School to Work Transition in England and Wales

Graham Attwell
Institut Technik und Bildung
University of Bremen, Germany

Introduction
The ‘problem of school to work transition’ has attracted increasing attention from education
and social science researchers in the UK in the last twenty years. Until the sharp increase in
youth unemployment in the early 1970s, transitions followed a predictable path with social
background and parental occupation being the most important determinants in aspiration and
opportunity. The economic upheavals and social change of the last twenty five years have
seen the rise of uncertainty and risk for young people and has placed a new focus on this
transition as not only the period in young peoples lives between the completion of general
school education but also the beginning of gainful employment and the training systems,
institutions and programmes that prepare young people for employment after completion of
school (Rauner, 1995). The general economic recessions which have affected all the advanced
manufacturing countries have been accompanied by profound technological and structural
changes in labour markets and in work processes. At the same time, the social process of
individualisation and the resultant breakdown of traditional socialising institutions and
agencies of social reproduction have opened up an “infinite range of potential courses of
action” for young people and at the same time have created significantly increased risks
(Evans, 1994). Transitions are “increasingly disorderly and fragmented” as possible pathways
become diversified with young people having uncertain status and becoming dependent on
the state and parental support for far longer than even ten years ago. The growing mismatch
between aspirations, expectations and qualifications of younger generations and the
employment opportunities open to them has led to social conflict and to the growth of a youth
culture characterised by “introspection, psychological attachment to peers, concern for the
underdog and interest in change” (Adamski, Grootings & Mahler, 1989).
The technological and structural changes in industry have led economists and politicians to
reassert the importance of a skilled workforce as a factor in economic competition and
advantage. The tendency to extend the period of education and training, and thus the
transition from school to work has been accompanied by qualification incrementalism by
employers in recruitment policy. By the turn of the 21st century most young people in the
developing world will be in some form of education and training until their early 20s (Evans
and Heinz, 1995). For young people the expansion of post compulsory education has resulted
in the emergence of “post adolescence” as a new life stage with “in-between status”.
For a significant number of young people, increased risk combined with social disadvantage
is experienced as marginalisation and social exclusion. As the segmentation of pathways
becomes more complex leading to the need for young people to develop individual
occupational biographies, then support and advice structures become ever more important.
However it would seem that the least support is available to those who most are in need
(European Commission, 1995).
Tasks for Researchers
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As processes of transition have become more “complex, diversified and unpredictable” (ibid.)
then the direction and tasks of researchers have correspondingly become less straightforward,
relying, as they do on an interchange of theory and practice drawn from demography, from
the sociology of education, from the sociology of youth and of work and social stratification.
The social policy concerns of governments have been driven by the desire to catch up with, or
advance on the practices of economic competitors. A British government White Paper
commented:
“Comparisons with where we were a few years ago are irrelevant, as are comparisons
with what other British companies and organisations are doing. The comparison which
counts is that with our overseas competitors….and that is to our disadvantage”
(Department of Employment/Department of Education and Science, 1986).
Furthermore the international comparison of school to work transitions has become more
topical since the emergence of international labour markets as a consequence of globalisation
of markets and the formation of supranational governmental and regulatory bodies (Rauner,
1995). Whilst there has been a convergence in the economic, technological and social factors
which influence conditions for school to work transition, national traditions, politics and
cultures have led to very different developments in the process and experience of transition
in different countries. Thus studies which not only compare the processes and outcomes of
school to work transition between countries but look at the institutions, problems and
critiques of transition within the context of national policy and cultural boundaries are of
increasing importance.
Background and Context
The process of school to work transition in Britain is unusually complex and diversified.
Whilst as a model it is probably unique in Western Europe, a description and examination of
the actual processes in the context of national tradition and politics may yield pertinent
questions and problems for a wider international audience, if not answers. It should be noted
that this study draws on policy and practice in England and Wales1.
England and Wales are particularly perverse for commentators who try to classify different
systems for school to work transition. Most join the OECD (1994 ) in describing it as a
“mixed system” with weak institutionalisation and no dominant mode of organisation. To
understand the evolution of such a ‘model’ it is necessary to examine the context of schooling
and work in the UK in terms of the cultures and expectations of young people, the policy
interventions of governments and the nature of the labour market.
In the unprecedented period of full employment in post war Britain between 1950 and 1970,
demand for vocational education and training stabilised at a relatively low level (Rose, 1991).
Employers and employees were satisfied even though there was a “low skills equilibrium”
(Finegold and Soskice, 1988). With readily available work, transition was not viewed as a
great problem. Parental background, class and occupation formed the main determinants of
young peoples aspirations and destination. Young people and training were a low priority for
employers and skills, where needed, were bought on the job market. A high cultural value
was placed by young people on getting a job.
The process of transition was to remain relatively unproblematic until the onset of high youth
unemployment in the 1970s and 1980s. Even In 1970 half of all young people left school at
the age of 16 and went straight to full time jobs.
Cultures and expectations of young people

