Young people's transitions in London and temporal orientations of agency

Kaori Kitagawa,Mabel Encinas

doi:10.18546/lre.12.1.08

Abstract

This article presents findings from the Changing Youth Labour Markets and Schools to Work Transitions in Modern Britain projects undertaken between 2009 and 2010. The projects examined young people's experiences and perceptions about study, work, and the future while going through transitions. The target group was young people on vocational courses at further education colleges in London aged between 18 and 24. This group is an under-researched cohort, who is neither NEET nor following 'tidy' pathways. We apply the conceptual framework of temporal orientations of agency, originally proposed by Emirbayer and Mische (1998). We discuss the interplay between young people's agency and the contexts in which they live.

Highlights

A number of authors have demonstrated the complexity and diversity of young people’s transitions
This article aims to tease out how young people make choices and decisions during complex transitions and to explore whether transitions of FE college students could be categorized into certain types, drawing on the concept of ‘agency’ which has been widely discussed in youth transition studies
The research design was to conduct a questionnaire survey of 400 respondents, followed by another questionnaire survey a year later with the same cohort with a target sample of 200 respondents, with a view to examining the transitions that those 200 had made.Young people between 18 and 24 were recruited from four FE colleges in London.The following criteria were set to obtain an overall picture of young people who were on vocational courses at FE colleges

Summary

Introduction

A number of authors have demonstrated the complexity and diversity of young people’s transitions (for example, Furlong and Cartmel, 2007; Ball et al, 2000; Bloomer and Hodkinson, 1997, 1999; Hodkinson et al, 1996). Their focuses may vary, it has been a common understanding among scholars that transitions are a political concern in the UK. The research followed up the same cohort a year later to examine diverse transition processes through interviews.This article’s focus is on the discussion of the qualitative findings from those interviews.The research captured authentic voices of young people who were in the middle of the transition from an FE college to employment or further study

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion