Transition Of Young People Research Articles

Multiple Transitions: Educational Policies and Young People's Post-Compulsory Choices

Students in Finland are obliged to apply for upper secondary education during their 9th year. The main divisions occur between general (academically oriented) and vocational upper secondary education, and within vocational education between female and male dominated sectors. In this article we discuss the tension between these options and explore young people's hopes, choices, and transitions. These are related to expectations imbedded in policies and practices. We present a contextualized and cross-cultural analysis in which interviews and ethnographic data from different settings are used. We suggest that there is a taken-for-granted backdrop to students' choices that includes norms and expectations concerning social class, gender, sexuality, and/or ethnicity. We suggest, moreover, that the analysis of educational choices ought to be situated within the larger context of the marketization of the politics of education.

Paving the Way to the Future? Education and Young Europeans' Paths to Work and Independence

This article discusses young people's transitions from school to work at a time when educational systems have become more closely connected to the economy than ever before. The serious situation of high unemployment, unstable employment conditions and poverty among young people and young adults in Europe is highlighted. Using Sweden as an illuminative example, it is argued that the increasing commercialisation and competition within the education sector add to the risks connected to school-to-work transitions. The associated shift to outcome-based curricula and focus on narrow competences and skills rather than a broad education including social, cultural and democratic elements, will provide young people with poor navigation instruments in this process. The need to analyse the long-term impact of the market-oriented culture on young people's self-understanding, orientations and choices is emphasized.

Becoming, Being and Having Been: Practitioner Perspectives on Temporal Stances and Participation across Children’s Services

This article is based on a study of the changing meanings and experiences of citizenship and participation for young people in transition from primary to secondary school. One of the primary concerns of the study is to better understand how different professional practices impact upon young people’s uptake of participation and adoption of civic identity. To gain some insight into this area the article first looks at the contexts in which participation work is developing and the interrelationships between these developments across children’s services. How different practitioner’s conceptualise participation is tied into different assessments of young people’s or children’s capacity. Recasting questions of capacity as dialogues across differing temporal stances can offer practitioners new ways to reflect upon the power negotiations within their relations with young people. The key role temporality plays in configuring power relationships and transactions is explored as it arises within practitioner life history interviews. The shifts between temporal stances that young people experience as they interact with different practitioners are illustrated through fieldwork data.

Intergenerational mentoring in Germany: older people support young people's transitions from school to work

The high demands that today's young school leavers face in Germany and the increasing recognition of an ageing population with skills and experience to share has led to a rapid increase in mentoring projects where older people work with young school leavers to help them find their way into employment.While this field is still in its infancy, mentoring flourishes in Germany and enjoys enormous public attention.

Minding the gap? Young people's accounts of taking a Gap Year as a form of identity work in higher education

A Gap Year is a break in an educational career, principally taken between leaving school and beginning university. Previous research on the Gap Year has suggested it is a form of social class positioning or forum for undertaking transitions in identity during young adulthood. This paper extends this research into the context of higher education itself. The paper illustrates, by a detailed analysis of interview data, that significant identity work is undertaken by young people in their accounts of their Gap Year. It demonstrates that this identity work, involving talk of confidence, maturity and/or independence, is related to two forms of distinction: a life course distinction and a social distinction. The paper discusses the significance of this identity work for our understandings of the Gap Year, its place in young people's transitions to adulthood and for future research.