1
Although the systems for school to work transition in Scotland and the North of Ireland are broadly similar
there are significant difference in institutional and educational structures and systems.

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Despite structural and policy changes which have occurred since, the underlying values
remain largely unchanged. The University of Surrey has produced a number of publications
based on a longitudinal study of the transition of young people from school to work in
Liverpool and Swindon. In England, early transition to paid employment remains the most
desirable choice (Evans and Heinz, 1994). Extended vocational training and academic
education are seen in terms of quick accession to the desired occupational status and
economic independence. None of the different social groups they surveyed in England was
‘fully convinced of the value of formal routes. Getting a job, then learning on the job seemed
to be regarded as the best option’ (Brynner and Roberts, 1991). For male working class
adults, identity was seen as intimately tied to the idea of being in work. For girls, work was
essential as a means of maintaining personal autonomy and avoiding being tied to a domestic
role. Determinants of career choice continued to be family background alongside educational
attainment, money and reactions to past experience. However Brynner and Roberts also
recorded the powerlessness which young people felt to alter the course of events and their
fatalistic resignation in the face of unemployment and the lack of proper work.
Government intervention
In the post war boom period governments saw little reason to intervene in the education and
training process. Indeed the enduring historical feature of the education and training system in
England and Wales was the peculiarly decentralised nature of the system. Until 1988 there
was no national curriculum in the schools and the system for both academic and vocational
qualifications was run by largely autonomous examining boards. It was only in the 1960s
following the ascendance of human capital theory that England and Wales embraced ‘the
education craze’. When then Prime Minister Jim Callaghan launched the ‘Great Education
Debate’ in 1976 the problem of school to work transition and the supposed gap between
education and employment became a central target of state policy. The concern that Britain
was lagging behind in training the technicians for the ‘white, hot heat of the technological
revolution’ was to be one of the underlying factors in the debate over education and training
policy to the present day. This resulted in the vocationalisation of school and education.
Ainley (1988) describes how the government agency, the Manpower Services Commission
(MSC), “appropriated the accepted means of transition from school to work as a rite of
passage”. It created the need for an institutional bridge between the supposedly culturally
distinct worlds of school and work. The MSC “popularised the ideas of more ‘relevant’ and
less academic schooling to erode the separation and then effected a sea change in use-
justifications for a new economic rationalisation” (Ainley, 1988). School culture became
viewed as an influence from which young people have to be institutionally desocialised whilst
work was presented as ‘an unproblematic and natural arena in which individuals find self
fulfilment and achieve vocational maturity” (ibid.). The new policy found its expression in
the 1970s and 1980s in a series of new government programmes, projects and initiatives
which stressed the need for schools, colleges and university to understand and ‘interface’ with
employers and the world of work. These included, among others, the Technical and
Vocational Education Initiative, aiming to introduce more vocational education and core
skills into the school and further education curricula, the promotion of Compacts between
schools, students and employers, work experience programmes for school pupils, the
introduction of new pre-vocational curricula and qualifications (CPVE), the appointment of
industry representatives to school and college governing bodies and the promotion of
Enterprise in higher education. Governments adopted a ‘carrot and stick’ policy to encourage
compliance with the new ideas - financial incentives for participation being accompanied by
externally monitored targets for the less enthusiastic.
Youth Unemployment

