Breaking Barriers Innovations: Educationto Employment

BreakingBarriersInnovations:Education toEmploymentInterim Report on Stage One –September 2018. Submission toSunderland City Council

Dr Jon BashfordGeorge Evans-JonesNicholas Werran

September2018

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

2. The national and local strategic contextfor skills requirements from employers andindustry

3. The factors that influence young peoplewhen they are making decisions aboutcareer choices

4. Communication and the relevance ofthe local education to employment offer

5. Engaging industry in the skills agenda

6. Conclusions and Next Steps

7. Bibliography

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Contents

4 Education to Employment - Sunderland 5Education to Employment - Sunderland

This is an interim report that presents thefindings from the engagement undertakenas stage one of the Sunderlandprogramme. The report is intended toprovide a springboard for discussion and toinform the development of local plans andstrategies for ensuring radical improvementin the aspirations and life chances for post16 - 19 year olds in further education,training and employment. The primaryfocus for the programme thus far has beenon those who are NEET or disadvantagedand what this means for the strategiccontext for skills requirements from industryand the local authority, and Together forChildren. Additionally, we examine thefactors that influence children and youngpeople’s decision-making on employmentchoices, the communication andrelevance of the local education toemployment offer and how to furtherengage industry in the skills agenda for thisgroup of children and young people.

It is also the intention that this report andthe findings can be used to highlight key

issues that Sunderland and similar citiesface in developing skills and meeting theneeds of those children and young peoplewho are NEET and disadvantaged as partof an inclusive growth strategy.

Sunderland has a good track record ongrowth and a strong vision for its long-termeconomic future. The city has encouragedsignificant inward investment and creatednew employment opportunities by buildingon its strengths and ensuring the rightinfrastructure is in place. However, in linewith many other key cities it also facessome significant challenges, in particularbeing able to radically improve the lifechances and aspirations of its youngpeople including those who aredisadvantaged or NEET. Some of thechallenges in achieving this arehighlighted in the report include:

Executive Summary

5Education to Employment - Sunderland

This programme of work would not have been possible without the support of the manyindividuals who contributed their time and shared their views and experiences ininterviews. As these interviews were conducted on a confidential basis we cannotacknowledge the individuals, but they represented a range of organisations and sectorsincluding:

We are especially grateful to Irene Lucas (Chief Executive Officer, Sunderland CityCouncil); Fiona Brown (Executive Director of People Services, Sunderland City Council);Sarah Reed (Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Transformation, Sunderland CityCouncil); Jill Laverick (Corporate Affairs Manager, Sunderland City Council); Jane Hibberd(Head of Strategy & Policy for People & Neighbourhoods, Sunderland City Council); SimonMarshall (Director of Education, Together for Children)

We also like to thank Professor Philip Garner (University of Northampton) for his advice andexpertise.

Acknowledgements

and Academies can raise educationalattainment;

• having a sufficiently mixed curriculum tobe attractive and relevant to a morediverse range of pupil needs, forexample enabling those with lessacademic potential to thrive within avocational pathway in education.

Having a more inclusive approach toaddressing skills requirements should includegreater recognition of the needs andcharacteristics of those who are NEET. Forexample, many children and young peoplewho are NEET experience greater levels ofcomplex needs and problems includingmental health problems, problems withsubstance use and challenging familybackgrounds. There is a need to ensure thatthese children and young people haveaccess to an appropriate range of supportservices, with capacity for more intensiveone to one support.

Mental health is a particular concernamongst the NEET groups of young peopleand there is increasing evidence thatmental health is having a detrimentalimpact on productivity for employees andacross industry. There may be significantbenefit in engaging and learning fromthose young people who are NEET and

have mental health problems as part ofmore informed and evidenced basedstrategies for providing mental healthsupport to the whole workforce.

Local authorities face a difficult task infulfilling their leadership role as they haveresponsibility and accountability forvulnerable children and young people butless ability to influence the direction anddelivery of educational provision.Nevertheless, structures are in place inSunderland by which the local authoritybrings together relevant partners such asthrough the Education and EconomicLeadership Boards and the Children’sStrategic Partnership. It is important thatthe strategy and work of these partnershipboards is increasingly able to operate onan integrated basis supported by robustand up-to-date evidence and information.There is also an important ongoingagenda for the inclusion and participationof young people in decision-making andplanning, including those who are moredisadvantaged and NEET.

The national and local strategic contextfor skills requirements from employersand industry

Although the UK economy has beensteadily strengthening in recent years theseare challenging times for industry and localauthorities following years of cuts to publicservices and the ongoing uncertainty overBrexit. For cities like Sunderland that aredominated by some large employers andhave a relatively narrow employment baseacross a diverse supply chain of Small andMedium sized Enterprises (SMEs), thechallenges can be especially acute. Thestrategic context for skills requirementsincludes some important issues for the localauthority, education providers, industry andgovernment including:

• the need to raise aspirations andopportunities for young people to obtainhigher and more diverse skills levels;

• ensuring that the benefits of thegovernment’s Industrial Strategy arerealised for cities like Sunderland and donot just feed into larger, more prosperouscities;

• strengthening the local areamechanisms for improving collaborationbetween the local authority, industry,

education providers and centralgovernment;

• supporting the local authority andeducation providers to raise therecognition and perceived value ofvocational training, such as T-Levelsand to ensure that these and other newvocational qualifications are part of thelocal education to employment offer;

• taking adequate account of theeducational needs and aspirations ofchildren and young people who aredisadvantaged including those withdisabilities and who are at risk ofbecoming NEET as part of a localinclusive plan for skills;

• providing support to SMEs across morediverse supply chains so that smallerand medium sized employers andbusiness can be part of the offer forvocational training and employment;

• recognising that the type and mix ofsecondary school and Academyprovision varies across the city and thatthose with less capacity and/or fewerarrangements for collaboration, such asbecoming multi-academy trusts,require additional support andleadership to ensure that all schools


The report contains some preliminaryanalysis Breaking Barriers Innovations havedone of Sunderland’s Progress 8 andAttainment 8 scores. It has been included inthe report to indicate that there areimportant trends and differences ineducational attainment that lie belowaverage Progress 8 scores, for example:

• the average score for Sunderland as awhole is -0.31 compared to -0.21 for theNorth East and -0.03 for all state fundedschools;

• if the schools and academies with ascore of below average were brought towithin the average range, the overallSunderland score would be improvedfrom -0.31 to -0.15;

• there has been a small improvement inthe overall gap between girls and boysat level 4 English and maths. However,there are larger differences in theattainment gap between girls and boysfor those schools and academies thatare performing at average and wellbelow the average for Progress 8;

• in addition to a further decline amongstboys in the average group (from -0.14 in2016 to -0.27 in 2017) girls have declinedin attainment for Progress 8 (from 0.04,

which was above average in 2016 to -0.16 in 2017);

• the attainment gap for maths hasalmost disappeared from 2016 to 2017(-3.2 in 2016 to -0.4 in 2017), while thegap in attainment for English hasincreased (from -13.4 in 2016 to -14.7 in2017);

• in all schools and academies in 2017pupils on Free School Meals (FSM)perform less well on Progress 8 thanthose not on FSM and the gap is muchlarger for those schools that have anabove average score for Progress 8;

• comparison amongst schools andacademies with above average,average and well below averagescores for Level 4 English and mathsshows that the schools and academiesthat have performed above averagehave a declining performance forpupils on FSM between 2016 and 2017(from -24.5 to -33.5):

• there has been a small improvement inthe attainment gap for pupils fromIMD20 between 2016 and 2017.However, pupils in schools andacademies with higher needs (assuggested by their relative deprivation)

The factors that influence young peoplewhen they are making decisions aboutcareer choices

The strategic context is important and thereare specific actions that are needed tosupport local planning and collaborationfor skills. It is also important that this isinformed by greater understanding aboutthe factors that influence young peoplewhen they are making decisions aboutcareer choices. These factors can bemultiple, but the main ones that have beenraised by respondents include:

Subject selection in school – transition fromprimary to secondary

There is increasing recognition that youngpeople begin to make choices aboutcareers early in their education. However,this may be an issue for Sunderland andsimilar areas where there are outstandingprimary schools but a drop in performanceand ratings at secondary levels. There is aneed for increasing focus on this transitionand ensuring that aspiration andengagement with children and youngpeople is maintained. Head teachers areinfluential in this and respondents alsoviewed the development of more multi-academy trusts as being a way to increasecapacity for schools and academies to

sustain a high quality educational offer,with greater choice and flexibility incurriculum and subjects.

Educational progress and attainment

In so far as educational progress andattainment is a factor that influences theemployment chances and choices thatyoung people make, it is important thatthere is a nuanced and sensitiveapproach to the data that can betterinform strategy and local skills plans.

Educational progress and attainment aremeasured using national systems known asProgress 8 and Attainment 8 scores. Theseare based on results in up to eightqualifications, which include English,maths, three English Baccalaureatequalifications and three otherqualifications.

It is not a perfect system and has not beenwithout its critics, but it does provide ameans to measure progress from the endof key stage 2 (age 11) to the end of keystage 4 (age 16). These are key pointsduring which children and young peopleare making decisions that will greatlyimpact on their future career andemployment choices.


benefits in terms of raising young people’saspirations and addressing the cycle ofdisadvantage and poor educationalattainment.

Parental engagement is something thatindustry needs to be doing, not just schools.If parents themselves are engaged in re-education, up-skilling and re-skilling this isthought to be particularly helpful for youngpeople. Research also suggests that familiesfrom disadvantaged backgrounds havehigh aspirations but they need theinformation and understanding on how tomobilise these effectively to achieve betteroutcomes for children. However, theevidence also suggests that manypractitioners do not have appropriate skills,knowledge and confidence to work withparents, particularly those from deprivedcommunities.

Influence from peers and siblings

Siblings are viewed as having influence,particularly if there are no older siblings thathave progressed to higher educationroutes. Some respondents thought that theinfluence of peers could have a biggerimpact on aspirations and breaking thecycle of disadvantage.

Many respondents viewed development

and wider use of role models from outsidethe family as a way to raise aspirations.Respondents thought that it was necessaryfor role models to come from a similarbackground to those children and youngpeople they are seeking to influence.

may receive more attention at KeyStage 2 but the apparent benefits of thisfalls off at Key Stage 4. Furthermore, thiseffect is masked by the Progress 8 scoresfor all schools and academies.

Perceptions and misconceptions about thelabour market

Children and young people have a varietyof perceptions and misconceptions aboutthe labour market, some of which arepositive but many are negative. Forexample, respondents thought that manychildren and young people are influencedin their career choices by perceptionsabout potential financial rewards, but thatthese can be unrealistic. Respondents alsospoke about the mind set and familyculture for some young people and hownegative or unrealistic attitudes aboutemployment can affect young people’schances of finding work.

Some respondents thought it was importantto note that not all young people havenegative attitudes nor severe personalproblems and that their aspirations shouldbe recognised more. This may be asignificant point as other research hashighlighted the dangers in grouping youngpeople into a homogenous category ofbeing NEET.

Influence of parents

Parental experiences and attitudes to workare viewed as a significant influence onyoung people, in particular with respect tounderstanding about the employmentmarket.

There are some concerns about theincreasing rates of children and youngpeople being home schooled and theway in which parental influence may beimpacting on these children and youngpeople. Some respondents thought thatincreasing pressures placed on pupils as aresult of the drive in schools for betterProgress 8 and Attainment 8 scores couldbe driving some parents to elect for homeschooling, because they would not besubject to the same pressures on subjectsand the national curriculum.

Some respondents also reported that morepupils were being home schooled andthey questioned if this was a way ofavoiding exclusions. Alongside this, therehas been a national trend for increasingnumbers of children to be excluded fromschool that is causing concern.

Parental engagement is widely perceivedby respondents as a priority area fordevelopment that can bring significant


may simply be a historical branding issue,but as one of the city’s flagshipprogrammes it could be worth exploringhow to better communicate the other waysin which the programme involves youngpeople and businesses throughout the year.

Some respondents, while appreciating thevalue of the programme, questioned thedegree to which it impacts ondisadvantaged children and young peopleincluding those how are NEET.

The North East LEP is recognised for itspositive work on developing careers advicein schools (Social Mobility Commission,2017). Respondents did recognise thatsome schools were improving theirapproach to career guidance and theprovision of Information Advice andGuidance (IAG). However, as a nationalprogramme, respondents had concernsabout the consistency and quality of IAG inschools. This was thought to be a particularproblem when industry were not directlyinvolved in IAG. Respondents expressedsome concerns about the decline inavailability of the local Connexions service.

There is a need to recognise the full diversityof children and young people whenconsidering communication and relevanceof the local education to employment offer,

for example understanding the NEETpopulation and characteristics ofdisadvantage such as young parents andcare leavers. Also, those with protectedcharacteristics including gender, ethnicity,disability etc.

When talking about the NEET population inSunderland respondents highlighted thecomplex range of needs amongst thispopulation, including mental healthproblems, drug and/or alcohol use andproblematic family backgrounds.Respondents also thought it was importantto recognise the numbers of NEET youngpeople that have particular high levels ofneed, for example care leavers, those inthe criminal justice system and as a resultof being pregnant at a young age.Respondents thought that workingeffectively with the NEET population ofyoung people required more intensive,one-to-one work. Respondents alsothought that there was a lack ofknowledge and understanding about howto work effectively with NEET youngpeople.

Engaging industry in the skills agenda

Respondents expressed concerns thatyoung people at risk of being NEET or who

Opportunities for vocational education andtraining

Lack of knowledge and awareness aboutvocational training opportunities werethought to be a factor influencing youngpeople’s choices. The focus on Progress 8and Attainment 8 and the restricted optionsfor curriculum development were alsothought by respondents to be restricting theamount of vocational courses available forstudents.

Respondents thought that vocationaloptions needed to be made available atan earlier point, for example at 14 years oldand that the focus should not only be onthose students staying in education.

Communication and relevance of thelocal education to employment offer

Ensuring that there is effectivecommunication of the local education toemployment offer that this is relevant tochildren, young people and their parentsand/or carers is not the sole responsibility ofthe local authority or Together for Children.Rather, this is something that needs to bedone by all partners working collaborativelyincluding schools and academies, localindustry, further and higher education andsocial and independent sector agencies

that work in supporting children andyoung people through education and intoemployment.

Respondents thought that there arebarriers for young people and parents innavigating routes to employment post 16.Work experience is viewed as a good wayto promote understanding about differentemployment options. However,respondents identified some barriers to thisincluding employer selectivity. Workexperience programmes are viewed asworking well for the local automotiveindustries, but this does not suit all childrenand young people.

One particularly successful and innovativeprogramme in Sunderland thatdemonstrates this collaboration is the city’sWork Discovery Programme.

Sunderland’s Work Discovery Programme isan annual work experience programmethat has gained national recognition forengaging young people with business,and how to encourage them to gain theskills to improve their employability. Theprogramme involves activities throughoutthe year, but this was not fully appreciatedby all respondents who misunderstood theprogramme to solely be about ‘WorkDiscovery Week’ in June each year. This


were already NEET were not work readyand that industry needs to be moreengaged in addressing these issues.However, capacity to work with NEETapplicants and understanding about theirneeds as employees are thought to belacking.

Some respondents thought that localemployers lacked medium and long-termstrategies for addressing these problems.Respondents saw this as being linked tobusiness imperatives or the ‘bottom line’,something that can be particularly difficultfor SMEs. For larger employers, the focus isviewed as being on the existing workforceand lifelong learning, rather than creatingnew entry points.

Sunderland fosters positive relationshipsbetween key stakeholders which aredesigned to increase engagementbetween industry and education, inparticular with schools. Some respondentsthought that strategies for increasingengagement between industry andeducation needed to start at an earlierpoint in the education cycle, for exampleat primary school level. Respondentsthought that local industry could makemore use of the networks that surroundschools including parents and communities.

Many respondents however, thought thatthere should be greater co-ordinationbetween the regional and local authoritylevel strategies for skills, education andemployment and individual industrystrategies.

Some respondents gave examples ofindividual industries where apprenticeshipsare working well. However, there areproblems regarding general awarenessabout apprenticeships, for examplefeedback suggests that nearly 30% oflearners on apprenticeships didn’t realisethey were on an apprenticeshipprogramme and nearly half (46%) said anapprenticeship wasn’t their first option.There has also been criticism from industryand learners that education providersaren’t informing young people sufficientlyabout vocational opportunities.Additionally, there is a view thatapprenticeships are not being targeted atthe right groups and skills base.Apprenticeships, therefore, were thoughtto be failing NEET populations in particular,especially those from more deprivedbackgrounds.


Although Sunderland has successfullyreplaced its former heavy industries ofshipbuilding and coalmining with newsectors of car manufacturing and contactcentres and digital, there is widerecognition that the local economy stilloffers too narrow a base of opportunity,especially for young people. It is worthnoting that most of these industries have asignificant requirement for current andfuture replacement labour demand, andthis is coupled with healthy growthprojections, particularly for the largeremployers. However, the changing scopeof the economy and the dominance of aselect few large businesses in the areacreate narrow employment paths for someyoung people.

The council’s corporate plans andstrategies are focusing on mapping futuregrowth areas and making sure that the rightkind of skills base is invested in for the future.But, the city still does not have the volumeof well-paid jobs necessary to retain moreof the younger population and to ensure a

resilient economy for the future. Thecouncil is especially concerned that forthose who face the most complexchallenges such as young people who areNEET, these opportunities are simply out ofreach.

There are deep generational valuesingrained across the city, stemming from ahistory well developed in successfulindustry. The scale and pace of recenteducational reforms and the condition ofthe city’s economy means that youngpeople are experiencing starkly differentcareer paths and challenges to those oftheir parents. Despite these generationaldifferences, parents remain one of themost significant influencers on a youngperson’s educational and employmentchoices (Kintrea, et al., 2011). A review bythe Joseph Rowntree Foundation of theavailable evidence on the causal impacton educational outcomes of aspirations,attitudes, and behaviours of young peopleand their parents found an associationbetween parental expectations and their

1 Introduction

16 Education to Employment - Sunderland

child’s attainment but no clear evidencethat parental expectations could affectlater participation in education oremployment. They conclude that this is anarea that should be the subject of furtherstudy, in particular as part of developmentof interventions for parental involvement(Gorard et al. 2012).

Education providers sometimes facechallenges in communicating with parentseffectively, in particular guaranteeing anaccurate message is delivered. There are, insome places, good strategies in place todevelop parental engagement, however,considering that the parents that mostneed to be engaged are often those mostreluctant to engage, there is a need forthese strategies to be more focused oncorresponding with the right cohorts ofparents. The council’s corporate plan forregenerating the city and protectingvulnerable children and families hasresulted in a number of schemes andprogramme to address the challenges andincrease opportunities. However, thecouncil also recognises that there is a needto understand why existing opportunitiesaren’t always being utilised or developedfully and effectively.

This is especially important from an inclusion

perspective and ensuring that all childrenand young people have aspirations thatcan be fulfilled and that they can all sharein the planned economic growth andrenewal, including those with morecomplex needs and those experiencinggreater disadvantage.

Moreover, at a national level, there is aneed to ensure that governmentdepartments and executive agenciesunderstand the context and challenges ofa city like Sunderland and that nationalpolicy and regulation can appropriatelysupport local innovation in overcoming thechallenges.

The Breaking Barriers Innovations’Education into Employment programmefor Sunderland City Council commencedin January 2018.


to provide some additional reflections onthe trends identified in the data and howthese relate to the areas of inquiry.

The programme seeks to address thequestion: ‘How can aspirations and lifechances for post 16 - 19 year olds beradically improved in further education,training and employment?’ In particular,the programme is focused on those whoare Not in Education, Employment orTraining (NEET) and/or from deprivedbackgrounds or neighbourhoods. There arefour areas of inquiry:

• The national and local strategic contextfor skills requirements from employersand industry.

• The factors that influence young peoplewhen they are making decisions aboutcareer choices.

• Communication and relevance of thelocal education to employment offer.

• Engaging industry in the skills agenda.

This interim report presents the findings fromthe first stage of the inquiry. The aim of thereport is to summarise the views andopinions of respondents who have beenengaged in the first stage and to use this asa basis for discussions with the council.Importantly, it is a first glance analysis. Achance to gain an initial insight into thechallenges facing those are NEET anddisadvantaged, and an opportunity to

guide the future conversation with the aimof arriving at tangible, placed-based,recommendations.

Methods

Stage one of the inquiry has used largelyqualitative data from 20 interviews withindividual stakeholders includingrepresentatives from the council, localeducation providers, other public, socialand independent sector providers, theSunderland Youth parliament andacademics. An open day was also heldwith 25 interested stakeholders to provideinformation about the programme anddiscuss the issues that participants thoughtwere important for the local area. Theworkshop included representation fromSunderland Children’s Strategic Partnershipand the Education Leadership Board. Inkeeping with the confidential nature of theinterviews, quotations used in the reportare not attributed to any individual ororganisation. The issues have beenidentified where several respondents raisedthem, if only one or two people spokeabout a particular issue this is stated.

Some preliminary, quantitative dataanalysis has been undertaken on the localarea educational attainment data. Thiswas not part of the original scope but aims


The focus of this programme is on childrenand young people, but this must beconsidered in the wider context of adultskills deficits and unemployment in the city.For example, Sunderland has a highpercentage of its residents qualified to NVQLevel 1 (or equivalent) when comparedwith the region and UK average but has asmaller percentage of its working agepopulation that are qualified to NVQ Levels2, 3 and 4 (or equivalent) – with the lattermore likely to be earning higher wages:

“The relatively low skills of the residentpopulation, coupled with the perceived lack ofopportunities to realise individual ambitions,results in residents earning less than in-commuters. Relatively few of the residentpopulation are highly qualified and there is stilla significant proportion of the working agepopulation that are not in work and aretherefore not benefiting from the growingeconomy.”

(Sunderland City Council, 2017).

