Welcome to the June 2008 issue of the Equal works e-zine.

In this Issue

	Equal-Works
	The NEETs and the Rest
	Fire-fighting NEETs
	ASDA comes up for Ayr
	First Footings
	Family no-businesses
	What makes the difference?
	Starting early

Equal-Works

Equal-Works.com is a searchable web site offering easy access to the products, processes and good practice developed under the ESF Equal programme in Great Britain. Although Equal Development Partnerships have ceased operation, Equal-Works continues to track the outcomes, achievements and lessons learnt.

This electronic newsletter highlights some of the thousands of enlightening resources available on the site.
 

The NEETs and the Rest

In the 1970s and 1980s the Germans, the Dutch and Danes called them ‘the Rest Group’. They were the young people who were left after you’d counted the ones in schools, colleges, apprenticeships, universities and jobs. They weren’t even in the statistics.

But anyone in education or training, and many politicians, would tell you they amounted to about 10% - some claimed as much as 20% - of the 16-24 cohort.

Now we call them NEETs (not in employment, education or training), at least until someone comes up with another tag or acronym.
 

Click here to read the full article

Fire-fighting NEETs

We spend a stack of time and effort creating new organisations and structures but often there’s no need. The means of engaging the hard-to-reach is already there, and just needs wider application.

In Cheshire, the Prison Service has got together with the Fire and Rescue Service to attract ex-offenders, people with a history of drug misuse and others in obvious danger of getting stuck in the NEET group, into the fire cadets. 
 

Click here to read the full article

ASDA comes up for Ayr

Planning and co-operation between employers and colleges can reduce the NEET count, too. Ayr College, one of the partners in the Scottish Equal Employability partnership, has been working with ASDA in Girvan.

When a new store was given planning permission in 2005, the recruitment process started. There was a big local skills gap and 125 jobs to fill. Hence the jointly-run Pre-employability Retail Course – 6 weeks/16 hours a week.

For those who completed it, it was followed by recruitment support sessions.The result: 24% of the 125 jobs went to the unemployed.

Click here to find out more about Equal Employablity partnership

First Footings

How many young people just drift into the NEET group through lack of focus and lack of knowledge? We don’t know, but as Equal partnerships worked more closely with these people their assumptions about them were often challenged. 

Equal Brighton and Hove launched a range of projects. One of these, First Footings, was providing pre-employment training to help young people get into the construction industry.

They were pretty pleased when 47% completed the college-based course which offered a range of support from literacy and numeracy to a detailed introduction to the industry. They were surprised at how many had already been on courses but had dropped out of them. And they were a bit shocked at the unrealistic assumption that many made that in due course some kind of apprenticeship would be offered to them. 
 

Click here to find out more about Equal Brighton and Hove partnership

Family no-businesses

Worklessness often runs in families. The arts open a gateway to learning, and to learning about work.

That’s what APE - Arts Participation for Employability partnership run by Warwickshire’s Youth Offending Team has been all about: embedding arts-based activities within its community rehabilitation activities.

Take a look at it, among other smart features, on the Workless Households page of the Youth Offending Team’s web site.
 

Click here to find out more about APE partnership

What makes the difference?

The answer is mostly…… love. That’s if you listen to the young people talking about their lives in and out of care. It’s all part of the What Makes the Difference partnership that was getting to grips with the roots of the poor education, training and employment outcomes that hold back many young people who have been in care. Take a look at the video.

Click here to find out more about What makes the difference partnership

Starting early

Equal beneficiaries had to be post-16, but the roots of exclusion and employment are established far earlier. So a number of partnerships have been able to spend money on work with much younger people, especially those at risk. Equal Shares for All in Wales started its employment work with 14 year olds with learning disabilities. Working 1:1 with 20 pupils it helped change awareness amongemployers, brought the pupils themselves out of their comfort zones, and created a more interactive approach to vocational profiling. Result: more realistic career choices by those at real risk of joining the NEETs.

Click here to find out more about Equal Shares for All partnership