Disadvantaged Young People Research Articles

Organisational Social Mobility Programmes as Mechanisms of Power and Control

Successive UK governments have blamed poor rates of relative social mobility on the tendency of elite occupations to exclude according to social class. Organisational programmes implemented in response aim to identify talented young people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds, help them identify as ‘legitimate’ professionals, and equip them with relevant knowledge and skills. Based on interviews with 35 participants in one programme and drawing on Foucauldian perspectives on governmentality and disciplinary power, the current study explores how these programmes may reproduce inequalities rather than challenge the status quo. It shows how a dominant discourse of merit invites participants to adopt a subject position that conforms with an idealised professional identity and how they shape their conduct in response. The core contribution is to suggest that social mobility initiatives framed by organisations as mechanisms to empower disadvantaged young people, might be read as expressions of neo-liberal governmentality, unequal power and corporate control.

Facilitating educational opportunities and raised self-esteem in disadvantaged young people in South East Wales: Effects of the Junior Rock Music Academy widening participation programme

This study examined the effects of the Junior Rock Music Academy (JRMA) on participants’ (N = 39) confidence and self-esteem. The JRMA was a widening participation Saturday music programme developed to reduce the influences of poverty on educational underachievement for young people (10–18 years) from poorer families across South East Wales. Participants’ confidence and self-esteem scores reported a significant rise, with no significant difference reported between genders or age groups. Participants (N = 5), programme tutors (N = 3) and participant parents/guardians (N = 4) were interviewed using semi-structured interviews to establish the fidelity of the structure and content of the intervention. The impact of JRMA on the psychosocial, cultural and emotional characteristics of participants and their parents/guardians as barriers to educational attainment and preparedness to thrive in education are discussed; these include enhanced cognitive development, social and emotional skills and learner motivation.

Education, inequality and social mobility: Key findings from three case studies

This paper reports the findings of the authors' three case studies of school and undergraduate student aspirations and progression pathways, and examines the implications for current policy and research in relation to social mobility. The studies challenge the government's preference for individualist, education-based solutions to the problems of social justice, including the under-representation of disadvantaged young people in elite universities and workplaces. They argue that the individualist perspective grossly underestimates the role of underlying structures, including social class, and the influence of families, through transmitted economic, social and cultural capital. Large-scale quantitative studies tend to compound this bias by measuring social mobility in terms of male income progression, and by neglecting the contribution of women and family networks to social fluidity. Entrenched patterns of advantage and disadvantage are likely to persist until there is a determined and consistent effort to pursue the logic of the 2010 Equality Act, especially by bringing the socio-economic duty into force and ensuring that every employer complies with its requirements. Education alone is not enough.

Is violence ever right? Moral reasoning about violence among youngsters belonging to gangs and peacebuilding groups.

Objective: We investigate cultural group-level understandings of violence and their connections to individual moral reasoning about violence among disadvantaged young people belonging to gangs (n = 33) and peacebuilding (n = 30) groups. Methods: Drawing from in-depth interviews in two low-income neighborhoods in Colombia, we use thematic analysis to explore and compare group-level understandings of violence-entailing definitions of violence, causal attributions of violence, and strategies to handle violence in everyday life-by type of youth group. Next, we use a chi-square analysis to assess between-group differences in proportion of participants endorsing morality of violence according to eight potential moral violence triggers. Results: Youths from both types of groups define violence in similar terms with one key difference. Only gang members ascribe agency to the (i.e., gang and family) describing it as a social entity capable of harming and being harmed. This taken-for-granted cultural assumption frames gang members' justifications of violence as moral to defend one's group. Concurrently, a higher proportion of youths from violent groups support morality of violence to defend one's reputation (p = .001), honor (p <.001), and group (p = .001). Conclusions: Between-group differences in shared understandings of violence are consistent with differences in individual moral reasoning about violence across group type. The findings have implications for improving efficacy of violence prevention interventions, which rarely account for link between young people's shared understandings of violence and moral reasoning about its use.

Developing Social Entrepreneurship as an Intervention to Enhance Disadvantaged Young People's Sense of Self-Worth and Career Competence in Hong Kong.

This is the first empirical research in Hong Kong to examine the impact of social entrepreneurship training on disadvantaged young peoples’ career competence including their self-perceived employability, entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and intent, and their psychosocial development including their self-esteem, resilience, and career-linked self-efficacy. The subjects of this research were in-school youths and school drop-outs who joined the three waves of “Social-Up Youth Entrepreneurship Programme” including social entrepreneurship training (T1), internship (T2), and a pre-incubation project funded by a Charities Trust in Hong Kong. This research included a quantitative part, that is, questionnaires, and qualitative part, that is, focus group and individual interviews. At the time of data analysis, 100 disadvantaged young people joined the program at the baseline measure (T0). Only 77 and 31 could be matched and sufficient enough for data analysis at T1 and T2, respectively. The results demonstrated that social entrepreneurship training is positive and promising to enhance disadvantaged young peoples’ sense of self-worth and resilience, their entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, and overall self-perceived employability. The impact of the interactive and experiential-oriented social entrepreneurship training was the most significant. The impact of the internship was influenced by the extra burdens added to in-school youths. Because of its potential positive effects, further examination is required. Young people were found to have weak proactivity and flexibility in work, thinking, and interpersonal and communication skills, and the early introduction of curriculum-based youth entrepreneurship training in secondary schools is highly recommended.

Social action: Step Up fails to reach most disadvantaged young people

As the government's flagship youth social action initiative Step Up To Serve prepares to close, figures show participation among disadvantaged young people has fallen, prompting questions over its effectiveness

The Statistical Analysis of the Academic Achievement of Young People Living in the Child Protection System

In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on placing children in foster care. Our main research aims to explore the connections between the future orientation of disadvantaged young people living in residential care homes and foster families. In our pilot-study, we made it measurable by a comparative analysis of their study results. The sample consists of children raised in the child protection specialist and aftercare system of the Greek Catholic Child Protection Centre of Debrecen and Nyírség. The comparative analysis included 57 children and young people living in residential care homes and 57 children and young adults living in foster care. The members of both groups were born between 1993 and 2003, so are 15-25-year-olds. The comparative analysis was made on the basis of the available documents and study statistics between June 2019 and November 2019, to measure and compare the academic achievement of young people living in residential care homes and with foster parents. According to the statistical analysis, it was found that the academic achievement, based on year repetitions, show a more favourable picture of students living with foster parents. Depending on our results, a number of additional research questions arise.

A critical examination of the educational policy discourse on/for school extra-curricular activities – a Deweyan perspective

ABSTRACT There has been much discussion in educational policy on the apparent educational benefits for disadvantaged young people of engaging in schools’ extra-curricular activities (ECAs). The evidence suggests strong associations between ECAs and improved educational attainments. Arguments made about the causal processes and underpinning associations tend to revolve around individualised notions of transfer, and in particular the suggestion that ECAs develop various ‘non-cognitive’ skills of transferable educational relevance. In reviewing key literatures, we argue that such a notion cannot be justified. Instead, our analytical contribution to the field suggests that learning and development generally, and the possibilities of school ECAs specifically, should be understood through the Deweyan notions of experience and temporality. Such notions suggest that the way young people experience ECAs and mainstream classrooms should not be viewed through the lens of transfer but instead be seen as part of a set of integrating experiences of life as event, that includes and yet goes beyond schooling, and that suggests young people’s fullness of life as a unit of analysis. Our line of argument, therefore, suggests that the deployment of school ECAs as currently constituted cannot have generalisable predictive power in specifying causal outcomes for improved academic attainment.

Social Citizenship Aspirations: An Alternative Line of Analysis of the Social Reproduction of Youth Inequality

Lifting the aspirations of disadvantaged young people has been a key focus within youth policies, often constructed as a solution to the complicated problem of achieving social mobility. A growing body of work critiques such policy discourses for their inadequate conceptualizations of aspirations. Particularly, the problematic framing of community culture and the tendency to allocate the problem of low aspirations to individuals’ psyche and cultural upbringing have been critiqued. Despite such critiques, this article argues for the importance of analysing disadvantaged young people’s aspirations, as aspirations play a crucial role in determining outcomes. However, further theorizing is needed to capture a more nuanced view on the intersection between material and social embeddedness and individual agency. The concept of social citizenship aspirations is introduced to develop a framework for understanding the reproduction of youth inequality, which also acknowledges agency as an expression of how young people themselves create meaningful lives.

Youth Practitioners’ Perspectives on Building Agency and Supporting Transitions with and for Young People Experiencing Disadvantage

Despite the policy and academic interest in helping disadvantaged young people into employment and education, and towards a more positive future, little is known about the process of supporting positive transitions for young people. In Australia and internationally, youth work is increasingly considering alternatives to the traditional deficit-oriented and risk-averse approach to supporting young people experiencing social or material disadvantage. With an outset in youth practitioners’ perspectives on their work and underpinned by key concepts drawn from the Positive Youth Development approach, this paper seeks to improve understandings of how best to support disadvantaged young people’s ability to thrive, facilitate practitioner dialogue and strengthen practice. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twelve youth practitioners and a focus group run with an additional eight. The paper explores three concepts emerging from the analysis that were identified as key to understanding the unique potential youth work practitioners have to support positive transitions with and for disadvantaged young people: having an ecological focus, encouraging personal agency and fostering alternative possibilities. The findings propose new possibilities for working with young people with whom mainstream services struggle to engage. The paper concludes by discussing the practical implications and limitations of this approach.

Teaching traditional indoor school lessons in nature: The effects on student learning and behaviour

The natural environment is associated with better behaviour and academic performance in children. However, research to date has been cross-sectional and it is important for experimental studies to investigate if a causal relationship exists. Further, participant samples from areas characterised as disadvantaged are underrepresented in the research. This study investigates the effect that lessons in nature have on disadvantaged young people’s behaviour and learning compared to lessons in a standard classroom over one school term (10 weeks). A quasi-experimental study was conducted in a socioeconomically disadvantaged city in Australia. Three classes were taught in a standard indoor classroom for 5 weeks; then two of those classes relocated to a green outdoor classroom for the remaining 5 weeks; researcher observations of redirect rates, teacher ratings of behaviour, and academic grades were analysed. Students (13–14 years old) spent more time on-task in outdoor classrooms at the rate of an extra 20 s per teacher redirect, and this effect lasted over several weeks. Although engagement was better, this did not translate to better grades; reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. Outdoor classrooms may promote less disengagement and misbehaviour in class, and this could be significant for those affected disproportionately by it.

Young People's Autonomy and Psychological Well-Being in the Transition to Adulthood: A Pathway Analysis.

Young people transition to adulthood via diverse pathways; among the most significant are those dominated by education, employment, or social disadvantage. These pathways are determined, to a large extent, by the level of well-being and autonomy young people develop to help them face their own realities. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between young people’s psychological well-being and autonomy – key factors in the transition to adulthood – and the relationship these factors have with the main pathways followed during transition. To this end, Ryff’s Model of Psychological Well-being and the Transition to Adulthood Autonomy Scale (EDATVA) were used to evaluate a total of 1148 Spanish and Colombian subjects aged between 16 and 21. Correlations and differences between scores were subsequently analyzed. Subjects were also asked to identify the most relevant aspect of their transition to adulthood as either education, employment, or social disadvantage. Results from all three pathways for transition to adulthood show a trend in which higher levels of well-being correspond to higher levels of autonomy. In general, the results for the young people on the education pathway show high levels of autonomy and well-being, as well as a significantly higher level of critical thinking compared to young people on other pathways. The scores from employed young people reveal a greater capacity for self-organization in relation to the other two pathways. The results for disadvantaged young people show significantly greater socio-political engagement than that of young people on the education and employment pathways. However, the disadvantaged group also displays the lowest level of psychological well-being. These results provide elements for a better understanding of young people’s different transition pathways to adulthood and constitute an important point of reference for future research. They also provide data that may be relevant in guiding potential educational, psychological, and social interventions within this population group.

Transition to university: contributions of a specialist mathematics school

Abstract School-university transition in mathematics is of global concern, with multiple cognitive, social and affective disjunctures evidenced. Access to, successful participation in and retention on, competitive mathematically intensive degree courses remain particular challenges in England, especially for disadvantaged young people with high mathematical aptitude. One response has been to establish mathematics specialist schools aimed at such students aged 16–18. Early cohorts have achieved encouraging progression to and through such university courses, but more qualitative and longitudinal outcomes have been less well evidenced. The reported study harnessed a student lens and documentary scrutiny to analyse the contribution to building for successful transition of the particular approaches used. Data suggest that the model adopted has initially supported transition to target degree courses well. I relate the findings to known transition challenges in the global issue of successful passage into and through university mathematics education. I argue many of those are in principle transferable to other post-16 contexts. The study therefore offers evidence suggesting broadly applicable specific strategies that can begin to address widely problematic disjunctures in transition.

Young people get equipped for brighter futures

Two programmes see disadvantaged young people hone their skills through work experience in the care sector, helping them gain qualifications and grow in confidence

The Life Skills Assessment Scale: Norms for young people aged 17–19 and 20–22 years

Severe poverty, adversity, and malnutrition have irrefutable negative effects on the development and mental health of children and young people. The Life Skills Assessment Scale (LSAS), is a 5-item impact assessment scale developed in India, that provides a simple, yet valid and reliable, instrument to assess life skills of disadvantaged children and young people, with age norms of 8–16 years. In the present study, in Bengaluru, India, we used observational data obtained from 656 disadvantaged young people to extend the LSAS age norms to 17–19 and 20–22 years age groups, resulting in a simple, valid, and reliable assessment tool for children and young people aged from 8 to 22 years.

Individualization of disadvantaged young people’s agency

ABSTRACT This article examines how professionals working in youth support services articulate the agency of disadvantaged young people living in a suburban area. Using focus group discussions between professionals in the field of youth services, this article shows that professional articulations of disadvantaged young peoples’ agency are shaped in line with institutional and ideological individualization, which is embedded in the predominant societal practices and welfare policies of the Western societies. These articulations privatize (im)possibilities of agency and exclusionary social dynamics in the individual lives of disadvantaged young people themselves and ignore wider socio-structural contexts limiting their agency and causing social problems. We argue that the dominant understandings that professionals hold of young people’s agency have a threefold individualizing character. First, those understandings identify agency as and through the personal characteristics of individual young people; second, they address individual factors as the ultimate causes of social exclusion; and third, they seek solutions to social problems at the level of the individual. These findings contribute to the on-going debate in youth studies on individualization and the roles of agency and structure in young people’s lives by bringing the professional emphasis on individualized agency to the fore.

The impact of a community-based music intervention on the health and well-being of young people: A realist evaluation.

In recent years, music‐based interventions have been utilised as a tool for improving public health, reducing inequalities and promoting well‐being of young people. Although some researchers have begun to draw links between music‐related interventions and positive health outcomes, there is little understanding as to how such effects are produced. Realist evaluations—understanding what works, for whom and under what circumstances—are a particularly apt means by which we can open this ‘black box’. In this paper, we use a realist evaluation to assess a community‐based music initiative designed and implemented to support the well‐being of disadvantaged young people in Scotland. In order to gain perspectives on the range of contextual characteristics, mechanisms and outcomes, we collected quantitative and qualitative data in the form of pre‐ and post‐questionnaires, as well as conducting interviews with beneficiaries and stakeholders. Our findings show that the intervention achieved a positive impact on the self‐confidence, well‐being and engagement of disadvantaged young people. This impact was achieved via an approach personally tailored to the individual needs of the young people; and an organisational environment characterised by trust, whereby young people felt safe to express themselves.

“Wish you were here”? Geographies of exclusion: young people, coastal towns and marginality

ABSTRACTWithin youth studies there is a growing body of research that pays attention to the importance of place in shaping young people’s identities, life opportunities and intergenerational relationships [Cuervo, H., and J. Wyn. 2014. “Reflections on the Use of Spatial and Relational Metaphors in Youth Studies.” Journal of Youth Studies 17 (7): 901–915; Farrugia, D. 2014. “Towards a Spatialised Youth Sociology: the Rural and the Urban in Times of Change.” Journal of Youth Studies 17 (3): 293–307; Woodman, D., and J. Wyn. 2015. Youth and Generation: Rethinking Change and Inequality in the Lives of Young People. Sage Publications]. Of critical importance to these discussions is the need to explore notions of ‘belonging’ and social citizenship, interrogating the extent to which differing perceptions and experiences contribute towards variations in the outcomes and life chances of disadvantaged young people. This article draws upon ethnography, participatory arts-based research, and semi-structured interviews (n31) with young people (15–25) who live in a deprived coastal town in the North of England. The research investigated processes of marginalisation and disconnection from the perspectives of young people who were deemed as disengaged, or ‘at risk’ of disengagement, from education, employment or training. The research took place during a time of rapid change and uncertainty as Britain voted to leave the EU. The findings of this study will ‘throw light’ on the how contemporary classed subjectivities are formed, how experiences of inequality and austerity are made sense of, and how, within a turbulent political context, young people negotiate complex transitions to adulthood.

Challenges of Evening Educational Program for Working Children and Young People

This article reports the findings from a study aimed at assessing the challenges of evening educational programs for working children and young people. A descriptive research design and mixed research approach were employed. The design helped to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena and to describe “what exists” with respect to conditions in a situation. A total of 367 students participated in the study. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the evening students are females. There are ongoing access issues for disadvantaged children and young people who cannot attend school on a regular basis, despite the provision of evening educational programs. Challenges include deficits in policy framework and the adopted curriculum, political drivers, teacher motivation, and facilities. Due to a lack of time, some courses are excluded from the evening programs. As a result, children and young people who are enrolled in this program achieve low academic performance as compared to the students in the regular program.

‘Planning’, ‘Searching’ and ‘Drifting’: Labour market transitions in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in a rich city in Scotland

This paper draws on desk-based and empirical research which examined experiences of young people in Pilton, a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Edinburgh, as they entered the labour market. At odds with contemporary discourses that suggest the existence of a ‘culture of worklessness’, finding and maintaining employment was regarded by almost all the young people in this study as an important marker of adult identity and self-efficacy. Indeed, young people expressed stoical views about their determination to find stable, long-term work. Nonetheless, structural inequalities presented significant barriers to achieving and maintaining long-term, stable employment, with support services being regarded by young people and professionals alike as inadequate. However, young people tended to believe that they were personally responsible for lack of success in the labour market context and this can harm their well-being at a crucial period of transition. This research challenges discourses that characterise and pathologise disadvantaged young people as ‘work shy’ and indicates that, instead, many young people are required to have extraordinary resilience as they persevere to try to gain and maintain stable paid employment. The concept of ‘social exclusion’ is rejected in describing these young people's contexts; they are not ‘outside’ society and in fact they have rich and varied social experiences. However, they are severely disadvantaged by structural inequalities within the labour market.