THE FORGOTTEN HALF!

Having listened to Ed Miliband's speech this afternoon I was reminded of the DEMOS report 'The Forgotten Half' which suggested how we might create provision to meet the needs of those young people who aren't suited by the academic pathway from school to university. 

There is no disagreement that we must work harder to address the needs of young people under-achieving or achieving very little after eleven years of statutory education. We also need to tackle the provision for those not in education, employment and training and ensure that we continue to improve learning for all our students? The report highlights the fact that young people need to gain access to as many as possible of five proven labour market ‘premiums’ that certain forms of experience, knowledge and skills can yield:

• The character premium — capabilities and ‘soft skills’ such as the ability to communicate effectively, apply oneself to a task, commit to long-term goals, and work effectively in a team; 
• The literacy and numeracy premium — literacy and numeracy skills boost earnings and employment rates, all other things being equal. 
• The work premium — work is the best way to build employability skills, and early experiences of work lead to more employment over life. 
• The technical premium — training and education to level 3 (A-levels or equivalent) yields a substantial wage return—for example, completing a level 3 apprenticeship or qualification can yield wage returns similar to university degrees. 
• The graduate premium — graduates (on average) gain a wage premium of £100,000 over the course of their lives.

The report argues that we need to develop a school system that puts in place the learning and preparation for employment that enables young people to make a smooth transition to work. Their recommendations are:

• Start early; 
• Improve the secondary school/college offer;
• Inject ‘character’ into the curriculum; 
• Provide better and broader school assessment;
• Improve the vocational offer; 
• Provide coordinated, high quality one-to-one support; 
• Open up schools to employer engagement; 
• Improve work experience;
• Improve information, advice and guidance; 
• Improve opportunities for employment and work-based training; 
• Rebalance the labour market in favour of young people.

Everyone should read this report and if you are interested you can download a free copy from the DEMOS website at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications.
Chris