“I Just Wanted to Leave School and Get a Job”: Improving Transitions for Young People Leaving Education Early

This paper examines the post-16 transitions of young people (aged 16-20 years) who choose to look for paid employment or apprenticeships after year 11 (when aged 16), instead of staying on at school or going to a further education college. We examine: i) the factors that drive their decisions; and ii) the inequalities in their access to vocational education and training opportunities, employment and the resources available to help them make and exercise career and employment choices that are meaningful to them.

It draws on data produced as part of ‘Young Lives, Young Futures’, an ESRC mixed-methods longitudinal study of the school-to-work transitions of young people in England who do not attend university. The study comprises a three-wave survey of approximately 10,000 young people, longitudinal interviews with 123 young people in four contrasting local authority areas, and interviews with local policymakers and practitioners working in the same four local authority areas. We use a subset of the data for this paper: specifically, two waves of qualitative interviews with 21 young people and 1,352 survey respondents (22% of our survey sample) who have left full-time education at 16. They have diverse class, gender, sexuality, racial, ethnic, (dis)ability and health characteristics and are located in different parts of England. We also draw on insights from interviews with policy makers and practitioners involved in supporting youth transitions.

While the particular group of young people with which this paper is concerned are united in their aversion towards continuing in education and the majority are considered ‘low attainers’, they are not a homogeneous group. Adopting an ecologies-inequalities framework, our findings illustrate how their post-16 trajectories differ significantly based on intersections of school experiences, class, ‘race’, ethnicity, gender, learning disabilities, mental and physical health conditions, and the available support and opportunities in their local areas.