Precarious pathways to employment for young people? Unpaid, temporary and involuntary part-time work in transitions
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Institute for Employment Research
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
Cooper M
(2019)
La securite sociale: a 70 ans - une idee neuve?
Mizen P
(2020)
Agents of transition? Young workers experiences of using private employment agencies in three Midlands cities
in Journal of Youth Studies
Purcell K
(2017)
Present tense, Future Imperfect? Young people's pathways into work
Whiteside N
(2019)
Casual Employment and Its Consequences: A Historical Appraisal of Recent Labour Market Trends
in Historical Studies in Industrial Relations
Whiteside N
(2017)
"Flexible employment and casual labour: a historical perpective o labour market policy
in History and Policy
Whiteside, N
(2019)
State policy and employment regulation in Britain: an historical perspective
in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LABOUR LAW AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
| Description | 1. There is evidence of clear polarisation of employment and career development opportunities among young people. Those with solid educational or vocational backgrounds, with the knowledge and confidence to seek out career opportunities and convince employers of their potential value contrasted markedly with job-seekers who enter low-skilled, low-paid jobs, very often on short-term contracts, offering temporary and/or zero hours work and with few opportunities for progression. The former mainly gained access to career opportunities and social integration, more often in secure occupations with good conditions of employment with career development, and their interests likely to be defended by trades unions or professional associations. The latter had mainly embarked on precarious and unpredictable working lives with poor prospects. 2. The current youth labour market in the Midlands is a buyers' market, despite employer reports of difficulties in finding suitable candidates to fill some vacancies. The picture is not altogether bleak. We found many respondents, particularly those who had higher education or vocational qualifications, were enthusiastic about opportunities in industries such as media and engineering. Nevertheless, we identified a shortfall in sustainable entry-level jobs for young graduates, school and college-leavers, with those with good educational and vocational qualifications at an advantage compared to those who, for reasons outlined in this report, have been unable to develop their potential and acquire marketable skills, thus lacking the confidence to identify and pursue opportunities and to present themselves to employers as 'work-ready'. 3. There is a shortfall in access to adequate advice and guidance as school students. This was a theme that ran through many of the graduate and virtually all of the non-graduate rand many of the graduates' accounts. This was also noted by the employers. Those who had had access to excellent careers guidance and came from families who were able to help and advise them, and sometimes open doors to opportunities, were at an enormous advantage. Our evidence leaves no doubt that achievement and attitudes are related to earlier social and educational advantages and disadvantages; the family and community support and the quality of education; and careers guidance to which they had access. 4. Regional location affects access to opportunities and graduates had access (in theory at least) to a wider range of options than non-graduates. We spoke to graduates who had been able to build their career profiles by commuting widely within the Midlands and beyond while still living there, and those who had moved to obtain employment in other areas, clearly seeing themselves in a national and in some cases international labour market. Those with few marketable skills most often saw themselves as confined to their local labour market, where the time and costs associated with travelling across their city to work in insecure and low-paid work made but short distance travel infeasible. 5. Work experience, especially voluntary work, prior to entry to paid work is pretty much a prerequisite for all but the lowest-skilled, lowest paid jobs - and even there, those who had work experience were more likely to have been recruited. 6. Young people who had had paid work experience and internships were generally enthusiastic about its value to them personally and professionally, and the majority of those who had done unpaid work experience, with the exception of some who had experienced mandatory work experience as a condition of receiving unemployment benefits, also regarded it as having been beneficial to them, enabling them to gain skills and experience that led to career opportunities. 7. Good quality unpaid placements are limited in supply, because many employers tell us that although they are beneficial to them in terms of screening for potential recruits and assisting in work processes, they are also resource intensive. We found little evidence of employers exploiting graduates or other young people by using them as free labour to do routine work, but some experiences were definitely more valuable than others and provided more direct routes to paid work. 8. The main problem is that unpaid or low paid work experience, especially for many of the most attractive occupations for graduates and non-graduates alike, is rarely accessible to those without family support. While it is easy to understand why employers in the voluntary sector and other areas dependent on public sector funding or subsidies, such as in the arts and heritage industries, find it difficult to offer payment to volunteers and those seeking work experience, it is less clear why others, such as legal profession employers, and the more lucrative areas of media and business services, such as public relations and advertising, cannot cover the living costs of young people willing to work for them in order to gain experience and knowledge that will advantage them in their future job-seeking efforts. 9. Young people are rarely responsible for failure to access opportunities. A strong finding was the commitment and persistence of the majority of the young people we spoke to, to obtain work, training and educational qualifications, however difficult their job-seeking experiences had been. The problem was that for many of those without educational or vocational qualifications, insecure zero-hours work was the only employment on offer, and for too many graduates and those who had achieved vocational qualifications, there was a shortfall in the supply of sustainable employment that required their knowledge and skills . 10. 'Who you know' is important, and this erodes progress towards equal opportunities. The impact of proactivity and persistence invariably paid off in approaching employers for work experience and even employment in some cases. But having insider knowledge, mentors or contacts who could mediate on their behalf or advise them how to approach organisations and who to make contact with, was disconcertingly often part of the explanation for successful access to opportunities. 11. Recruitment and labour supply agencies have become part of the labour market establishment and are particularly important for young labour market entrants. Partnerships with agencies were valued by several of the employers we studied and they were seen as a normal (and sometimes the main) source of employment, whether career-related or temporary, by most of the young people. At their best, they do an excellent job for clients and job-seekers, many providing advice, guidance and skills development that goes beyond simple filling of vacancies and matching of jobs to applicants - but in a crowded marketplace, many were reported to be inefficient and more interested in quick turnover than taking considered account of their clients' needs or in helping the more challenging applicants to recognise and meet employability standards. 12. Job centres, faced with limited resources, rarely had much to offer young people. They are scarcely used by employers for core jobs, inescapably working alongside commercial agencies, faced huge challenges in attempting to meet financial and performance targets. 