The city’s Education Leadership Board has

been established to deliver a partnershipskills strategy and align education, trainingand jobs to help residents and businessesreach their full potential and supportinward investment. This includes acommitment to working collaboratively to:

“…maximise opportunity and increaseeconomic inclusivity to transform the city’seconomy into one that is knowledge-based with higher value and better paidjobs, greater levels of innovation, newbusiness generation and risingemployment including:

• strengthening and deepening therelationship between schools andbusinesses;

• working with the further and highereducation sector to address skills andemployability for 16 to 19 year olds,specifically focusing on Science,Technology, Engineering andMathematics (STEM) skills; and

• a whole University City approach thataddresses skills deficits across the

2 The national and local strategiccontext for skills requirementsfrom employers and industry


workforce”

The UK economy has grown modestly overthe last year and employment rates havecontinued to increase. But the continuinguncertainty over Brexit makes the nationaland local strategic context for skillsrequirements from employers and industrychallenging. The OECD stated in itsEconomic Forecast Summary for May 2018that:

“…authorities should stand ready to furtherincrease productivity-enhancing measures oninvestment if growth weakens significantlyahead of Brexit. Greater spending oneducation and training of low-skilled workerswould increase productivity and enhanceinclusiveness.”

(OECD, 2018)

The government’s Industrial Strategy (HMGovernment, 2017) sets out a long termplan to boost the productivity and earningpower of people throughout the UK. Thestrategy has five foundations to align thegovernment’s vision for a transformedeconomy:

• ideas: the world’s most innovativeeconomy

• people: good jobs and greater earning

power for all

• infrastructure: a major upgrade to theUK’s infrastructure

• business environment: the best place tostart and grow a business

• places: prosperous communities acrossthe UK

The strategy contains a number of keypolicies, some of which are particularlyrelevant to this programme including:

• Establish a technical education systemthat rivals the best in the world to standalongside our world-class highereducation system

• Invest an additional £406m in maths,digital and technical education,helping to address the shortage of STEMskills

• Create a new National RetrainingScheme that supports people to re-skill,beginning with a £64m investment fordigital and construction training

• Launch and roll-out Sector Deals –partnerships between government andindustry aiming to increase sectorproductivity. The first Sector Deals are inlife sciences, construction, artificial


project will build on an existing project ofthe same name and establish a seedcapital investment fund to help turnconcepts into new businesses or products.

The Governments’ Post 16 Skills Plan(Department for Business, Innovation andSkills and Department for Education, 2016)provides a framework to support youngpeople and adults to secure a lifetime ofsustained skilled employment and meet theneeds of the growing and rapidly changingeconomy. Based on a review by LordSainsbury, the Skills Plan seeks to enhancethe regard for technical training optionspost 16 years so that these are viewed on apar with academic ones. The plan proposesnew technical options, which will covercollege-based and employment-basededucation (apprenticeships), building onprevious reforms. It states that employers willsit at the heart of the system and take thelead in setting the standards. In line with theSainsbury recommendations the Skills Plan isintended to result in streamlining of thesystem and the creation of a commonframework consisting of 15 routes across alltechnical education. The routes will groupoccupations together to reflect where thereare shared training requirements.

This includes a new system of technical

education to provide a high qualitytechnical option alongside an academicoption for students aged 16 to 19, knownas T levels. In 2017 the Department forEducation published the T Level ActionPlan and confirmed that:

• the first teaching of three T Levels by asmall number of providers would startfrom September 2020

• further T Levels would be delivered fromSeptember 2021 introduced in annualwaves

52 colleges and post-16 educationproviders who will teach the new T-levelswere named on 27th May. Courses inconstruction, digital and education andchildcare will be first taught fromSeptember 2020. A further 22 courses willbe rolled out in stages from 2021, which willcover sectors such as finance &accounting, engineering andmanufacturing, and creative & design. Tobe treated on par with A-levels. A keycomponent of the T-level qualification isthe requirement to undertake a highquality industry placement with anexternal employer, for a minimum of 45days. The Department for Education hadcommitted £500 million specifically for T-

intelligence and the automotive sector

• Launch a review of the actions thatcould be most effective in improving theproductivity and growth of small andmedium-sized businesses, including howto address what has been called the‘long tail’ of lower productivity firms

• Agree Local Industrial Strategies thatbuild on local strengths and deliver oneconomic opportunities

• Provide £42m to pilot a TeacherDevelopment Premium. This will test theimpact of a £1,000 budget for high-quality professional development forteachers working in areas that havefallen behind

The Key Cities Group, which includesSunderland and was founded in 2013 bringstogether more than 20 of the UK’s cities tosupport them providing a key role in theirregional economies. In its report in June2018, the groups states:

“The Key Cities include some of the mostproductive and innovative locations in the UK.But they also include some of the poorest andmost economically challenging parts. Creatinga policy environment within which all Key Citiescan achieve the same outcomes as thenational average would be a major boost not

just to the UK’s economic health but also tothe achievement of growth that benefits allparts of the country.”

(Key Cities Group, 2018)

In its report from 2017, the Key Cities Grouprecommended devolved local skillsbudgets to enable cities to supportacademic-business-governmentcollaboration – further facilitatingknowledge transfer but also ensuringeducation and skills are geared towardsdeveloping the workforce of the future.

Furthermore, the report states thatSunderland Software City has helped over400 businesses access opportunities andskills programme and that it aims to create2,000 new jobs in the digital sector by 2020(Key Cities Group, 2017). In March 2018 theBusiness Secretary, Greg Clark announcedthat £15 million had been awarded tothree projects in the North East including£5 million of funding for a project led byDurham University which includesNewcastle University, NorthumbriaUniversity and the University of Sunderlandto deliver a step change incommercialising research and driveeconomic improvement in support of theNorth East’s technology and industrialsectors. Called Northern Accelerator, the


placement

• Some placements may need to belonger to enable “threshold confidence”to be achieved

• Strong case made for additionalfinancial support, particularly for SMEs,which would help them to coveradditional costs in resources, supervision,mentoring and pastoral care

Students from 13 different educationinstitutions from the North East to the SouthWest, including further education (FE)colleges, sixth-form colleges and schoolsixth forms were consulted. The mainfindings were:

• the opportunity to obtain experience inindustry is the most valuable feature ofthe programme;

• worry that there will not be enoughgood employers offering industryplacements in their local area;

• constraints on where they can get to foran industry placement because ofavailable public transport links, traveltime and cost;

• want T Levels to be as well respected asA levels. They also want the option tomove onto further study (including

university) after they complete their TLevel;

• willing to use their summer holidays togain experience of work; and

• choosing an occupational specialism isa difficult decision. They wantexperiences of different occupations sothey can try a range of specialismsbefore they commit to just one.

Schools Reform

Led initially by the then Secretary of Statethe Right Hon. Michael Gove MP, there hasbeen significant change and reform of theeducational system, not only structuralreform, but also change to the content ofthe school curriculum. Moreover,establishment of Free Schools and therapid conversion of local authority-maintained schools into self-governingacademies has characterised thegovernment’s position and proved to be aformative change across the country.However, the pace of reform and localmake-up of educational provision has notbeen uniform. For example in Sunderland:

• five secondary schools are sponsor ledacademies

• ten have converted to being

levels and in the autumn budget (2017) theChancellor announced an extra £20 millionto support FE colleges to prepare for them.However, although four of the newproviders for T levels are in the North East,none are in Sunderland: Durham Sixth FormCentre, Gateshead College, New CollegeDurham and St Thomas More CatholicSchool.

There are also plans to make sure that skillsprovision, including T Levels, meets localskills needs, such as plans to introduce SkillsAdvisory Panels (SAPs) and Local DigitalSkills Partnerships (LDSPs).

These will work within existing localinfrastructures, such as Mayoral CombinedAuthorities (MCAs) and Local EnterprisePartnerships (LEPs), to bring together localbusinesses and providers to work togetherto meet current and future skills needs.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency(ESFA) will make additional 16 to 19 Bursaryfunding available to institutions that aredelivering T-level industry placements in the2018/19 academic year through theCapacity and Delivery Fund.

Additional resources may need to befactored in to cater for certain needs, forexample there has been a collective call

for flexibility and support for students withadditional needs, for example those withSpecial Educational Needs or Disabilities(SEND) and carers.

The Department for Education issued aconsultation in November 2017 to obtainviews on the major aspects of theproposals for implementing T Levels, andthis consultation closed on 8 February 2018(Department for Education, 2018a). Theconsultation was limited with respect tolocal authorities. For example, out of 430respondents, local authorities/LEPs mad uponly 11 of the government’s consultationresponses.

Industry recognises the value of workplacements such as the Department forEducation’s proposal to incorporateindustry placements within T-levelprogrammes and the value of youngpeople experiencing the ‘real world ofwork.’ However, in feedback to theDepartment of Education they haveoutlined a series of challenges to thedelivery of these placements:

• Placement opportunities beingdependent on geographical location

• Small and micro businesses may not beable to support the 45-60 day


Academies from local authority control

• two remain maintained by the localauthority

• twelve provide post 16 educationalroutes

• Sunderland has no Studio Schools orUniversity Technical Colleges (UTCs),although the local university, theUniversity of Sunderland is the sponsor oftwo UTCs outside of Sunderland.

Many academies around the country havebecome Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs).These are groups of schools working incollaboration as one entity to improve andmaintain high educational standards acrossthe Trust. MATs are governed through asingle set of members and directors. Todate only four of Sunderland’s Academies1

have become MATs.

The following table lists the schools andacademies by type of provision andeducational phases covered:


Name Type Education Phase

Academy 360 Academy Sponsor Led Mainstream Primary and Secondary

Biddick Academy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary

Castle View Enterprise Academy Academy Sponsor Led Mainstream Secondary

Farringdon Community Academy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary

Grindon Hall Christian School Free School – Mainstream Primary, Secondary and 16 to 18

Kepier Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary

Monkwearmouth Academy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary and 16 to 18

Oxclose Community Academy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary

Red House Academy Academy Sponsor Led Mainstream Secondary

Sandhill View Academy Academy Sponsor Led Mainstream Secondary

Southmoor Academy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary and 16 to 18

St Aidan's Catholic Academy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary and 16 to 18

St Anthony's Girls' CatholicAcademy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary and 16 to 18

Thornhill Academy Academy Sponsor Led Mainstream Secondary

Venerable Bede Church of EnglandAcademy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary

Washington Academy Academy - Converter Mainstream Secondary

Argyle House School Other Independent School Primary, Secondary and 16 to 18

Hetton School Community School Secondary

St Robert of Newminster RomanCatholic School Voluntary Aided School Secondary and 16 to 18

Ashbrooke School Other Independent Special School Primary, Secondary and 16 to 18

Barbara Priestman Academy Academy - Converter SpecialSchool Secondary and 16 to 18

The New Bridge Academy Academy - Converter SpecialSchool Secondary and 16 to 18

Portland Academy Academy - Converter SpecialSchool Secondary and 16 to 18

Thornhill Park School Other Independent School Primary, Secondary and 16 to 18

1 Farringdon Community Academy, Portland Academy, Southmoor Academy, Barbra Priestman Academyand Monkwearmouth Academy

being delivered through a course youngpeople want to be part of.”

“It is about meeting the needs of the childrenagainst adhering to the curriculum.”

“The curriculum is getting narrower and schoolsare struggling to find teachers.”

“The curriculum schools are teaching doesn’tmeet the needs of the young people who areat risk of becoming NEET.”

National educational strategy andregulation is also viewed as having anegative impact in terms of restricting localactions and choices, for example restrictingschools and Academies from exercisinggreater flexibility in the local schoolcurriculum:

“There is more that could be done in terms ofrelaxing national regulations, Ofsted is verymuch key to this.”

“The government strategy needs to focus onprimary schools, making them more enterprisingrather than just having focus on STEM skills.”

The Sunderland Children and YoungPeople’s Plan (2017-2022) has six prioritiesincluding: All children and young peopledo well at all levels of learning and haveambition and the skills for life (Priority Four).The planned actions for improvement in this

area are:

• Develop a Positive TransitionsProgramme for all schools and settingsto ensure children are supported at keytransitions in their education

• Conduct a piece of research tounderstand why young people,particularly those between Key Stages 3and 4, disengage from education andact on the findings

• Learn from those schools that make thebest use of Pupil Premium and roll outbest practice across the city

• Review the role of the Virtual Schooland its impact in narrowing gaps inperformance for looked after children

In particular, the plan states that:

“We know that many young peopledisengage from education at around age 14 –in between key stages 3 and 4. We mustidentify the trigger points to prevent this fromhappening and apply early interventionprocesses when it does.”

(Sunderland Children’s Strategic Partnership, 2017).

In addition to significant structural change,there have been profound reforms to thecurriculum too. Most noticeably, theintroduction of a new grading system whichreplaced letter grading, for example in2017, pupils sat reformed GCSEs in Englishlanguage, English literature and maths forthe first time, graded on a 9 to 1 scale. Afocus on traditional academic subjects, asdemonstrated through the English andInternational Baccalaureate, and changesto examinations such as the removal of ASexams, have further shifted the nationalagenda.

A new secondary school accountabilitysystem was introduced in 2016, involvingtwo principal scoring mechanisms, Progress8 and Attainment 8. These scores aim tocapture the progress a pupil makes fromthe end of primary school to the end of keystage 4. They are a type of value addedmeasure, which means that pupils’ resultsare compared to the progress of otherpupils nationally with similar priorattainment. Every increase in every grade apupil achieves will attract additional creditin the performance tables.

There are evident tensions in the drive forimproved educational attainment, asmeasured through Progress 8 and the

requirement for more vocational trainingthat meets the strategic skills needs ofemployers and industry. The issues becomeeven more critical for disadvantagedchildren and young people and thosewho are NEET, for whom the pressure foreducational attainment is especiallyproblematic. For example, the degree ofspecial educational needs and severity ofpersonal problems was thought to be thebiggest factor explaining why thispopulation do not do well in English andmaths:

“Special Educational Needs and personalproblems mean it’s nearly impossible for themto do well in basic levels for English or maths.”

Respondents thought that the way inwhich the curriculum is managed inschools could be a barrier for some youngpeople:

“For a head, it’s all about curriculum – EBacc[English Baccalaureate] is going to be veryhard in getting a significant portion of studentsinto a path that might not be suitable e.g.humanities subjects requiring extended writingwhich some simply can’t do.”

“The approach to teaching Maths and Englishto young people at risk of being NEET ischanging, but schools need to make sure it’s



North East Total number NEET (including not known)

Figure 1: Proportion of 16-17 year olds recorded as not in education, employment or training (NEET) or whoseactivity is not known, end 2016. Source: Department for Education Local Authority NEET figures, 2016

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

% of NEET activity not known

Figure 2: Percentages of 16-17 year olds NEET whose activity is not known, end 2016. Source: Department forEducation Local Authority NEET figures, 2016

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Sunderland NEET population

The Department for Education provides the framework for increasing participation ineducation, employment or training and reducing the proportion of young people whoare NEET. However, the responsibility and accountability lies with local authorities. Infulfilling their role and participation duties, including Raising the Participation Age (RPA)related duties local authorities need to understand the characteristics and currentactivity of the young people in their area. Together for Children in Sunderland tracks thedata on the NEET population monthly.

