new deal is crap, suprise!
at the margins | 31.07.2002 10:32
altho oneof the biggest quangos and social control devices in uk, there is never much on indymedia about issues such as new deal/poverty that effect the most marginalised in uk. so i am posting this from guardian, comments most welcome...,
New Deal fails most youngsters
Will Woodward, education editor
Wednesday July 31, 2002
The Guardian
Young people in full time education and training on the government's New Deal for the unemployed are failing to win jobs or achieve qualifications at the end of it, the skills watchdog said yesterday.
The adult learning inspectorate's annual report issued a damning verdict on the quality of adult training by government and by companies, with nearly 60% of providers classed as inadequate.
About 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds who join the New Deal after being jobless for six months or more go into full-time education and training, the most popular of the options available through the New Deal. But only 26% obtained a job and 31% a qualification, when their courses are aimed at getting them both after a year.
"Its not very effective at getting people into jobs and it's not very effective at getting them qualifications," said David Sherlock, chief inspector at the ALI.
"The kind of young people on the New Deal are not usually able to submit themselves to a year-long programme. Their expectations are very much shorter. These are not young people who are prepared to wait a year until something really good happens to them. If you have been used to failing you need regular successes."
Some 112,700 young people went into full time education and training on a New Deal programme in the four years to April 2001. Others went into full time employment subsidised by the government (52,500), to the voluntary sector (60,000) or to the environment task force (56,000). Some 60% of those who joined the subsidised employment scheme went on to full time unsubsidised work.
Mr Sherlock said he still believed the New Deal was a success. "A great deal has been achieved through the New Deal... this is a very challenging group. These are people who are not easy to help very often."
The ALI's annual report said the most successful scheme in the New Deal for 18- to 24-year-olds was the "gateway" initiative, the initial part of the programme in which the jobless are allocated a personal adviser who stays with them until they find work or go into education or training.
Earlier this year the national audit office said only 20,000 out of the 700,000 who took part in the New Deal got jobs which would not otherwise have been created.
Mr Sherlock said a rethink of training was needed to offer shorter, more adaptable courses. "We do not yet have a model that is sufficiently flexible to meet the training needs of the 21st century."
The report also shows huge dropout rates from the government's modern apprenticeship scheme - with 64% of trainees on foundation and advanced apprenticeships failing to complete.
Margaret Hodge, minister for lifelong learning and higher education, said improvements were needed in work-based learning.
New Deal fails most youngsters
Will Woodward, education editor
Wednesday July 31, 2002
The Guardian
Young people in full time education and training on the government's New Deal for the unemployed are failing to win jobs or achieve qualifications at the end of it, the skills watchdog said yesterday.
The adult learning inspectorate's annual report issued a damning verdict on the quality of adult training by government and by companies, with nearly 60% of providers classed as inadequate.
About 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds who join the New Deal after being jobless for six months or more go into full-time education and training, the most popular of the options available through the New Deal. But only 26% obtained a job and 31% a qualification, when their courses are aimed at getting them both after a year.
"Its not very effective at getting people into jobs and it's not very effective at getting them qualifications," said David Sherlock, chief inspector at the ALI.
"The kind of young people on the New Deal are not usually able to submit themselves to a year-long programme. Their expectations are very much shorter. These are not young people who are prepared to wait a year until something really good happens to them. If you have been used to failing you need regular successes."
Some 112,700 young people went into full time education and training on a New Deal programme in the four years to April 2001. Others went into full time employment subsidised by the government (52,500), to the voluntary sector (60,000) or to the environment task force (56,000). Some 60% of those who joined the subsidised employment scheme went on to full time unsubsidised work.
Mr Sherlock said he still believed the New Deal was a success. "A great deal has been achieved through the New Deal... this is a very challenging group. These are people who are not easy to help very often."
The ALI's annual report said the most successful scheme in the New Deal for 18- to 24-year-olds was the "gateway" initiative, the initial part of the programme in which the jobless are allocated a personal adviser who stays with them until they find work or go into education or training.
Earlier this year the national audit office said only 20,000 out of the 700,000 who took part in the New Deal got jobs which would not otherwise have been created.
Mr Sherlock said a rethink of training was needed to offer shorter, more adaptable courses. "We do not yet have a model that is sufficiently flexible to meet the training needs of the 21st century."
The report also shows huge dropout rates from the government's modern apprenticeship scheme - with 64% of trainees on foundation and advanced apprenticeships failing to complete.
Margaret Hodge, minister for lifelong learning and higher education, said improvements were needed in work-based learning.
at the margins