13. The Third Sector appeared to be the only stakeholder group exhibiting a strong commitment to working with the young people who most needed help, information and guidance in the transition from education to work, but their own ability to operate is dependent upon success in fund-raising, largely from public sources, to support their activities. 14. Inequalities of opportunity among young people in the Midlands are getting wider, and there is every indication that this is a more widespread trend. Viewed in historical perspective, transitions from education to employment have changed profoundly, and the current balance of opportunities, labour market and social welfare policies and practices have been increasing the gap between young people who are able to integrate smoothly into the labour market and wider society and those who are not. Labour market change has been fundamental: the decline of permanent work contracts has had a profound impact in the Midlands where such employment - especially in manufacturing - was so well established by the middle years of the twentieth century. The advent of 'flexible' employment risks reviving the casual labour markets found in Britain's major commercial centres before 1914. Then as now, those with networks and skills enjoy the liberty to pick and choose between jobs on offer. The unqualified, in contrast, live a hand-to-mouth existence, unable to save, vulnerable to debt and are in danger of forming a permanent clientele for public assistance. Then as now, poverty creates sickness (both mental and physical) and sickness poverty, reinforcing cycles of deprivation and social degeneration. Without adequate resources and realistic timescales, the involvement of voluntary agencies in delivering highly specified placement targets does not allow more complex needs found among the young unemployed to be addressed. The social and economic consequences of casual working stimulated the first national labour market reforms before 1914. Yet this is the type of employment that is now being actively encouraged by work activation programmes for the young people entering employment today. 15. Many of the problems encountered by young job-seekers derive from the segmentation of work. Even the most progressive and ethical employers we interviewed perceived themselves as constrained by market forces, often with little alternative but to concentrate their training and staff development investment on their core staff and control additional labour costs as tightly as possible, without consideration of the wider social impact and future costs to the community. Most of our findings in relation to employment flexibility, positive and negative, were recognised and discussed in detail in the Taylor Report, but in that investigation, the implications for young people were not addressed. The research findings from this project document the situation for young labour market entrants where we find a significant proportion confined to the least acceptable options offered by 'the gig economy'. |
| Exploitation Route | This research has been of interest to employment and education policymakers from the outset of the research, and we have already been invited to contribute to practitioner events, for example to a Future of Work Inquiry event organised by the leading accountancy firm (Grant Thornton), and invited to consultations and to present our findings by youth labour market stakeholder organisations (for example Universities UK, The Prince's Trust and Coventry Youth Partnership). Thus, the initial findings have already been discussed in a range of key stakeholder groups and there are plans to continue to disseminate to these audiences. We already have small add-on projects and are working with young people and those who work with them in the transition from education to employment to build on our findings, and have presented findings to practitioner and academic audiences since the end of the project, as recorded under appropriate ResearchFish headings. The materials developed on the add-on projects are designed to be demonstrated by team members to those who work with young people in public sector and third sector organisations, and made available to those who work in such organisations for subsequent independent use. We hope that policymakers, employers groups and carers advisers will continue to use our materials and findings to generate change in practice and policy in their work with young people , and organisation of recruitment, employee development, training and careers guidance. In addition to the organisations we are already working with, we are collaborating with representatives of the CIPD, the TUC, The Prince's Trust and other third sector organisations working with young people, local government policymakers and practitioners, careers advisory professionals and the recently-constituted progressive employers group(PEG), to generate wider discussion of our findings. We need further resources to do all of this more systematically and effectively and are working to obtain further support and members of the team will be seeking funding from stakeholder groups and the appropriate research agencies. Our findings are of potential interest to all the organisations below because they concern recruitment , training and employment policies and human resource management. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Electronics,Energy,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Pharmace |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/presenttensefutureimperfect__final.pdf |
| Description | This research was designed as a regionally-focused study of how young people, across the spectrum of ability and achievement, make the transition from education to employment, to identify the information, guidance and opportunities available to them to integrate into the labour market and into productive adult life. The interdisciplinary approach that we took and the inclusion of sub-projects researching the experiences and perspectives of young people themselves (with separate but related interview programmes with both school and college final year students and leavers, and with recent graduates, employers and other regional stakeholders: local government officers, job centre staff, commercial agency managers and placement officers, other careers advisers and professionals working with young people, enabled us to examine issues such as the growing importance of work experience and unpaid work in young people's transitions from multi-faceted perspectives. The research also included detailed examination of inter-regional variation, historical comparison of experiences and policy interventions in comparable earlier recessionary periods. From the outset of this project, we sought to engage with regional and national stakeholders in the youth labour market, to draw on their expertise, facilitate access to respondents whose experiences we sought to document and analyse, disseminate and debate our emerging findings. The research generated considerable interest and generated debate among diverse stakeholder groups within the Midlands Youth Labour market, as exemplified in our Midlands Youth Labour Market Forum (MYLMF) meetings and persuading senior non-academic policymakers and practitioners to contribute to these and share our research questions and research findings, as they emerged. We became increasingly confident that in providing the information we uncovered in our interviews, we shifted the nature of the debate and enabled participants to form relationships that are leading to further collaborative work beyond this boundaries of this project. We report examples of impact-generating engagement with young people and those who work with them in appropriate sections of this this award record. Three examples that we would like to draw attention to are: i) Stakeholders who became involved in the MYLMF from local government, the TUC and voluntary sector professionals such as Jonathan Dawson, Head of Talent Match (the employment focused arm of the Prince's Trust) have worked with us to apply for and gain supplementary funding to produce a video and information booklet for young people leaving education, and continue to support our outreach activities; ii)John Mortimer, Group CEO and founder of Angela Mortimer Plc, attended all three of the annual Midlands Youth Labour Market Forums and the final