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The second major driving force behind government intervention in the school to work
transition was the emergence of mass youth employment. Although the early symptoms were
hidden by the prevailing culture of high youth job turnover and the acceptance of periods of
unemployment in between jobs, an outbreak of rioting in the major cities of England in the
late 1970s brought home the seriousness of the situation. The response was the introduction
temporary training scheme, the WEEPS followed by the Youth Opportunity Programme
(YOPs), which as it evolved through the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) to become Youth
Training (YT) became increasingly a permanent feature of the school to work transition
system. Whilst the early programmes concentrated on work experience, there was an
increasing emphasis on the training content of the programmes. Nethertheless, these
programmes have remained stigmatised in the eyes of young people as a source of cheap
labour with poor training and opportunities. They are still widely regarded as a temporary
staging point, while waiting for the opportunity for ‘proper’ employment and the completion
rate for training is correspondingly low.
Labour Market influences
The major determining characteristic and context for school to work transition is the nature of
the labour market. This has been particularly so since 1980 since when education and training
have increasingly been driven by the demands of the market (Brown and Evans, 1993). In
Germany the same period has seen an extension of occupational labour markets, whereas in
the UK the collapse of apprenticeships, which were concentrated in the traditional heavy
industry male craft areas, has been accompanied by deregulatory government policies. By
1995 apprenticeships only accounted for 5% of the youth cohort (Marsden and Ryan, 1995).
The most striking feature has been the rapid growth of an unstructured secondary labour
market fostering low pay and low security and demanding accordingly low skills levels.
Economist and newspaper editor, Will Hutton, has documented the emergence of what he
calls ‘the 40, 30, 30 society’ with only 40% of the workforce enjoying secure, tenured
employment, another 30% working in insecure or casual posts while the other 30% are
unemployed or under-employed and are increasingly marginalised (Hutton, 1994). These
changes have important consequences for school to work transition. The existence of a casual
labour market has allowed the continuation of direct transition to work at the age of 16 often
in positions of relative responsibilty. Comparisons with Germany have revealed that in
Britain respondents had greater responsibilities, more freedom to make decisions and to use
their own initiative at a younger age. The German sample were at least two years behind the
British in relation to entering employment proper. But as David Raffe (1991) has pointed out,
a youth labour market which rewards early leaving with short term remuneration contributes
to a low skills equilibrium. Training for both internal and secondary labour markets is geared
to the needs of individual employers and tends to be informal, narrow, specific and
uncertified. (Marsden and Ryan, 1995). Employers have historically been unwilling to
participate in structured training initiatives. The narrow pay differentials between trainees and
skilled workers mean training costs are relatively high, thus encouraging employers to recruit
skilled labour rather than train.
Weak Institutionalisation

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The lack of mediation in school to work transfer and the relatively young age of transfer,
means that the process is especially dependent on local labour markets. The studies in
Liverpool and Swindon have emphasised how opportunity is tied to geography; in Swindon
the buoyant labour market in a growing city led to a willingness for employers to offer
attractive employment to anyone demonstrating educational achievement whilst in Liverpool,
where traditional heavy industries have suffered from structural decline, the choice was to
stay on at school or join temporary youth training schemes (Brynner and Roberts, 1991). As
well as place of birth, opportunities are closely related to the phase of the economic cycle.
The weakly institutionalised transition structures are inadequate for mediating in the labour
market in periods of economic recession. For young people the increased uncertainty and risk
is often reflected in step by step transition behaviour, rather than a long term strategic
approach to future careers.

Deregulation
Government response since 1980 has been both to deregulate the market, including the
abolition of most of the remaining statutory training boards and the encouragement of local
negotiation of pay and conditions, and also to emphasise the imperative of the market in
education and training. The assumption has been that labour market structures are given and
education must be reformed accordingly. Thus has been sought voluntaristic demand led
improvements in qualifications and skills without corresponding reforms of the labour
market. In the pursuit of ‘world class standards’ the government has established voluntary
targets for post-16 participation and qualification with the aim of ensuring all young people
remain in some form of education and training until the age of 18. Other reforms have
included the introduction of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General National
Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) to ensure the relevance of vocational training for market
needs (for discussion of these see below). The establishment of the local employer led
Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and the incorporation of further education colleges,
under management boards comprised primarily of local business people, is designed to
enhance the responsiveness of education and training to local market forces. The byword is
‘flexibility’ - flexible training for flexible people for flexible jobs.
The school to work transition system
Felix Rauner (1995) characterises the British model as deregulated transition with a relatively
long transition phase marked by extended search and orientation processes for young people.
This is coupled with a simultaneously high rate of youth unemployment and other social risk
situations as well as an extremely demand-orientated flexible continuing training market with
low-qualified, industrial jobs. This model is characterised, he says, by high thresholds, or
barriers, between school and post school education and training and between education and
training and employment. The major contextual factors influencing school to work transition
in England and Wales in this model are a culture which emphasises, above all, the importance
of getting a job as soon as possible, government policies which seek to develop a flexible
education and training system driven by the needs of the market and a deregulated localised
labour market.
Compulsory education in the UK ends at the age of 16 when most students take a number of
single subject graded examinations called the General Certificate of Secondary Education
(GCSE). Whilst there is some limited provision for pre-vocational school education under the
National Curriculum, this is primarily targeted at low achievers and students with special
learning needs. Careers advice and guidance is provided through two different structures,
through school based careers teachers and the Training and Enterprise Council funded local
careers service.

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There are five main routes for progression post-16 embracing a number of different modes of
learning and a diversity of provider institutions. There is no commonality between the
different pathways which have different methods of assessment and no shared core of general
education, although young people may frequently move in and out of different routes (Green,
1992).
The academic route
The first is an academic route leading to individual subject examinations ‘A’ (Advanced)
level at the age of 18 pursued either through school or tertiary institutions. ‘A’ levels are
traditionally targeted at the top 30% of achievers and serve as an entry qualification for
university or management training. Assessment is through written examinations.
However over the last ten years there has been a rapid growth in the numbers of students
remaining in full time education after the age of 16 although last year there was for the first
time as slight decline, possibly due to an upturn in the labour market. There are major
differences in the school staying on rate between different geographical regions and different
social class groups. One of the major trends in transition in the UK in the last period has been
an unprecedented growth in university provision. There are now over 150 universities in the
UK with 1.5 million students representing a growth of 250% over the last 25 years (IES,
1996). Over 700, 000 of these are full time first degree students with 500,000 studying part
time. Part of the increase has been due to increased numbers of mature students returning to
university, the proportion of young people entering university currently standing at 33%.
Over 60% of UK entrants are from the top two social groups, producing a skewed student
profile in terms of overrepresentation of higher social classes. There is evidence to suggest
that university attendance is seen by significant numbers of young people as a way of
postponing transition to work, that is a high level holding situation. Graduate unemployment
has been falling over the past period but there are indications that graduates who enter
employment are not necessarily taking up jobs commensurate with their qualifications (ibid.).
There has also been an increase in the numbers of graduates taking short contract
employment as a precursor to seeking a permanent job and in the numbers pursuing post
graduate training and development schemes. Occupational projections into the 21st century
suggest a continued growth in higher level occupations requiring degree level qualifications
and a declining share for less skilled occupations. Student demand for university education is
expected to continue to grow although there are significant restraints in terms of institutional
and individual funding.
Vocational education and training

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The second mode of transition is through vocational education and training delivered mainly
by local further education colleges. Prior to 1988 there was a bewildering plethora of
different vocational qualifications, offered by independent examining and assessment bodies
and by industry based organisations. In 1988 the government established the National Council
for Vocational Qualifications to reform and modernise the qualification system for vocational
qualifications. The NCVQ instigated Industry Lead Bodies for different occupational sectors
with the remit of establishing national standards expressed in terms of competences and
associated performance criteria on a five rung hierarchy of qualifications. When complete, it
is intended there will be around 900 different National Vocational Qualification routes.
Assessment is mixed mode although formal validity is stressed with emphasis on observation
of performance in a range of tasks. More recently the importance of underpinning knowledge
has been acknowledged in order to improve the reliability of assessment. NVQs have no age
or gender barriers, neither do they stipulate any prescribed form of learning. Although
designed for work based learning and assessment, the majority of students are college based
with work placements or simulated work practice to provide practical training and
opportunity for assessment. The introduction of NVQs remains highly controversial with
widespread criticisms of the alleged low standards compared with other European vocational
training programmes, the lack of knowledge requirements and the unreliability of the
assessment process (see, for example, Smithers, 1993). NVQs are a purely vocational
qualification and students do not normally follow any general education curriculum. Whilst a
minority of students may achieve employed status prior to entering vocational education and
training the majority progress to employment following their training and are heavily
dependent on local labour market conditions. A significant number of higher level vocational
students progress to university from further education.
More recently NCVQ has introduced the General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ).
This third pathway comprises 14 more broadly based vocational routes providing a two year
vocational and general education foundation for students. Available at four different levels,
assessment is provided through a mixed mode which includes project work and written,
nationally administered, multiple choice tests. Although usually incorporating a period of
work placement, these qualifications are designed to be delivered in a full time education
setting. The government has attempted to establish the ‘equivalence of esteem’ between Level
III GNVQs and ‘A’ levels, referring to the new qualifications as vocational ‘A’ levels.
GNVQs also incorporate core skills in numeracy, communication and the use of information
technology, with an optional extra in a modern language. It is intended that GNVQs present a
transition path for young people either to more specific job related vocational training and
thus to employment or as an alternative route to university.
Youth Training

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For young people choosing to leave full time education at the age of 16 the choice is more
complicated. As explained above, immediate transition into full time employment is heavily
dependent on local labour markets with a general reduction in the availability of unskilled
manual work. A study of early leavers in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK (Hannan et al,
1995) noted that in the case of the lower level unskilled jobs labour market, segmentation
tends to attract young people out of school in the UK. With low wage differentials for skills
in manual labour, early leaving is seen as a rational choice. Despite the government’s goal
that all young people participate in some form of education until the age of 18, there is little
evidence that employers are providing such training. Since 1984, when the proportion of
employees participating in job-related training stood at just under 10% of the United
Kingdom’s workforce, that figure had only increased to 15% in 1994 (Unwin and
Wellington, 1995). Reliable information has been more difficult to compile since the
withdrawal of unemployment benefit to 16-18 year olds resulting in a significant number
‘disappearing’ from statistics in this period. For those not wishing to continue in full time
education and training and unable to obtain employment, there is a guarantee of a two year
placement in Youth Training. This represents a fourth transition route There are two different
forms of Youth Training, one being industry based and the other non industry based either
with private or public sector training providerstraining providers. Funding for both forms is
administered through the Training and Enterprise Councils. There is no guarantee of
employment at the end of either form of training and whilst firm based provision has a
slightly better reputation, Youth Training has always suffered from an extremely poor image
by young people and parents. Brynner and Roberts (1991) describe young people’s perception
of the schemes as “warehousing” and report a “vehemence of opposition and feelings of
exploitation”. Youth Training utilises National Vocational Qualifications to provide a training
programme. However there has been sustained criticism of the low level of training and
qualifications actually provided and only 34% of participants actually complete a full NVQ
with most of these at the lowest levels (1 and 2) (Unwin and Wellington, 1995). Non-industry
YT is often seen as the choice if nothing else is available, with young people continuing to
aspire to a paid job at the earliest possible opportunity. Once more the percentage entering
YT is dependent on local labour market conditions, higher proportions being found in areas
with high structural unemployment. For those failing to obtain employment during or after a
period of youth training, there is the danger of long term unemployment and social exclusion
from the labour market.
Modern Apprenticeship

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Finally a fifth route via the new Modern Apprenticeship was launched in September 1994
with apprenticeships being provided in 14 different industrial sectors. Until the 1960s in
common with many other European countries apprenticeship had been the main route for
transition to skilled employment but suffered dramatic collapse in the recession of the 1970s.
The new model differs from the traditional apprenticeship in that formal training is provided
through the further education colleges. The intention in the new model is to provide training
in both traditional and non-traditional sectors, equally available to both men and women. The
projected number of apprenticeships was 150,000 across all industrial sectors but in 1994
there were only 700 apprentices. In an initial evaluation of the new scheme, Unwin and
Wellington (1995) found that the vast majority of the apprentices were white and 88.7% were
male and only 11.1% female. Two sectors, Childcare and Business Administration,
predictably had few male apprentices. Three sectors, Agriculture, Engineering Construction
and the Steel Industry were entirely male. One sector, Retail, had equal numbers of males and
females. The majority (72%) had been in full time education prior to becoming apprentices
and possessed above average GCSE results. The survey uncovered considerable differentials
in pay with the highest paid occupational sectors in Marine and Engineering, Agriculture and
Engineering Manufacturing and the lowest paid in Childcare. They also reported a ‘hierarchy’
according to which employer the young person was attached to (if any). Despite, this nearly
all the apprentices felt their work based route was ‘a cut above’ Youth Training. Many felt
themselves to be caught in the middle of the academic / vocational divide. A number had
rejected ‘A’ levels as an option because of a perception that employers preferred to recruit
people with work experience.
Current research in school to work transition
Research in school to work transition in the UK has been driven primarily by three concerns.
The first is that the demand led system for education and training has led to a low skills - low
wage equilibrium, with the result that the British economy is failing to remain competitive
because of the skills gap with major industrial competitors (Finegold and Soskice, 1988;
NIER, 1989). The second concern is about the opportunities and experiences available for
young people, especially the link between under-qualification and youth unemployment. The
third has been into the relevance and organisation of curriculum content and provision for
young people. Obviously these different concerns are reflected in the different disciplines and
methods of enquiry. The first is associated with the rise of supply side economics and labour
market research, which as Hannan et al (1995) point out has coincided with the second, rising
concern by social scientists of the impact and effects of youth unemployment. The third line
of research has been the prerogative of educationalists and pedagogists promoting reform of
the existing system of post-16 provision. These debates are set in a political context in which
education and training provision has been a central issue of debate between the major
political parties.
Labour Market Research

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The concern that Britain is falling behind in both post compulsory participation in education
and training and in qualifications has been expressed in a series of studies and reports.
Statistical comparisons are difficult to analyse. One of the starker predictions is that
according to labour market criteria, 50% of UK school leavers are underqualified (Hannan et
all, 1995). Of particular concern to researchers has been the training of technicians,
considered critical to future economic performance. Market driven models are considered to
lead to low level and adaptive skills training and to the perpetuation of the low skills
equilibrium. In contrast to the government premise that work opportunities follow skills,
Ashton and Lowe (1991) believe opportunities follow local economic conditions, albeit
influenced by race, gender, education and class. Hence the focus of the research has been
supply side reform in order to provide a wider skills base for future economic and
technological development. This in turn focuses on reform of the deregulated labour market.
Many commentators have looked with some envy at the German dual system for training
apprentices. Marsden and Ryan (1995) have charted the divergent trends between the
development of apprenticeship training in Germany and the UK. Reasons for the failure of
Britain to train, they say, include high, real interest rates and the lack of state financial
support for in-company training. Also problematic is the slow development of vertical
mobility in companies which limits movement of semi-skilled manual workers into skilled
jobs. The major influence however, is the low pay differential between unskilled and skilled
work leading to relatively high training costs. Marsden and Ryan advocate Industrial Training
Boards with regulatory powers, a wider educational content for vocational qualifications and
the establishment of apprentice rather than trainee or employee status with common training
allowances and fixed term contracts for participants. There is also a concern that higher
education is a more attractive option to young people than technical training and that the
result is substitution of technical posts by graduates, albeit with the wrong skills (Scott,
1994). Brown and Evans (1993) express a concern that if training is for current low skilled
jobs then a minimum competence model may be perceived as adequate. However, they are
more cautious in prescribing remedies, pointing out that the lack of a training culture will
frustrate attempts to graft elements of other countries’ systems onto the British system. They
call for five policy initiatives to initiate a process of reform in order to bring about the much
sought for ‘high skills equilibrium’:
a) restriction of the youth labour market;
b) move towards education-led vocational preparation up to the age of 18 as the norm
c) build on commitment to training of some employers (through apprenticeship and
careership) but not pretend all employers are so committed. This means removal of
incentives or pressure on less committed employers to provide broad based foundation
training;
d) Make provision for strengthened apprenticeships with a differentiated policy between
occupational areas;
e) place equal emphasis on processes and outcomes;
f) promote the concept of key workers, that is those workers who combine technical and
training skills.
The last issue has preoccupied a number of researchers. Rose (1991) describes the British
system as “training without trainers”, Attwell (1996) points out the failure to develop and
nurture occupational competence and expertise in the education of training professionals.
Opportunities and experiences for young people

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A further area of research has addressed the extension of risk and uncertainty for young
people, underachievement and the affects of youth unemployment and social exclusion.
Whilst in the early 1970s the notion of early school leaving and social exclusion was largely
reserved for students with special educational needs or with more acute social problems, since
the onset of high youth unemployment it has come to be seen as a significant if not central
problem. Some researchers have advanced the idea that in the UK there is a growing group of
‘semi permanently’ excluded young people marked by not only very low personal security
and low income which is an alternative life style to mainstream society. Insecurity and risk
are unevenly distributed with pockets of very high youth unemployment among poorer
working class families and in areas of structural industrial decline and depression. In this
group of young people there is a particular problem of low self esteem, low expectations and
hence low motivation (Waters, 1995). Youth Training Schemes represent a failure of policy
with regard to the extent and depth of the problem. Furthermore, lack of income, low
expectations and lack of skills, especially when considered against the relatively young age of
many of this group, militate against geographical mobility for transition. Hannan at al (1995)
consider four possible categories of measures to deal with underachievement; prevention,
recovery (or leading back), transition and integration, compensatory training. Elements of all
these approaches can be seen within the British system for transition. However, despite
significant progress in improving access to vocational education and training, the short term
funding base for the projects, often from the European Community, results in their failing to
achieve the institutional permanence required for a strategic approach to the question
(Hardacre & Waters, 1994). As pathways become more diverse, and choice more
problematic, there is an increased focus on the need for better support to be made available to
young people (Evans, 1994). Improved careers guidance and mentoring within the vocational
education and training process may promote motivation and encourage young people to make
rational and strategic choices for future career development (Griffey and Hankin, 1994).
Curriculum Research

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Evans (1994) considers the one of the major weakness of the British system as “the lack of a
comprehensive VET programme which guarantees access to wider technological, human and
linguistic studies which prepare young adults for active citizenship in the changing European
context”. A preoccupation with the curriculum content and organisation of education and
training has characterised research in terms of volume, with a wide range of proposed
prescriptions and remedies. This is perhaps understandable given the government’s inflexible
labour market policies and the continuous pace of curriculum and institutional reform in the
part ten years. Three prevailing themes are considered here. The first is persistent pressure for
the ending of the binary divide and the creation of a unified academic and vocational training
system, at least for all young people under the age of 16. Such a measure, it is argued can
increase the relevance of academic education and boost the attractiveness and esteem of
vocational education and training. In fact the government itself appeared to be moving in this
direction in the 1992 White Paper on Education and Training calling for the establishment of
an overarching Higher Diploma for all students regardless of individual pathway. However
this particular policy proposal was never enacted. More radical solutions have advocated the
abolition of existing academic and vocational qualifications and the creation of a single
modular ‘British Baccalaureate’ with flexible routes towards achievement (Finegold, 1990).
A third direction has been the development of a credit based scheme with students and
trainees able to accumulate a portfolio of transferable qualifications across different existing
routes (FEU, 1992; Attwell, 1994). Elements of this scheme have been implemented in a
number of areas particularly in Wales. Alongside this research has been the desire to develop
broader academic and vocational education and training programmes. Britain has a system
unique in Europe in providing single subject examinations at the age of 18, rather than the
more common and broader grouped qualification. Similarly NVQs are only concerned with
vocational and task competence including no wider educational content. The inclusion of core
skills, or key qualifications, has been seen as one way to guarantee a broader educational
curriculum and to ensure all young people develop the skills necessary for future change in
technology and work organisation. A recent report to the Committee of University Vice
Chancellors concluded that employers want “general personal and intellectual skills,
awareness of the world of business and use of the ability to work in teams, languages,
numeracy, problem solving”. This, the CIHE (1995) considered, must become part of the
definition of an “educated person whatever their discipline”.

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Concluding Remarks
The question of school to work transition is one which is receiving growing attention within
not only the community of education researchers but a wider public arena in England and
Wales. The centrality of education and training to economic performance, innovation and
competitiveness guarantees that the subject will continue to exercise the minds of researchers
and legislators alike. The need for labour market reform and regulation is clear in relation to
the need to produce a higher volume and higher level of skills for the work force but any
reform programme should have more ambitious aims. The first is not just the provision of the
adaptive skills needed now and for the foreseeable future to service the needs of industry but
the nurturing and encouragement of the skills needed by the workforce to determine for
themselves the use and implementation of technology and the form of work organisation.
These are the skills which can develop enterprise and innovation in society. Furthermore,
they are the very abilities required for young people themselves to be able to determine and
plan their future careers and life patterns in an uncertain world. Such a change requires a new
relation between education and training and industry. Instead of education as being seen as
reactive and dependent on industry and economy there is a pressing need to re-examine the
values placed on education and transition by society. Education and training and the transition
from school to work should be seen as having a wider value than the acquisition of task based
skills and knowledge and thus progression to a job. The pursuit of active participation in a
democratic society is a pressing and valid goal for the transition process.

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