Improving transitions for young people who move from child and adolescent mental health services to mental health services for adults: lessons from research and young peopleʼs and practitionersʼ experiences

The importance of ensuring robust arrangements for young people's transitions from specialist child and adolescent mental health services to specialist mental health services for adults is well documented in the international literature. Nonetheless, according to young people, there remains great variation in the quality of services in respect of their transitions. Furthermore, the problems that we report are by no means confined to single continents. This review examines recent literature and explores the themes that emerge from it with a view to finding solutions. Our findings from the literature suggest a clear strategic direction to improve the quality of the care of young people who need to move from specialist child and adolescent mental health services to specialist mental health services for adults. Our examination of the literature identifies a number of themes that have been recognized by practitioners and we have used them to define a model of care and aspects of good practice. We think they should be included within all evidence-based policies, protocols and care pathways for young people. There is little literature available that documents the personal experiences of young people in transition and their families, but consistent themes emerge from what is available. There are a number of topics that require active consideration when preparing young people for transition between services. Despite the limited volume of research, and particularly that which has directly involved young people and families, we know from anecdote, experience and local audit and research that improvements in service design and practice are required. These matters inform the solutions that we suggest. We see as pivotal involving young people directly in planning their own care and setting quality standards for healthcare and other services.

‘We are managing our own lives . . . ’: Life transitions and care in sibling-headed households affected by AIDS in Tanzania and Uganda

This paper explores the ways that young people express their agency and negotiate complex lifecourse transitions according to gender, age and inter- and intra-generational norms in sibling-headed households affected by AIDS in East Africa. Based on findings from a qualitative and participatory pilot study in Tanzania and Uganda, I examine young people's socio-spatial and temporal experiences of heading the household and caring for their siblings following their parent's/relative's death. Key dimensions of young people's caring pathways and life transitions are discussed: transitions into sibling care; the ways young people manage changing roles within the family; and the ways that young people are positioned and seek to position themselves within the community. The research reveals the relational and embodied nature of young people's life transitions over time and space. By living together independently, young people constantly reproduce and reconfigure gendered, inter- and intra-generational norms of ‘the family’, transgressing the boundaries of ‘childhood’, ‘youth’ and ‘adulthood’. Although young people take on ‘adult’ responsibilities and demonstrate their competencies in ‘managing their own lives’, this does not necessarily translate into more equal power relations with adults in the community. The research reveals the marginal ‘in-between’ place that young people occupy between local and global discourses of ‘childhood’ and ‘youth’ that construct them as ‘deviant’. Although young people adopt a range of strategies to resist marginalisation and harassment, I argue that constraints of poverty, unequal gender and generational power relations and the emotional impacts of sibling care, stigmatisation and exclusion can undermine their ability to exert agency and control over their sexual relationships, schooling, livelihood strategies and future lifecourse transitions.

Risk for professionals, for schools, and for young people: An extended book review

This extended book review focuses on three recent books dealing with risk taking in the lives of children and young people in school and leaving care, and for the professionals who look after them, albeit each book approaches risk taking in intriguingly different ways. The books are: Safeguarding Children and Schools, edited by M. Baginsky; Professional Risk and Working with People: decision-making in health, social care and criminal justice, by D. Carson and A. Bain; and Young People's Transitions from Care to Adulthood: international research and practice, edited by M. Stein and E.R. Munro. Taking these three books together, two common threads can be discerned. The first is the way that risk issues emerge in diverse settings, and have many instructive lessons for researchers and practitioners alike. This is one of the motifs in the work of an international NGO like HALE (www.haletrust.com). Second, there remains the burning issue of how professionals and users of public services, particularly children and young people, conceive of the dilemmas posed by the diverse risks associated with different life stages and transitions. It is to be hoped that future research and future deliberations will use these threads to construct a risk tapestry, which is rich in both density and in detail.

Playing the numbers game: Connexions personal advisers working with learners on entry to employment programmes

Transitions of young people from school to employment, further education or training have been a focus of government policy in the UK for at least the last three decades. Since the late 1990s, numerous policy initiatives have been introduced by New Labour in an attempt to reduce social exclusion through the increased participation of young people in work‐related training. This paper reports on a mixed‐methods research project exploring Entry to Employment (E2E) provision in the north of England. It outlines the experiences of Connexions practitioners working with learners and staff at four E2E providers and illustrates the complexities involved with young people's transitions to and from E2E programmes. The paper shows that a marketised system driven by targets and funding constraints can compromise the ability of practitioners to best meet the needs of young people struggling with often difficult circumstances.