Stakeholders' Workshop, contributed to debates throughout, and has subsequently set up a Progressive Employers Group (PEG) , to which we have been invited to contribute. iii) Having had two meetings in summer with the Executive and then full membership of the Coventry Secondary School Heads Partnership, we are currently awaiting further communication that may lead to funded collaborative work that will include dissemination of our findings to all state school students in their final two years of school. We report examples of impact-generating engagement with young people and those who work with them in appropriate sections of this this award record. There is scope to amplify the impact of the research, by engaging in more activity and applying for further funding to do so. Despite a very successful final Stakeholders' Workshop on 28th September 2017 at the end of the project, with Matthew Taylor, CEO of The RSA and Committee Chair and lead author of the government's review of modern working practices in the UK: Good Work ('The Taylor Review) chairing the event'; to which national as well as regional stakeholders were invited, the strongest impact was a regionally,wit several national delegates who had accepted the invitation failing to attend on the day. Those who attended were keen to work with us to take our findings forward, so we have largely concentrated on these regional opportunities. The main obstacle to achieving further impact is lack of resources. The hard reality is that none of the researchers who worked on the project is funded to do the work that this would require. The PI, Professor Purcell, is an emeritus professor who continues to work unpaid to on promoting the findings nd working with local stakeholders, with occasional support from Professor Peter Elias, also essentially retired, and Professor Phil Mizen at Aston university, whose priorities have to be teaching, research, administration, publication and generating research funding his current post rather than impact-generating dissemination activities for completed research. The funding for the only full-time researcher on the project, Dr Arlene Robertson, ended in December 2017 and she was forced to obtain employment outside academia in the short term, at least, in order to subsist. Arlene and all members of the team continue to liaise and work together to complete papers for academic journal publication, as their academic roles require. I am not aware of an ESRC funding source that would enable us to resource further dissemination activities, but would be interested to know if any such opportunities exist, and prepared to invest time and effort in applying for such funding. There is substantial interest in extending some of the recent engagement activities in Birmingham and Leicester, and in other UK locations, with potential collaborative partners willing to work with us and make 'in kind' and sometimes financial contributions, but we require resources to follow up these opportunities. Although Social Services activities with young people, and consequently, numbers of staff working with them, have been cut over the last year (so that, for example, one of the youth groups with whom Professor Mizen met to present the follow-up findings from the project is now no longer supported), we are continuing to engage with the Coventry Head Teachers Partnership Executive and working with them to plan a one-day workshop for secondary Heads to develop this further in schools. We also regularly engage with the Midlands-based Progressive Employers' Group ( e.g.https://www.progressive-employers-group.co.uk/ ) set up by John Mortimer, CEO of Angela Mortimer, who attended and contributed to all our Midlands Youth Market Labour market Forum, members of the Paths2Work team have attended and contributed to their meetings and possible funded research on their behalf has been discussed with them, so far without solid progress. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | ACAS Midlands training event for employers |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Presented at a training event for small and medium sized enterprises around recruiting and managing young workers. 20 attendees from the sectors indicated above. Other speakers were from companies presenting information about their experiences hiring apprentices, using work experience for young people etc. |
| URL | http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5410 |
| Description | Invited presentation to House of Lords Select Commitee on Social Mobility (London) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/social-mobility-l-c... |
| Description | Submission of written evidence to House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/social-mobility/publication... |
| Description | Aston University Internal Research Impact Support |
| Amount | £500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Aston University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2015 |
| End | 12/2015 |
| Description | ESRC Impact Acceleration Account |
| Amount | £10,499 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/M500434/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2017 |
| End | 03/2018 |
| Description | Employer engagement with apprenticeships in Scotland |
| Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | U12523 |
| Organisation | Skills Development Scotland |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2018 |
| End | 08/2022 |
| Description | Fellowship - Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) |
| Amount | £32,694 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Scottish Parliament |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 09/2020 |
| Description | IAS Delivering Results Award Scheme |
| Amount | £2,750 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | IAS/23021/16 |
| Organisation | University of Warwick |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2017 |
| End | 07/2018 |
| Description | Impact Fund |
| Amount | £470 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Department | College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2016 |
| End | 11/2016 |
| Description | Tender to conduct research on The impact of the Youth Obligation on disadvantaged young people - Manchester extension |
| Amount | £9,957 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 6346437-2 |
| Organisation | Centrepoint |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2017 |
| End | 11/2018 |
| Description | The impact of the Youth Obligation on disadvantaged young people - c.f. https://www.youthemployment.org.uk/youth-obligation-is-here/ |
| Amount | £122,509 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Trust for London |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2017 |
| End | 11/2018 |
| Description | Warwick University Research Impact Acceleration Scheme |
| Amount | £470 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2014 |
| End | 12/2014 |
| Title | Futuretrack sub-sample of 2009/10 Midlands Graduates |
| Description | A subsample of the HECSU and IER Warwick-funded SPSS longitudinal 2006-12 survey was selected in order to conduct analyses of the responses and subsequent career histories of three categories of respondent from these cohorts: Midlands domiciled 2005-6 matriculating students, graduates who had studied inMidlands Universities and HE colleges and graduates from the cohort who were active in the Midlands labour market at the time of the Stage 4 Futuretrack survey in 2011-12, in order to select a sub-sample for telephone interview. Responses from members of this subsample have been linked to telephone interview data collected during telephone interviews with 100 of them, analyses using the NVIVO software package, and the merged data are still being analysed. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | It enables us to analyse and relate longitudinal quantitative data with subsequent qualitative and quantitative data data collected. This has enabled us to update the work and life history data for a sample of 100 very well documented case study graduates, thus updating their career trajectories in relation to their demographic, educational and socio-economic characteristics. and assess the reflexive impacts of these and of their attitudes on their experiences and the cumulative impact of postitive and negative characteristics and experiences. It facilitates very powerful mixed-methods research. |
