Education, training & employment
You only have to look at the research in this area to realise how important education is to young people. For example, young people who don’t attend school, for whatever reason, are more than three times as likely to offend as those who do attend. Five percent of all youth crime is committed in school hours. There is also a direct link between time lost from education and crime in later life, with a third of all people serving custodial sentences having been regularly absent from school and half of all male prisoners having been excluded from school.
The Youth Justice Board sets demanding targets for Youth Offending Teams in this area, requiring us to ensure that 90% of all young people who receive a service from us have access to a full-time placement in education, training or employment. In order to work towards this the YOS employs a Senior Education Welfare Officer (SEWO) and a Connexions Personal Advisor (P.A.)
The SEWO works closely with YOS Officers and Support Workers to provide educational information for assessments and to identify as early as possible when young people are struggling in school in terms of their behaviour or attendance. The SEWO is the important link between the YOS and the education system and has an important role in helping us all to work more closely together. This is particularly important when working with young people who are serving or have served a custodial sentence. Serving time in custody can severely disrupt a young person’s education.
The Connexions P.A. is seconded from Connexions, a government service providing support to young people in the 13-19 age range to access personal development and training opportunities. It aims to remove barriers to learning and progression, and ensure young people make a smooth transition from school to working life. The Connexions P.A. in the YOS focusses much of her work on helping young people to access training programmes, and monitoring their progress. Likewise, the Connexions P.A. is an important link between the YOS and a range of agencies supporting young people into employment.