The most recent statistical release for the proportions of NEET young people aged 16 – 24is to the end of 2016. These figures show that Sunderland has the third largest NEETpopulation aged 16 – 17 in the North East:

It is worth noting that:

• From September 2016 the Department for Education relaxed the requirement onauthorities to track academic age 18-year-olds. Local Authorities (LAs) are now onlyrequired to track and submit information about young people up to the end of theacademic year in which they have their 18th birthday i.e. academic age 16 and 17-year-olds.

• Young people with a current education, health and care (EHC) plan should still betracked and reported on until their EHC plan ceases, which can occur at any pointup to the end of the academic year in which they have their 25th birthday. In thecase of Together for Children, they track all SEN pupils up to aged 25, not just thosewith an EHC plan

The percentages where activity is not known are higher in Sunderland than the North Eastaverage, but below the average for England:


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Percentage of 16 and 17 year olds known to be NEET 2012 - 2016

Figure 3 Percentage of 16 and 17 year olds known to be NEET 2012-2016 in regions of England

Percentage of 16 and 17 year olds not known 2012 - 2016

Figure 4 Percentage of 16 and 17 year olds not know 2012-2016 in regions of England The North East andSunderland have seen a more marked decrease in the percentages of not known since 2015.

Refugees, asylum seekers and young adult offenders are excluded from the denominatorused to calculate the proportions of young people participating in education ortraining, meeting the duty to participate in education or training whose activity is notknown.

Alongside this change in requirement, the Department for Education also introduced anew performance measure to focus on reducing the proportion of young people whoseactivity is recorded as ‘not known’ as well as those who are NEET. The new measure willbe calculated by adding the proportion of young people that are NEET to the proportionwhose activity is recorded as not known. This new measure will replace the previous‘adjusted’ NEET figure and indicate how well local authorities are performing at bothtracking young people and managing the proportion that are NEET.

Nationally and regionally the percentages of 16 and 17 years olds known to be NEET hasbeen falling year on year since 2013:

Throughout the time period the North East and Sunderland have had the highestpercentages of 16 and 17 year olds who are NEET. There has been a sharper fall in thepercentages of those whose participation is not known:

At the end of December 2017, the total number of NEET young people in years 12 and 13(those who have reached the statutory school leaving age) was 196, which is 3.3% of thetotal cohort for years 12 and 13.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

NEET group available for the labour market at end December 2017

Yr 12 % Yr 13 % Yr 12-Yr 13 Total

Cohort total 2921 49.50% 2977 50.50% 5898

NEET Group 73 2.50% 123 4.10% 196

Available to labour market 58 79.50% 82 66.60% 140

Working not for reward 0 1 1.20% 1Not yet ready for work orlearning 0 1 1.20% 1

Start date agreed (other) 1 1.70% 0 - 1

Start date agreed (RPAcompliant) 2 3% 4 4.90% 6

Seeking employment,education or training 55 95.30% 76 92.70% 131


Not known at end December 2017

Yr 12 Yr 13

Current situation not known 44 356

Current situation not known 37 153

Cannot Be Contacted 5 10

Refused to disclose activity 0 0

Currency Expired – EET 2 193

Currency Expired – Other 0 0

EFA/SFA funded work-based learning

Other training (e.g.private trainingorganisations)

Training deliveredthrough the workprogramme

Traineeships

Numbers of young people in employment (end December, 2017) n = 581

Numbers of young people in training (end December, 2017) n = 304

The following table shows the status of those not available for the labour market (56 or28% of the NEET group):

Illness accounts for the largest percentage of those not available for the labour market(46.4%). Teenage parents account for 21% and pregnancy a further 19.6%.

The following table shows the breakdown for those whose current situation is not known(356 or 6% of the total cohort).

Amongst those known to be in employment: 72.6% are undertaking an apprenticeship;16.5% are in employment with training; 5.7% are in full time employment with study for aregulated qualification and 4.1% are in employment with no training.

For those in training at the end of December 2017 (304 or 5% of the total cohort) 94.7%were in Education Funding Agency (EFA) or Skills Funding Agency (SFA) work basedlearning; 5% were in traineeships:

Apprenticeship

Full timeemployment withstudy (regulatedqualification)Employmentwithout training

Employment withtraining

NEET group not available for the labour market at end December 2017

Yr 12 Yr 13 Yr 12-Yr 13 TotalNot available to labourmarket 15 41 56

Carer 1 1 2

Teenage parents 4 8 12

Illness 5 21 26

Pregnancy 4 7 11

Religious grounds 0 0 0Unlikely to beeconomically active 0 0 0

Other reason 1 4 5


North East NEET by gender

Sunderland NEET by gender 2016

Special Educational Needs and Disability

Most children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)will have their needs met in local mainstream settings. However, some of these childrenand young people may not make expected progress, despite efforts to identify, assessand meet their special educational needs. In this situation, Together for Children willconduct an assessment, which normally involves gathering information from the relevantpeople or agencies, including the views, interests and aspirations of the parents andchild or young person.

Together for Children uses the assessment to determine whether or not additional supportand provision is required. This will be provided through an Education Health and Care(EHC) Plan. These plans replace statements of Special Educational need (SEN) andLearning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) for children and young people with the mostcomplex needs, from birth up to the age 25.

The total cohort of SEND children and young people in years 12 and 13 at the end ofDecember 2017 was 207. Amongst these the NEET group were 14 (7.1%) and there were14 for whom their situation was not known.

The number of children and young people in Sunderland with EHC plans at the time ofwriting this report is 1,261.

NEET and gender

In 2016 there are differences by gender in the proportions of young people aged 16 and17 who were NEET. Most authorities, with the exception of Newcastle upon Tyne, hadmore male NEET than female. In Sunderland 6.9% were male and 5.8% female:

The following chart shows the percentage differences between males and females atages 16 and 17 for Sunderland:

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

All

Males

Females

Figure 5 Proportion of 16-17 year olds recorded as not in education, employment or training (NEET) or whoseactivity is not known, end 2016. Source: Department for Education Local Authority NEET Figures, 2016

Figure 6 Proportion of 16-17 year olds recorded as not in education, employment or training (NEET) or whoseactivity is not known, end 2016. Source: Department for Education Local Authority NEET Figures, 2016

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Male Female All

Age 16

Age 17


NEET and ethnicity

The majority of the NEET group for years 12 and 13 at the end of December 2017 wereWhite British (177 or 90%). Amongst the Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) young peopleinformation about ethnicity was not obtained for 68%. This left 2.5% for whom ethnicity wasrecorded: 1 mixed race; 1 African; 1 any other ethnic group. Three refused to giveinformation on their ethnicity.

The following section contains some preliminary analysis of Sunderland’s Progress 8 andAttainment 8 data. This is intended to provide some insights into the skills issues for childrenand young people at key stage four and beyond.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

NEET Group Available to labour market

Male

Female

There is a slight increase in the percentage difference between males andfemales in Sunderland at age 17 (from 10.2% males to 9.0% females, compared to3.5% males at age 16 to 2.6% females).

At the end of December 2017 slightly more females were NEET compared tomales:

“Our findings show that mental health emergesas an even more significant challenge than inprevious years. Over a fifth now report thatmental ill health is the primary cause of long-term absence (22% of organisations comparedwith 13% in 2016) and there has been asignificant increase in the number oforganisations that include it among their topthree causes of long-term absence. There hasalso been a significant increase in the numberof reported common mental health conditions,such as anxiety and depression, amongemployees in the last 12 months.”

(CIPD, 2018. Page 10)

The Centre for Mental Health (Parsonageand Saini, 2017) published figures thatmental health problems in the UK workforcecost employers almost £35 billion last year.

The updated figures highlight that theoverall costs are broken down into:

• £10.6 billion in sickness absence;

• £21.2 billion in reduced productivity atwork, or ‘presenteeism’

• £3.1 billion in replacing staff who leavetheir jobs because of their mental health

The Business Costs of Mental Ill Health at Work

What these figures show is that employersand business need to be able to addressmental health problems amongst theirworkforce, whether or not they come froma deprived or NEET background. In fact,learning how to better engage with andsupport prospective employees who areNEET could help employers and industryaddress and deal more effectively with themental health and wellbeing issues of theirentire workforce. This in turn will bringbenefits in productivity and reduce costsdue to the loss of trained employees. Inrecent weeks and months, there havebeen several national news stories bringingthis salient issue to light.

Readiness for work

One of the most common complaints fromindustry is that young people, especiallythose that are NEET, are not ready for work.Industry respondents thought that thereneeded to be greater focus on the ‘soft’skills of employment such as turning up ontime and presenting yourself appropriatelyin a work setting. However, somerespondents thought that industry lackedunderstanding about the kind of supportthat is required to help the NEET populationfind employment and being work ready:

“There is a lack of understanding about youngpeople and employment, and what their needsare, some find it difficult to wake up before 10am and those with mental health problemshave a lot more issues. This lack of support cancome from high up and from business.”

“The young people require more explanations,they expect more and need better inductionsto employment but it needs a shift in attitude.Wider thinking and support is needed abouthelping these young people.”

Mental health

Mental health problems were thought to beespecially significant with respect to theNEET and disadvantaged population ofchildren and young people:

“There are huge problems with mental health,it limits young people, and they’re not wellenough to be able to move into the world ofwork.”

This is an issue that is of strategic andeconomic significance for employers andindustry, not just in relation to the NEETpopulation, but also with respect to theirentire employment base. For example,there is increasing evidence that mentalhealth problems are having a significantimpact on businesses productivity. In itslatest annual survey exploring issues ofhealth, well-being and absence in UKworkplaces (based on replies from 1,021organisations across the UK covering 4.6million employees) the CIPD found that:

• 86% of organisations have observedpresenteeism2 over the past 12 months,when people were unwell but still cameinto work

• Organisations report that stress-relatedabsence has increased from 31% in2016 to 37%

• Organisations have seen an increase inreported common mental healthproblems from 41% in 2016 to 55% in2018

The CIPD reports that:


£10.6 billion

£3.1 billion£21.6 billion

Staff turnover Reduced productivty Sickness absence

2 The practice of being in work when sick, causing productivity loss, poor health and exhaustion

“The decision making and coordination issomething the local authority could improve,making decisions across the differentpartnership boards together.”

But there is a view that decision-makingcould be strengthened with more robustdata collection and analysis:

“Decision making is important, as recently therewas a meeting between health, education andeconomic boards to increase the volume ofright decisions which are being made, as thesedecisions seem slow. It’s useful to base thesedecisions on empirical, reliable data, to give abroad brush to help with these decisions.Focusing on the unknowns, which you can’t justask and get an answer.”

“It would be useful to have an idea of wherethe system isn’t working. Having measurableoutcomes at the end, knowing the goal, a dateand the context of what’s currently happing.Also knowing how it can be self-sustaining asthere have been some previous initiatives,which have started but couldn’t continue asthey didn’t have the money, it shouldn’t just beliving by a funding window.”

Respondents thought that the North EastLEP had brought some benefits in terms ofthe focus on primary education, but thatthis regional level of strategy was less

effective for addressing local issues withthe NEET population:

“The LEP target is for world class informationand guidance but it is not clear where will thiscome from for the NEET group. They fallthrough the net and there is nothing else topick them up. We need to recognise that theywill take longer on the journey, they are in andout of crisis and personal, family events, therecognition has to be there that they needmore flexible local solutions.”

“I am doubtful about the aims of the LEP. It willwork for some of the schools with bright pupilsand solid families, but for the NEET population,that support simply isn’t there. They will takelonger to go through the programmes andhave more bumps along the way, there has tobe more recognition that there will be difficulttimes and it won’t go to plan.”

Respondents thought that piece mealfunding of different programmes did notwork and that there needed to be abroader strategic focus across the localarea:

“Currently the system sees a problem, fundssomething to address it and expects amazingresults, but because of the level ofdisadvantage, this doesn’t happen. There hasto be a more comprehensive, joined up local

The role of the local authority & Togetherfor Children

Respondents view the local authority role asessential for strategy and co-ordination ofactivities and programmes. However,respondents recognised the difficult contextwithin which the authority is operating.Importantly, those who operated withineither the Council or Together for Childrenhad a clear understanding of the distinctroles both parties fulfil. However, for thoseworking outside of either organisation, thatdistinction is less well known andappreciated:

“We know the job of the local authority isn’teasy, they’re operating in an environment thatis politically antagonistic to them. Educationreforms have taken power and money awayfrom them, there has been an assault on therole of the local authorities, and they’re theones that everyone complains about.”

“There are some brilliant, inspirational peoplethat are working in an incredibly difficultenvironment.”

“There is a long term diminishing role for localauthorities in education, but there are a rangeof things that can be done, for example,Together for Children working with partners onsocial worker recruitment but we need to be

realistic about what the authority can do.”

Nevertheless, many respondents thoughtthat there could be a stronger role in termsof strategy, co-ordination and decision-making:

“Within Sunderland there are relatively smallnumber of secondary schools, colleges and auniversity, so we should be able to join upstrategy, but it’s not happening.”

“The local authority needs to work more on co-ordination and decision making.”

In particular, respondents thought that thelocal authority could coordinate strategybetter with employers:

“Employers are willing but they need a clearask, a strategy, this needs co-ordinating more.”

Some respondents recognised that morewas being done to align employment andskills strategies with economic growth:

“Previously employment and skills wereseparated from business growth in the localstrategy, with hindsight this was not the bestthing to do, it was viewed as too hard aproblem but actually it is fundamental. It hasbeen changed in 369 strategy document,bringing skills agenda in to future growth andwith timelines over 5 – 6 - 9 years where wewant to be.”


approaches to tackling these problems.”

“People see a problem, fund something andexpect widely successful results – but this is notreality, it’s not working, not creating a healthier,coherent economy. People will fill the fundingrequirements they have to, but piecemealapproaches are not working, they may besuccessful in themselves not as a totality. Onefunder looked at 4,000 small charities projectsand none had failed, but as a whole theyhadn’t actually made a difference.”

“The issues are not being dealt with at abroader strategic level, it needs more co-ordination.”

Respondents thought that young peoplethemselves could be brought into thestrategy and decision making more thanthey were:

“There needs to be a commitment to listen andhear what the people say and be prepared todo something. The young people understandmoney is short, if they were to explain whysomething can’t happen, the children arereceptive to that, and can come up withcompromises.”


There are multiple factors that influenceyoung people when they are makingdecisions about career choices including:

• Subject selection in school – transitionfrom primary to secondary

• Quality of subject teaching /engagement

• Quality of information, advice andguidance (IAG)

• Educational progress and attainment

• Influence of head of school

• Perceptions and misconceptions aboutthe labour market

• Influence of parents

• Influence from peers and siblings

• Opportunities for vocational educationand training

In addition to the above there are alsodifferences across demographic groupsthat may be an important factorinfluencing decision-making, for example

ethnicity, gender, disability, being in careand socio-economic status.