| Title | Midlands graduates Interview sample |
| Description | This is an NViVO qualitative research database containing coded interviews with 103 graduates, from detailed semi-structured telephone interviews lasting on average 40 minutes, where respondents were asked about the impact of their higher education experience on their career decision-making, the opportunities and obstacles they encountered after graduation, their experience of post-graduate education and training, job-seeking and experience of both paid and unpaid work in their early career trajectories, and their career attitudes and aspirations. The respondents were assured that their responses would be treated in confidence, the questions asked were mainly open-ended and the responses contain a great deal of information that has required to be anonymised for presented in reports and publications. it is difficult to see how it could be made more widely available to researchers without compromising research ethics. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Because a substantial proportion of the questions asked had been used previously by the PI in interviews withe earlier cohorts of graduates who completed undergraduate courses in 1995 and 1999, the 2016-17 responses can be compared with these. The comparison provides fascinating information about change in how recent graduates experience labour market entry, the structure of opportunities for graduates and the way in which organisational structures and employers' recruitment and labour resourcing policies and practices have changed, and affect the relationship between education and employment. |
| Title | School and college-leavers' interviews |
| Description | NVIVO database containing the transcribed face-to-face individual and group interviews with young people who did not go into higher education (16-24 year olds) in Birmingham, Coventry and Leicester, accessed through schools, FE colleges and local organisations working with young people who did not go into higher education in the transition from education to employment. Again, this database contains detailed personal information that is difficult to anonymise without compromising its quality or the terms of commitment given to respondents who had agreed to participate. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | By developing parallel questions to those asked of the graduate sub-sample, it provides insight into the impact of relative advantage and disadvantage both within the sample itself and in relation to the sample who had had the advantage of higher education. |
| Description | British Council/FAPESP Newton Researcher Links Workshop on Pathways to Social and Economic Welfare, Brasilia December 5-9 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on the research to British Council Funded Anglo - Brazilian post doctoral research workshop on 'Researching inequalities and obstacles to opportunity - precarious pathways to employment for young people' including engagement with Brazilian policy and practitioner delegates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | British Sociological Association Annual Conference 2016 Global Societies, Fragmenting and Connecting, Wednesday 6 - Friday 8 April 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper by Kate Purcell and Charikleia Tzanakou on 'Assessing the impact of unpaid work, work experience - and paid and unpaid internships - on Early Graduate Careers, presented by Kate Purcell as part of a consortium session on the role of internships in graduate transitions from education to employment. This led to very stimulating discussions among a range of researchers from other projects and resulted in a follow up workshop between the Paths2Work team and the Leverhulme Trust - funded project 'Paired Peers' research team, based in Bristol, which is leading to further collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event/ |
| Description | Careers Education, Information and Guidance (CEIAG) Hub, Leicester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 20 Careers Advisers plus local government officers and teachers with responsibility for careers within their schools attended a 'Continuing Professional Development' event, on 1st March 2016, where the research was outlined. This led to a question and answer session, and general discussion, after which several participants volunteered to facilitate research access to young people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Conference paper given at XIX World Congress of Sociology, Toronto |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Phil Mizen gave a joint paper entitled 'Precarious beginnings: how working class kids still get working class jobs', at the annual meeting of the World Congress, held in Toronto from July 15-21.The paper presented findings from the research as part of an emerging collaboration with professor Alan France, professor of Sociology at the University of Aukland, new Zealand, exploring comparative transitions to precarious employment. The joint work is being written up for publication. The session attracted an audience of approximately 60 people and is likely to lead to further collaborative international work with academic researchers working on the same internationally relevant and highly-topical subject of social inequality and barriers to social mobility. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
| URL | https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/world-congress/toronto-2018/ |
| Description | Conference paper given by Kate Purcell at the BSA Work Employment and Society 2018 conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Purcell presented findings at from the Paths2Work research at The British Sociological Association 'Work Employment and Society: Putting Sociology to Work' conference on 13th September 2018, held at the Europa Hotel,Belfast: a draft paper being written by her with Dr Arlene Robertson, Dr Charleika Tzanakou and Professor Phil Mizen entitles 'Agency and agencies: the On behalf of the researchers who worked on the interview programmes with young people in the Midlands, Professor Kate Purcell presented findings from the Paths2Work interviews at The British Sociological Association Work Employment and Society: Putting Sociology to Work conference, held at the Europa Hotel Belfast from 12 - 14 September. The paper 'Agency and agencies - the role of intermediaries in young people's transitions into employment' was co-authored with Dr Arlene Robertson, Dr Charikleia Tzanakou and Professor Phil Mizen and is being revised for submission to a mainstream sociology journal. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event/wes_belfast_2018_final.pdf |
| Description | Coventry City Council workshop with young people to pilot short video and toolkit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was attended by 12 young people (aged 14 - 20), including some already in employment, apprenticeships, in school or spending gap years between school and university, and three members of the Paths2Work research team (Kate Purcell, Peter Elias and Arlene Robertson). The purpose of the workshop was to pilot two resources - a short video and a toolkit - which draw on Paths2work research findings. During the workshop, participants were asked to review the resources, to provide suggestions for improvement of the Toolkit and dissemination ideas aimed at ensuring that it reaches the target audience (young school/college leavers). Drawing on comments and suggestions made by the young people during the workshop, some modifications (to content and design) were subsequently made to the toolkit. The group discussions also sparked ideas for additional impact activities involving employers and other stakeholders, and funding is now being sought in this respect. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | ESRC Festival of Social Science - University of Sussex |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at University of Sussex organised event for ESRC Festival of Social Science. 8th November 2017 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-helps-young-people-find-work-tickets-36000735168?ref=estw# |
