Supporting education to employment transitions in England

Overview

We wanted to better understand the experiences of marginalised young people as they transition from education and training into good work.

To do this, we commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies to map national, devolved, regional and local-level support systems in England for young people with:

• special educational needs and disabilities
• experience of the care system
• mental ill-health
• and/or experience of the criminal justice system

By highlighting the support landscape’s complexities and gaps, the report is intended to:

1. help inform policymakers, funders and employers
2. contribute to ongoing discussions around best practice in supporting marginalised groups of young people transition from employment and training into good work

Key insights

Existing conditions identified below create potential ‘postcode lotteries’ with support that is often short-term and difficult to navigate, leaving many young people facing confusing pathways, especially at key transition points.

Implications

To build a more coherent, stable and equitable system, consideration must be paid to:

• Centering young people’s lived experience in policy and practice
• Balancing local flexibility with national consistency, ensuring that promising approaches to support can be scaled up, while ensuring responsiveness to local needs.
• Investing in navigation support, workforce capacity and integrated provision

The Youth Guarantee Trailblazer place-based pilots offer a potential model for coordinated actions that include national strategy, local leadership and youth voice.