A Long and Winding Road to Employment?: Disabled Young People in Northern Ireland Making The Transition to Adulthood

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project that explores the experiences and aspirations of disabled young people in Northern Ireland as they make and deal with the transition to adulthood. The study involved young people with disabilities (n =76) in four areas of Northern Ireland, ensuring a geographical spread, an urban/rural mix and representation of both communities. Young people with learning disabilities were included as well as those with physical and/or sensory impairments. This paper focuses on those who were completing job training or work placements and examines the role of such schemes in assisting young people's transition to adulthood. The research found that many young people had positive experiences of work placement and job training and that social interaction was important to them. Few young people, however, had made the actual transition from work placement or training to 'real' employment.

Therapeutic recreation camps to provide a residential experience for young people in transition to adult renal units

Therapeutic recreation camps to provide a residential experience for young people in transition to adult renal units

Making Use of Audio Diaries in Research with Young People: Examining Narrative, Participation and Audience

This article examines the use of audio diaries as an innovative method for research with young people. As the second stage of a project about visually impaired (VI) young people's transitions to adulthood, young people recorded their experiences and reflections about growing up on microcassette recorders. As a follow-up to a narrative interview, audio diaries allowed the research to get closer to the lives of young people, as participants actively reinterpreted the research questions in the context of their own lives. This article focuses on the utility of audio diaries—detailing the research process and the accessibility of the method for VI young people. Then, using excerpts from a set of twenty-two audio diaries, this article examines how the audio diary technique designed for this project engages with three key issues: how audio diaries capture narrative in distinctive ways; how the method can be employed within a participatory framework; and how audio diaries raise complex issues about the nature of audience.

GAINING PERSPECTIVE ON CHOICE AND FATE

ABSTRACT The idea of epiphanies, turning points and critical biographical moments is a central analytic category of life history research in general, and of youth studies in particular. In this paper we explore how we have engaged with ideas of ‘fatefulness’ (Giddens 1991) and biographical ‘choice’ in a longitudinal qualitative study of young people's transitions to adulthood, tracing the employment of theoretical and analytical devices through time to assess their usefulness in this context. We attempted to operationalise Giddens’ idea of the fateful moment in relation to biographical data asking how the analysis of a formal narrative device (critical moments, turning points) might play a part in mapping and theorising the configuration of structural conditions, individual responses, timing and chance. We reviewed earlier analyses, and the changes of interpretation brought about by the accumulation of biographical data through time, recognising the provisional nature of interpretation in longitudinal research and analysis. The process of revisiting and revising our deliberations over the meaning and significance of the critical moments within biographical narratives confirms the interpretative value of focussing on these narrative forms, yet suggests that late modern theoretical frameworks with their emphasis on reflexivity may have a limited contribution to make to understanding the configuration of biography and history. We suggest that this makes a theoretical and methodological contribution to biographical and narrative approaches to the study of young people's lives, transitions to adulthood and trajectories.

World youth report, 2007: young people's transition to adulthood: progress and challenges

World youth report, 2007: young people's transition to adulthood: progress and challenges

Book Review: Young People's Transitions from Care to Adulthood: International Research and Practice

Book Review: Young People's Transitions from Care to Adulthood: International Research and Practice

Transition: do young people get a good deal?

Recent guidance from the Department of Health (DH, 2006), augmented by an erudite publication by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN, 2007), mandates that a named person or coordinator works with young people with ongoing health needs, their families and all agencies to plan for transition to adult services. Furthermore, transition clinics should operate in both paediatric and adult services to ensure the seamlessness of the process. But are young people getting a good deal from their health services across the UK? Young people in transition should transcend practice boundaries and yet it is this arena of clinical care, at the juxtaposition of child, adult, mental health and learning disabilities nursing which is proving contentious.

The impact of VET on transition to work for young people in Australia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse and summarise the Australian research on the impact of vocational education and training (VET) on transitions to work for young people aged 15 to 24 years.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology involved the compilation of statistics on VET participation by young people and a review of research on the topic of young people and the longer‐term impact of VET on transitions into work. Research included in the review was restricted to Australian research published during or after 2005.FindingsThe findings suggest that young people who participate in VET experience better employment outcomes compared to young people who do not participate in post‐school education and training. However, the smoothness of the transition into work varies for young people who participate in VET programs. Programs linked to the workplace provide the most rapid and successful transitions while other VET programs, such as certificate I and II courses, often require further study at a higher level in order for students to achieve their desired job. The paper also shows that school VET programs have a particularly positive effect on transitions into work for early school leavers.Originality/valueThe paper consolidates the knowledge on how VET assists young people's transitions into work. By focusing on longitudinal research, the paper enhances the understanding of the longer‐term impact of VET for young people.

Transitions of care from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services (TRACK Study): a study of protocols in Greater London.

BackgroundAlthough young people's transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) in England is a significant health issue for service users, commissioners and providers, there is little evidence available to guide service development. The TRACK study aims to identify factors which facilitate or impede effective transition from CAHMS to AMHS. This paper presents findings from a survey of transition protocols in Greater London.MethodsA questionnaire survey (Jan-April 2005) of Greater London CAMHS to identify transition protocols and collect data on team size, structure, transition protocols, population served and referral rates to AMHS. Identified transition protocols were subjected to content analysis.ResultsForty two of the 65 teams contacted (65%) responded to the survey. Teams varied in type (generic/targeted/in-patient), catchment area (locality-based, wider or national) and transition boundaries with AMHS. Estimated annual average number of cases considered suitable for transfer to AMHS, per CAMHS team (mean 12.3, range 0–70, SD 14.5, n = 37) was greater than the annual average number of cases actually accepted by AMHS (mean 8.3, range 0–50, SD 9.5, n = 33).In April 2005, there were 13 active and 2 draft protocols in Greater London. Protocols were largely similar in stated aims and policies, but differed in key procedural details, such as joint working between CAHMS and AMHS and whether protocols were shared at Trust or locality level. While the centrality of service users' involvement in the transition process was identified, no protocol specified how users should be prepared for transition. A major omission from protocols was procedures to ensure continuity of care for patients not accepted by AMHS.ConclusionAt least 13 transition protocols were in operation in Greater London in April 2005. Not all protocols meet all requirements set by government policy. Variation in protocol-sharing organisational units and transition process suggest that practice may vary. There is discontinuity of care provision for some patients who 'graduate' from CAMHS services but are not accepted by adult services.

The Qualitative Longitudinal Case History: Practical, Methodological and Ethical Reflections

This paper describes the development of ‘case histories’ from a qualitative longitudinal data set that followed 100 young people's transitions to adulthood over a ten year period. The paper describes two stages in the analytic process: first, the forging of a case history from a longitudinal archive and second, bringing case histories into conversation with each other. The paper emphasises two aspects of a qualitative longitudinal data set: the longitudinal dimension that privileges the individual case, and the cross sectional dimension that privileges the social and the spatial context. It is argued that both aspects should always be kept in play in analysis. The paper concludes by reflecting on the ethical and practical challenges associated with the case history approach, heightened by the growing demand to archive and share qualitative longitudinal data sets.

Listening to service users: young homeless people's experiences of a new mental health service

The aim of this study was to investigate young homeless people's experiences of ;Strong Minded', a new mental health service set up within selected homeless shelters and run by a voluntary sector organization. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 residents from five homeless shelters across the UK. All of the young people who had accessed Strong Minded had benefited from their engagement. The young people also identified several key inherent and important aspects of Strong Minded relating to both the practical, supportive therapeutic approach and the flexibility of the interventions offered, which contributed to the service's success. This service model of engaging vulnerable young people in transition could have useful implications for the future interface between voluntary and statutory mental health services.