| Description | Engagement with disadvantaged young people at Social Services youth support group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Phillip Mizen attended a Youth Services group for disadvantaged young people (homeless or unemployed), to meet with these people and provide materials and advice deriving from the research findings and experiences of young people interviewed in the course of the project. There was some interest from the young people, who had little experience of such initiatives. it was held in a unit for young people with support needs ( See http://www.midlandheart.org.uk/find-a-home/homes-with-support-search/coventry-foyer/). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://valleyhouse.org.uk/youth/ |
| Description | International Labour Process Conference, Berlin 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper on 'Self-employment among graduates: a new flexibility?' by Charikleia Tzanakou and Kate Purcell, presented by Dr Tzanakou at International Labour Process Conference in Berlin. The paper generated considerable interest and as a result of discussion, has been substantially rewritten and will be submitted for journal publication in Spring 2017. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event/self-employment_among_graduates_ct_kp_... |
| Description | Invitation to feed project findings into a discussion designed to inform the development of a report on The Future of Work, prepared by Grant Thornton. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This was an invitation to attend a working dinner, sponsored by Grant Thornton, one of the five most prestigious accounting firms in the world. The event brought together influential leaders from the private, public, and third sectors to discuss, what can employers do to better serve their employees and their customers in this changing work environment? What will the new working life and career look like? The priorities of businesses in the 21st century will transform and technology will drive massive change - how do organisations in the public, private and third sectors prepare for this? The dinner formed part of Grant Thornton's Future of Work Inquiry - an investigation across the UK into what future trends hold which ultimately feeds into the bigger picture of working with the private, public and third sector to shape a vibrant economy. Participants questioned how the research was conducted and were impressed with the scale of the project. They were attentive and asked for further details about the research findings, which were described as corroborating what was felt by many to be a difficult situation for young people moving into the labour market in the West Midlands. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.grantthornton.co.uk/insights/the-future-of-work-how-do-we-make-it-work/ |
| Description | Leicester 13-19 partnership Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This presentation on 11 June 2015 informed key stakeholders involved in providing guidance to young people on their transition from education to employment. The group included the Director of Childrens' Services, four college principals, three head teachers, and representatives from the Leicester LEP, the City Council Economic Development Department, Leicester University, the Education Business Company, Connexions, a training provider and other officers from Education and Young People at Leicester City Council. The Director of Childrens' Services reported that the event had highlighted issues that the partnership would explore further and the group made suggestions about the direction of the research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Letter published in The Guardian and subsequent newsletter dissemination |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A letter written by Professor Kate Purcell in response to an article about growing age inequalities that did not mention the disproportionate impact of this on young people was published by the Guardian on 19th October. Commenting on an article discussing pay volatility she noted that young people were most likely to be working on zero-hours contracts. News about this was also disseminated through the October edition of the monthly IER Newsletter, sent to policymakers, employers, academic researchers and other labour market stakeholders who subscribe to it. See https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/aboutier/newsletter/2018_october |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/19/youth-held-back-by-zero-hours-system?CMP=share_btn_l... |
| Description | Meeting with Adam Suddaby, and Anna Cyhan, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership on 18 August 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Meeting between Anna Cyhan (Economic Growth and Investment Officer, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership), Adam Suddaby (Strategic Lead 13 - 19 programme, Leicester City Council) and team members to discuss possible employer contacts for participation in sectoral case studies. As a result of the meeting, contact was successfully established with a several employers, across various sectors, who agreed to participate in the research case studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Meeting with Adam Suddaby, OBE, former Vice-Principal of Leicester City College and Policy Advisor on 14-19 education to Leicester City Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of emerging findings to a key stakeholder and gatekeeper on 19th May 2015, with the aim of providing information and gaining support for further activity in the region. This was part of continuing discussion to share information about employment opportunities for young people to feed into policy discussions and project development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Meeting with Glenn Robinson, Warwickshire County Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Glenn Robinson is the Skills for Employment Programme Manager in Warwick Country Council's Economic Growth (Communities) Department and he is responsible managing a 3-year programme (2.4 million: 700,000 a year for each year until March 31st 2018). The meeting on 2nd April 2015 was arranged at his initiative, to discuss common interests and possible collaborative relations between the Paths2Work team and the WCC team working on the youth labour market programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Meeting with Ian Jelley, Head of Operations, Fair Train |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Meeting on 3rd March 2016 to share information and develop links with Fair Train, a charity, employer and business who are involved in supporting work experience and work placements. As a result of the meeting the team have agreed to contribute to work experience awareness raising activities during work experience week in October 2016. Ian Jelley also agreed to act as a gatekeeper to employers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Meeting with Lee Barron, Regional Secretary, TUC, between Kate Purcell, Arlene Robertson and David Wilson, January 12th 2017. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Meeting of TUC Regional Secretary with team members to discuss progress on the research, his experience and knowledge of employers' recruitment and deployment of young people, particularly in non-standard jobs. He provided very useful identification of possible case study organisations and fieldwork contacts, and was keen to be associated with the project and provide help with dissemination activities in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Meeting with the Executive of the Coventry Secondary Teachers' Partnership |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Having contacted Ms. Kirston Nelson, Coventry City Council Director of Education and Skills, Professor Purcell was invited to attend the termly meeting of Members of the Executive Committee of the Coventry Secondary Teachers' Partnership on 18th June 2018 to discuss whether we might take forward the materials developed by members of the research team, funded under Impact Acceleration funding, with those responsible for careers information and guidance in local secondary schools. The meeting was attended by five secondary head teachers and three senior staff from the Council's Education and Skills department and Professor Purcell was given 10 minutes to explain the research, the materials developed, why the team believes that these materials fill a gap in information available to your people, why they would be valuable resource for schools, and how we would like to work with careers advisers in schools to facilitate the knowledge transfer involved. The committee was receptive to the points made and agreed that professor Purcell should be invited to demonstrate the use of the materials at the next scheduled meeting of the full Coventry Secondary Schools partnership meeting of head Teachers - covered in a subsequent entry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Midlands Trades Union Congress (TUC) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Spoke to local union officers - around 10 - about the research project. Sparked discussion and commitment to engaging in future activities - including access. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Midlands Youth Labour Market Forum 1 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Launch event for this project at the University of Warwick, on 13 November 2014, attracted 40 participants to discuss the project and their future involvement. At this event we founded the Midlands Youth Labour Market Forum in which delegates were keen to participate on an annual basis to learn about the progress of the project, and to exchange information about there own activities in this field. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event/ |
| Description | Midlands Youth Labour Market Forum 2 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Second Midlands Youth Labour Market Forum was run at Aston University on 25 November 2015 and attracted an enthusiastic audience. Presented early findings and generated discussion, debate and ideas for future links with the audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event/ |
| Description | Midlands Youth Labour Market Forum 3 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | We set up the forums at the start of the project to bring together interested local practitioners. This is the third event and the focus was to present the early findings of the sub-projects 1, 2 and 3 (historical, non-graduates and graduates). 36 participants registered along with the research team. The event generated considerable discussion which informed the research. Four presentations reporting emerging findings were presented by members of the research team, one on each of the four sub-projects, and each of these was followed by comments from an invited leading regional practitioner. Full details of the programme and PDFs of the presentations given and a summary note of the themes that emerged in the subsequent debates can be found by clicking on the link provided below. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event |
| Description | Paper presented at NordWel International Summer School 2018 by professor Noel Whiteside |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On Thursday 16th August 2018, Professor Noel Whiteside gave a paper entitled 'Social rights and moral judgement: classifying social dependency from an historical perspective', drawing on the paths2Work archival research and analyses, at the 10th NordWel International Summer School 2018 STATE, SOCIETY & CITIZEN - CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES ON WELFARE STATE DEVELOPMENT, at the University of Helsinki, Swedish School of Social Science, to an international audience of academic researchers and postgraduate students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://blogs.helsinki.fi/nord-wel/summer-school/nordwel-summer-school-2011/cfp/ |
| Description | Presentation at International Workshop Labour Market Policy and Labour Law Reform: tensions and opportunities (University of Warwick) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Noel Whiteside presented a paper at the above event, which was attended by over 50 delegates from the UK and overseas; mainly social scientists and law academic professionals and postgraduate students. The paper 'The "novelty" of gig employment: a British historical perspective', has subsequently been submitted and accepted for publication in The International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations - special issue, 2020) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/newsandevents/events/ias_wokshop_labour/ |
| Description | Presentation at REACH Partnership meeting, Leicester. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The REACH partnership consists of educational organisations in Leicester and Leicestershire that have a long tradition of working together to raise the aspirations and attainment of young people, and encourage and support learners into Higher Education [HE]. 20 practitioners (mainly careers advisers but also local universities) attended an after-school event in March 2016, where the research was presented. This led to discussion about broadening access to higher education. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Presentation at Talent Match Delivery and Planning Meeting on 19th April 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Following the involvement of the Head of Talent Match, Jonathan Dawson, throughout the project, (https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/about-the-trust/initiatives/talent-match) we were invited to attend a Delivery and Planning Meeting to which their youth advocated were also invited to attend. The Talent Match team gave us one hour in which to present the findings from Paths2Work and engage with the young people in attendance regarding the booklet prepared under the STEPP initiative. We started the meeting by playing the video, then moved straight into a discussion about the booklet. Interest in the video and the booklet was high. Given that this group had been quite critical of the earlier draft of the booklet, it was satisfying to see that they generally approved of the final version and made several suggestions about wider dissemination (through schools, Jobcentres, local authority employment initiatives and the VAC). There was some discussion about the differences in rural versus urban opportunities for young people, but the views we heard expressed by the young people in attendance was that we had identified what they saw as major obstacles to the entry of young people into work. All in all, a very satisfactory meeting which served to provide much needed information to young labour market entrants, and provided us with excellent feedback to take the dissemination activities forward.. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation at University/Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to a workshop on Labour Market Exploitation jointly organised by the Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick University, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/research/irru/wpir |
| Description | Presentation at a 'Managing an age diverse workforce' event for members of the Open University Business School Graduate Network. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presented project at an event around managing an age diverse workforce to the Open University Business School graduate network. Prompted extensive discussion including contacts for fieldwork, requests for further information and engagement with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Presentation by Professor Anne Green at the Regional Studies Association annual conference in Dublin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 20 people attended a presentation on temporal and spatial perspectives on young people's challenges in transitioning to employment. Particular interest was expressed in insights from temporal perspectives alongside spatial one and requests for further information were made. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation by Professor Anne Green to Delegation to Birmingham of Danish Trade Union Officials |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 25 trade union officials on a fact-finding tour to Birmingham at an event hosted by the University of Birmingham requested a presentation on subnational labour markets and precariousness with particular reference to the experience of young people. There was particular interest in understanding the UK experience, which was followed up by visits to various stakeholders in Birmingham. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation by Professor Noel Whiteside to the Trade Union Forum at King's College London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 6 April 2017 Noel Whiteside, Professor of Comparative Public Policy at the University of Warwick discussed flexible working now and in the past. Casual labour in the nineteenth century and zero hour contracts today have much the same downsides, and what we mean by "flexible working" today can vary, and advantage different groups. It was established at the event that there is a desire for more information on the weaknesses of the Taylor report, but it has not yet been possible to follow this up due to family circumstances (bereavement and illness). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.historyandpolicy.org/trade-union-forum/meeting/flexible-work-and-its-consequences-histori... |
