Challenging the stereotypes of young people

Being NEET (not in education, employment or training) for extended periods can have significant negative consequences for young people, their families, for the economy and society more broadly. Young people who spend a significant time outside education and work are more prone to social isolation, poor self-esteem, low confidence, and various limiting illnesses and conditions.

They are also less likely to participate in the democratic process and often have lower levels of institutional trust relating, for example, to policing, health and social services. Economic consequences include lost tax revenue and increased expenditure on welfare.

Exploring the lives of NEET young people

Research exploring the causes of young people’s marginalisation began in 2008, with subsequent projects being funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The Leverhulme project is a rare example of a major programme of longitudinal ethnographic research on the lives of NEET young people – such research being resource intensive and especially challenging given the turbulent social and cultural milieu in which participants’ lives are located. The research involved sustained engagement with over fifty participants in settings including training programmes and work placements, the careers service and job centre interviews, in young people’s homes and other social spaces.

Challenging the dominant view

The research carried out by Professor Robin Simmons, Dr Ron Thompson and Dr Lisa Russell from the Huddersfield Centre for Research in Education and Society (HudCRES) challenges the dominant view that NEET young people are lacking the necessary industry, motivation and commitment to be successful in education and work.

Their research suggests that such dispositions usually arise from repeated negative labour-market

For more information on the research in this article email:

r.a.simmons@hud.ac.uk and r.thompson@hud.ac.uk and l.russell@hud.ac.uk or visit pure.hud.ac.uk experiences rather than being inherent individual, social or cultural deficits. It also finds that many NEET young people feel highly frustrated about their position and that most of them aspire to the traditional signifiers of ‘mainstream’ adulthood – including a job, their own home and conventional family life – rather than being drawn from some incipient underclass.

Tackling marginalisation

The research findings suggest that, in most cases, the causes of young people’s marginalisation are located in a paucity of meaningful labour market opportunities more than any individual shortcomings or deficits. NEET young people are often placed on inappropriate training provision which can be de-motivating. Negative experiences of engaging with support services can also have a highly damaging effect.

However, the research also revealed that good quality employment opportunities can have a positive effect on young people’s paths to employment and that practitioners who ‘go the extra mile’ can make a real difference, in terms of facilitating access to opportunities which marginalised youth may not otherwise feel able to access.

Research impact

The research provides an alternative, evidence-based narrative which reflects the lived experience of marginalised youth. It challenges stereotypical assumptions and informs the way that policymakers, third-sector organisations and practitioners conceive and provide support designed to help re-engage NEET young people in education and work.

The University of Huddersfield has delivered training for youth and community workers for over twenty years, producing more than 600 graduates. The extensive body of NEET research is a key component of both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.