, Mike Fertig, Jane James and Jeff Jones), commissioned by the CfBT Education Trust This study sought to establish the relationship between governing body effectiveness and pupil attainment in primary schools and secondary schools in high and low socio-economic settings. The report combines […]

Read more

June 22, 2009

Composition Matters: Multi-Context Informal Mentoring Networks for Low-Income Urban Adolescent Girls Pursuing Healthcare Careers

June 22, 2009

An article by Packard, B.W., Kim, G.J., Sicley, M., and Piontkowski, S., in Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 17:2, pp 187-200 Packard et al investigate the way in which mentoring networks influence teenage girls in choosing healthcare as a potential career. The authors find that girls who are from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit greatly from […]

Read more

June 22, 2009

Informal Mentors and Education: Complementary or Compensatory Resources?

June 22, 2009

A report by Lance D. Erickson, Steve McDonald and Glen H. Elder, Jr. Sociology of Education 82: 344-67 This article gives findings from a study of the effect of informal mentoring on the educational attainment of adolescents and relates this to inequalities in socio-economic background and personal, interactional and environmental resources upon which young people […]

Read more