| Description | Presentation of our findings from the project by Professors Kate Purcell and Peter Elias to delegates at the annual networking meeting of the Centre for Research on Employment and Work |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Keynote presentation of research findings from the project at the annual networking event of the Centre for Research on Employment and Work (CREW) meeting on 31st January 2018, at the Wolfson Research Exchange at the University of Warwick: an interdisciplinary research group open to all researchers (including postgraduate students) working on employment and work issues at the university, at other universities in the region and professionals working in relevant employment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crew |
| Description | Presentation of the project at a Coventry Partnership meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The PI was invited to give a 20 minute presentation about the project at a quarterly Coventry Partnership Meeting, Council House, Coventry on 18.06.2015. The Coventry Partnership is the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for Coventry and represents partners from the public, private, community and voluntary sectors. Approximately 60-70 representatives of these organisations attended the meeting and the OHP slides used were subsequently circulated to all members of the mailing list. The main objective, at this stage, was to raise the profile of the project with stakeholders who are also members of, or gatekeepers to, several of the research populations on which we are focusing. The presentation generated substantial interest, including offers of help to access research populations and data, and I was invited to return later in the project to report findings and enage with this audience again - possibly including at their annual conference in 2017. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.coventrypartnership.com/upload/public/documents/Coventry%20Partnership/18.06.15%20-%20F%2... |
| Description | Presentation on 'Jobs, skills and well-being: evidence from employability initiatives' at a ESRC Festival of Social Sciences event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This presentation was part of an ESRC Festival of Social Sciences event hosted by the University of Birmingham at the Midlands Arts Centre on a Saturday afternoon in early November. It was a joint event between hosted by the Institute of Mental Health and the University of Birmingham with City-REDI at the University of Birmingham. Invitees included young people, parents, postgraduate students, professionals and practitioners from the mental health support and employability arenas and focused on young people's access to employment and transitions into work. It involved presentations and group work activities. The diverse audience made for an interesting event, which sparked questions and discussion at the event and afterwards. The event consisted of a mix of presentations and group activities. Presentations from academic staff described the importance of job and life skills that support mental health and well-being in young people. Holly Moyse and Layne Boyden gave a young person's perspective on mental health, employment and education, by describing challenges they experienced when seeking employment and staying in education. The first activity was a group discussion with the aim of gathering thoughts around 1) barriers for gaining employment and getting and staying in education that young people may face and 2) barriers that businesses may face when seeking to employ young people and 3) ways to overcome those barriers. Themes that were repeatedly addressed by individual tables were: 1) • Vicious circle of lack of experience that is often required to obtain employments & lack of opportunity for gaining experience • Lack of soft skills (e.g. time management) & self-esteem, confidence, resilience, and self-motivation • Lack of pathways and knowledge about thereof • Lack of support • Financial implications (e.g. for attending university or conducting unpaid work experiences/internships) • Young people being asked to leave education due to (mental health related) lack of attendance 2) • Mismatch between skills that are taught and skills that are actually needed • Lack of experience in employing young people (e.g. how and where to recruit) • Unwillingness to take risks • Stigma associated with young people and especially those with mental health issues (e.g. viewed as unreliable) 3) • Extended internships • Mentoring (especially peer mentoring) • Youth involvement • Flexibility • Focusing on workplace well-being and work-life balance, to e.g. reduce work absence • Supported accommodation • Schools are to focus more on transferable skills • Strength-based approaches to learning and working • External and robust career service/advice • Provision of feedback and general advice/'tips' from employers • Management of expectations of every involved party Peer mentoring was a key point made not only during the group work but also emphasised during the young person's presentations. The second activity was aimed at providing a networking platform for the heterogeneous audience (e.g. young people, teachers, academics, mental health, employability and voluntary sector). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to Applied Research Conference for Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at ARC for the CIPD. Attended by CEO - Peter Cheese. Developed policy conversation about skills development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to Edge Foundation skills symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to 5th International Conference on Employer Engagement in Education and Training. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to full committee of the Coventry Secondary School Teachers Partnership |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Purcell presented key research findings and the materials produced for young people - including showing the video drawing on presentations and interviews conducted at the final Midlands Youth Labour Market Stakeholders' Consultation Workshop at the end of the project, and distributing copies of the booklet Working your way in:what young people need to know about the jobs market. All secondary Headteachers in Coventry were invited to attend and in addition to the 32 who attended, the link to the video and copies of the booklet were sent out to all those who missed the meeting. Thus, there is a copy of the booklet in all Coventry secondary schools. The audience appeared interested in the presentation and there were several excellent questions. The Chair thanked Professor Purcell and said that given the interest generated and the committee's awareness that the transition from education to employment was recognised as an increasingly important area with which schools needed to be more engaged,it was likely that they would get in touch with there research team in the autumn to explore ways in which this dissemination procedure could be taken forward and possibly collaborative work undertaken. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to the Community Intelligence Network, Birmingham City Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to Community Intelligence Network (CIN), Birmingham City Council on Wednesday 28 October 2015. CIN is a Birmingham stakeholder group convened by the Head of Inequalities Directorate at Birmingham City Council. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Presentation to the European Sociological Association |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | To disseminate the findings of the research to other academic researchers and postgraduate research students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Promotion of the research findings and distribution of copies of the booklet Working Your Way In: What young people need to know about the job market at the Godiva Festival Coventry Youth Council stall |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Following presentations to the members of the Coventry Youth Council representatives during the workshop series where members of the research team showed the video made during and following the final event of the project, that was attended by young people who had been interviewed in the course of the research and agreed to be filmed talking about their educational, careers advice and job-seeking experiences, the Youth Council team organising a stall at the Godiva Festival - the biggest free music festival in the UK that attracts very large numbers of young people every summer - agreed to distribute copies of our information booklet, Working Your Way In: What young people need to know about the job market, to attendees and to publicise our web pages. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.coventry.gov.uk/youthcouncil |
| Description | Report and Video and other outputs continues to be available on the IER Paths2Work website. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On our website it is possible to access and download copies various outputs developed throughout the project, including a short video recorded at the projects final event, the report and a booklet entitled: Working your way in: what young people need to know about the jobs market. Since the last Researchfish report, there have been 2430 visits to the website. More than 400 copies of the report and 71 copies of the booklet have been downloaded. The video is available on VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/254683073 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2020 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/ |
| Description | Stakeholder Consultation on Preliminary Findings from the ESCR funded Paths2work Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | We set up the forums at the start of the project to bring together interested stakeholders. Delegates included local practitioners, employers and young people who participated in the research. 48 individuals attended including the research team.This is the fourth event and the focus was to present the findings of the sub-projects 1, 2, 3 and 4 (historical, school/college leavers, graduates and employers). Four presentations reporting findings were presented by members of the research team, one on each of the four sub-projects, and each of these was followed by comments from an invited leading regional stakeholder Full details of the programme and PDFs of the presentations given are available at the link provided below. The event generated considerable discussion which informed further impact activities. The event was recorded and footage was subsequently used to develop a short video for use in further impact activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event/ |
| Description | Summary for professional network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Summary for newsletter for major international academic research network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://rc53isa.blogspot.co.uk |
| Description | Transitioning from education to employment presentation (Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Business Breakfast) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This was a presentation at a 'Getting the Right Skills for Work' event in central Birmingham on 20th January 2016, aimed at industry/businesses. It was an opportunity to provide an overview of trends in the West Midlands labour market and merging findings from the Paths to Work project. There was a debate following this presentation and three other from the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, a FE college and the CEO of a recruitment agency. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | University Market Insight Conference 2016 - incorporating the Market Research Skills Academy, Birmingham, 22nd November 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on 'Student work experience, "employability" and access to employment' by Kate Purcell attended by university administrators and marketing professionals from UK universities, where preliminary findings from the graduate interviews in the project were drawn on to illustrate the opportunities and obstacles available to graduates and the roles played by universities in facilitating opportunities to their graduates. The event was organised by the professional associations and held at Aston University conference centre. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Warwickshire County Council meeting to discuss youth employment trends and policies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Consultative meeting with Dave Hill, Strategic Economic Development Team Manager for Economic Growth and Communities,Warwickshire County Council, who is responsible for the team that works with local and regional organisations concerned with employment and train ng for 14-19 year oldsThe objective of the meeting e=was to explore common interests and how the Paths2Work research team can work alongside and inform the policy and practitioner communities in Warwickshire, and to inform us about local and regional initiatives being developed. it was agreed that it might be possible to amplify the scope of the project by extending it to Warwickshire at some stage and that funding might be available from the County Council to support this. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Work, Employment and Society Conference, 6-8 September, University of Leeds, 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of preliminary findings, 'Precarious Pathways? The Initial Labour Market Experiences of Young People in the Midlands of England Who Do Not (intend to) Enter Higher Education, Work, Employment and Society Conference' presented by Phil Mizen at the Work, Employment and Society 2016 conference. This generated interesting discussion which was useful for the subsequent development of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways/event/wes_2016-final1.pdf |
| Description | Workshop with members of Coventry City Council Youth Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Having interviewed a young woman doing an apprenticeship at Coventry City Council who had been elected to chair the Coventry City Youth Council, a group of young people's representatives from schools and colleges throughout the City that meets months at 6pm at the Council Chambers, we were invited to present our findings to them and show them our video and final information pack. professors Purcell, Elias and Mizen all attended and the material was very enthusiastically received and debated by the 16 members who attended - who represented a wide spectrum of young people in terms of their educational and social backgrounds, although probably more socially-engaged and articulale than young people as a whole. it was this group that recommended that we should contact head teachers and persuade schools to show use the materials, agreeing that they wished that they had know some of the information that we presented earlier in their school careers and found the experiences of the young people interviewed in the video resonated very strongly with them. The tow responsible for organising the Youth Council agreed to take several copies of our information booklet to display and discuss on their planned stall at the Godiva Festival - an annual event where relevant local groups such as the Youth Council advertise their activities to members of the general public. The Festival is a very large 3-day free music festival that attracts large numbers from Coventry and much further afield, but particularly regional families and young people.(See http://www.godivafestival.com). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |