The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) says Nick Clegg’s announcement of a scheme to get teenagers back to work will do little to mitigate widespread joblessness.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said any investment into training programmes for unemployed 16 and 17 year olds was welcome but that the sums involved were way too small to off-set the large scale lack of jobs.
Mr Hobby said: “Schools work hard to give young people the skills and abilities they need to thrive in adult life but this won’t get them work if there are too few jobs around. Nor can schools easily convince students of the value of study and dedication if they see generations of talent wasted on the dole. Scrapping the Educational Maintenance Allowance that helped thousands continue their education has only made the situation worse. So every time we ask schools to up their game, we must equally look to society to invest in growth to create jobs.
“There’s nothing wrong with getting charities and firms involved in training provision - in a world where you increasingly need experience to get experience and where key entry level roles are disappearing, young people need as much help as possible to make the difficult transition from education to work.
“However, spending a relatively small amount on a scheme to help limited numbers of young people is not tackling the huge and obvious reason for youth unemployment. Young people need jobs to go to, it’s that simple.
“There were some who made a link between last summer’s riots and school truancy. If there is a connection between truancy and rioting, it is that hopelessness often underpins them both. ”
[NEET is a government acronym for people "not in education, employment, or training".]
Page Published: 21/02/2012
