Our October Youth Voice Forum focused on skills for the future and young people’s perceptions of these skills.
The session was chaired by Eilish Peters (Youth Employment UK) and aimed to explore young people’s understanding of skills for future jobs such as green skills and digital skills. We also explored the skills they currently possess and if they felt equipped for employment.
Expert Speaker
Katherine Emms, Senior Education and Policy Researcher, at Edge Foundation provided an overview of current skills shortages and the variety of skills that are needed for different jobs. Her presentation focused on the education system and explored the extent to which it was providing young people with the skills they needed to find work as well as the ongoing impact of Covid on learning and skills. The presentation also explored the importance of soft skills for employability and examined how these skills were being taught in schools. This revealed that although there is high demand for skills of the future, including both green skills and digital skills, transferable skills and soft skills still remain vital for helping young people prepare for the world of work.
The Youth Discussion Highlighted:
Lack of careers education and guidance – Young people mentioned that they had little support at school about the variety of pathways available to them. Young people mentioned “having no workshops about the skills they have and how they can be used in a job.” This echoes the findings of the 2022 Youth Voice Census, in which just 29.7% of young people in education rated their careers advice they received in school so far as “good” or “excellent.”
Accessibility – Young people also highlighted that there was a lack of support for their disabilities when trying to access work and when in work. The young people felt that employers expected young people to let them know the support they needed when in work, but as one young person said “it is hard to ask for something you have never seen.”
Uncertainty – They felt unsure about what their next step was and who would support them with their journey into work. This ties in with one of the key findings of the 2022 Youth Voice Census, that young people are feeling unprepared for the future. The census tells us that 34.4% of those in education thought they understood the skills employers were looking for.
High expectations – Young people explained that when applying for jobs they were expected to have years of experience even though they were recent school leavers or graduates. They went on to explain that this impacted their confidence when looking for jobs in the current job market.
Furthermore, young people mentioned that when they were in work there was a lack of training provided by their employers. Young people at the forum explained that they felt because they were young it was assumed already to have all the IT skills necessary for the job and felt they had to train themselves.
Moving forward:
- In-work training – Young people need in work training to allow them to do their job and feel confident in that they are developing in their role.
- Careers education – Careers education needs to be tailored and support young people into all the different pathways which allows them to progress into work or further/higher education. In addition, this needs to include information about the different services available to young people and what they can offer them such as Youth Hubs and Job Centers, as there is confusion about what these services offer.
- Accessibility – It is important that when young people are in work or trying to access work their needs are supported and it is not assumed they know what they need when it comes to support in the workplace.
This demonstrates the need for employers to pay a more active role in ensuring young people have access to good quality work and opportunities by ensuring that the needs of their young staff are understood and catered to.
More About The Youth Voice Forum
The Youth Voice Forum (YVF) is chaired by four young people within the founding organisations. Organisations that retain YEG membership are welcome to invite young people to participate in the YVF.
The purpose of the YVF is to create a safe space for young people to come together and discuss the views, experiences & challenges that they face. Here they also support the work that the YEG do and have an active voice in influencing policy. The YVF ensures policy responses genuinely reflect young people’s needs and perspectives by providing young people with opportunities to identify what changes need to be made and discuss solutions to the problems they themselves have identified.
Youth Employment Group
