« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Introduction
1. Young people's destinations post-16 matter; they are a key indicator of success in adult life. We know that young people who experience spells of disengagement from learning and employment between 16 and 19 are significantly more likely to be unemployed as adults. 16+ Learning Choices is our new model for supporting young people to stay in learning post-16.
2. This is why, in Skills for Scotland, we committed to encouraging young people to remain in learning post-16 as the best way of ensuring their long term employability and contribution to society.
3. We also recognise the importance of this in Scotland Performs, where one of our key performance indicators is the proportion of school leavers in positive and sustained destinations.
4. Building the Curriculum 3 gives young people an entitlement to a senior phase of learning. To fully realise the vision of Curriculum for Excellence, those young people who learn in a non-school setting during the senior phase must be as well supported as those who remain in school.
5. 16+ Learning Choices is our new model for planning the senior phase of Curriculum for Excellence. It envisages all young people, well in advance of their school leaving date, being made an offer of an appropriate, attractive place in learning post-16.
6. For many young people, the most appropriate choice will be to remain in school for S5 and S6. Some will choose to study a course of further or higher education. Some will take part in one of our national training programmes; others will get a job, which may have key elements of training attached to it. Still others will volunteer, or will engage in non-formal learning opportunities in a community or third sector setting.
7. For most of those options, pathways and the associated support for young people are already clear. But for those young people engaging in learning in a non-formal setting, progression routes are often less certain and access to financial and other support may be limited.
8. This is compounded by the fact that young people for whom learning in a non-formal setting is the most appropriate choice are often the most vulnerable, and at the highest risk of disengaging altogether.
9. This consultation paper therefore focuses on how we can better support and resource those young people engaged in non-formal learning.
10. It also considers more widely the financial support that is available to young people across all learning options. We are considering these together for two reasons - firstly, to take for the first time a coherent approach to funding support for young people, a major step towards our commitment thereto in Skills for Scotland; and secondly, to ensure that the available resources are targeted most effectively at those young people most in need.
11. As policy on pay is reserved to the UK government we are not consulting on waged provision such as Modern Apprenticeships and Skillseekers; we are also not consulting here on proposed changes to student support in higher education, due to parallel plans to consult on those and to the wider age group of the student body involved.
12. We are specifically seeking your views on:
- The development of a new approach to "first step" learning for young people in a community or third sector setting, which we describe as Activity Agreements; and
- Financial support arrangements for young people, including:
- the EMA programme in schools and colleges;
- the allowances payable to young people taking part in Get Ready for Work;
- the financial support that should be available to young people taking part in Activity Agreements; and
- the Young Person's Bridging Allowance.
12. A full description of the support currently available to 16-19 year olds is at Annex A.
« Previous | Contents | Next »