Subject selection in school – transitionfrom primary to secondary

There is very little robust research evidenceon the factors that influence children andyoung people’s choice of subject atschool, especially with respect to STEMsubjects:

“Student choice is a significantly under-investigated area. Even where research exists,the lack of resources and expertise severelylimits the extent to which the findings can berelied upon to provide a robust evidence basefor action…Building capacity in this area isessential as robust research evidence isimportant not only to ensure that the right skillsare available to support the future economicwellbeing of the country but also to betteradvise the young people themselves.”

(Tripney et al. 2010)

There is also increasing recognition thatyoung people begin to make choices

3 The factors that influence youngpeople when they are makingdecisions about career choices


about careers early in their education.However, this may be an issue forSunderland and similar areas where thereare outstanding primary schools but a dropin performance and ratings at secondarylevels:

“The Sunderland position is a primary schoolsversus secondary school story. Sunderland evenoutshines the geographical neighbours. 97% ofprimary schools are good or outstanding, 13thbest in the country. A third of primary schoolsare academies, the majority are local authorityled.”

“There is a gap in the transition betweenprimary and secondary education. It could beuseful to speak to the children earlier about theopportunities, stop them from disengaging earlyon, by showing them at an early age what theycan work towards.”

Some respondents thought that thetransition points across the educationalsystem from secondary school up to highereducation were significant:

“The main issues are the transition pointsbetween the systems- schools, types of school,school into HE/FE, then HE/FE into employment.More support is needed at each transitionpoint. The focus should be on those pupilsslipping through the net, because the transition

point is really tough for them.”

Progress 8 attainment measures are alsothought to be misaligned with the skillsneeded for employment choices:

“When speaking to students, the careeroptions are skills based but the curriculumdoesn’t reflect this. The accountabilitymeasures of Progress 8 aren’t aligned to theneeds/wants of year 10/year 11 students andcareer choices.”

This is particularly linked to the relativelyfewer multiple academy trusts inSunderland:

“How do you improve the schools if you don’thave the resources? The majority are singleacademy trusts so don’t have the resources orpower that multiple academies have.”

“Individual schools don’t have the capacity toimplement their own curriculum.”

Some respondents thought that the Headof school was the most significantinfluence on choices about curriculum:

“It depends where a school is situated andhow the Head sees the issues and what needsto be done.”

But, respondents also thought that thelocal authority could do more to support


Baccalaureate (EBacc); and

• three can be either EBacc subjects,GCSE subjects, or technicalqualifications from a list approved byDfE.

Attainment 8 scores are based on how wellpupils have performed in the eightqualifications.

The introduction of Progress 8 andAttainment 8 measures was not withoutcriticism. Some respondents thought thatthe focus on Progress 8 was in factdetracting from the ability of schools todevelop more vocational options and toattend to the needs of pupils with morecomplex learning needs. Despite thesereservations Progress 8 results do provide arobust means of assessing the performanceof pupils and schools at Key Stage 4 andbeyond. These are also the performancemeasures by which local authorities arejudged and therefore provide a usefulcomparator.

The following charts show the Progress 8scores for the schools and academies inSunderland.

individual schools with these problems:

“Schools make their own decisions about thecurriculum, but by the local authoritysupporting them more it might encourage themto feel more confident to take on somechallenges through the curriculum.”

Respondents thought that this wasespecially important with respect toincreasing the focus on employment skills:

“The traditional complaint of industry is thatyoung people leave school without the skillsneeded for work, but this is a problem becausethe schools can’t fit this training in with thecurriculum.”

In addition to an increasingly restrictivecurriculum and narrower focus onattainment in particular subjects,respondents also thought that schools hadfewer resources to address these issues andwere being driven to find financial andfunding alternatives at the expense ofimproving teaching and learningoutcomes:

“Schools are marketing services more to parentsand businesses to generate additional income,for example renting out sports facilities. Butreally they should be focusing on how you cangenerate additional revenue to create the bestoutcomes for the students.”

Educational progress and attainment inSunderland

Progress 8 is a score, which shows howmuch progress pupils made between theend of key stage 2 (age 11) and the endof key stage 4 (age 16), compared topupils across England who got similarresults at the end of key stage 2. Thestarting point, known as prior attainment, iscalculated using pupil assessments fromthe end of primary school (that is, the endof key stage 2, when children are between7 and 11). The higher a pupil’s Progress 8score, the more progress they have madein comparison with the national averagefor pupils with similar starting points.

Progress 8 and Attainment 8 scores arebased on results in up to eightqualifications, which include English,maths, three English Baccalaureatequalifications including sciences,computer science, history, geography andlanguages, and three other additionalapproved qualifications. The scores forEnglish and maths are doubled weighted,meaning they are given twice theimportance of other subjects. Of theremaining six subjects:

• three must come from qualificationsthat go towards the English



-0.35

-0.3

-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0All schools

Without Specialschools Without all WBA

WBA (includingspecial)

-3-2.5-2

-1.5-1

-0.50

0.51

PortlandAcademy

Red

House

Academy

SandhillView

Academy

Southmoor

Academy

StAidan'sCatholic

Academy

StAnthony'sGirls'

CatholicSchool

StRobertof

NewminsterRC

TheNewBridge

Academy

TheVenerableBede

CE

ThornhillSchool

Business&…

Washington

Academy

2016 2017

-2

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

Academ

y360

BarbaraPreistman

Academ

y

BiddickAcadem

y

CastleView

Enterprise

Academ

y

FarringdonCom

munity

Academ

y

GrindonHallChristian

Academ

y

HettonSchool

KepierAcadem

y

Monkwearmouth

Academ

yOxclose

Com

munityAcadem

y

OxcloseCom

munity

Academ

y

2016 2017

The average score for Sunderland as a whole is -0.313 compared to -0.21 for the North Eastand -0.03 for all state funded schools.

The schools and academies can be grouped by their Progress 8 scores, into those that areabove average, average and well below average.

The schools and academies in Sunderland scoring well below the average (WBA4) in 2017are:

Comparison of average Progress 8

The following chart shows a comparison of average Progress 8 scores if differentcombinations of schools are included or excluded:

Figure 8 (WBA = Well Below Average i.e. Academy 360, Barbara Priestman Academy, Hetton School, KepierAcademy, Red House Academy, St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy, The New bridge Academy andWashington Academy)

• The New Bridge Academy (-2.64)• Barbara Priestman Academy (-1.74)• Portland Academy (-1.30)5

• Red House Academy (-1.24)

• Hetton School (-0.72)• Academy 360 (-0.59)• Kepier Academy (-0.57)

3 Grindon Hall LOWCOV (less than 50% of pupils included in calculation of the measure) and PortlandAcademy NE (did not enter any pupils or students for the qualifications covered by the measure) – thereforenot included in the local authority overall score.

4 A school is marked as well below average because its score is lower than -0.5 and its upper confidenceinterval is lower than 0.5 The New Bridge Academy, Barbara Preistman Academy, and Portland Academy are all schools that caterfor students with a variety of special educational needs and as such these schools’ score are notcomparable to mainstream schools’ statistics

Progress 8 scores: Comparison between 2016 and 2018

Figure 7 Progress 8 scores for Sunderland Secondary Schools and Academies 2016 and 2017


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While the exclusion of those schools that are well below average brings the overallSunderland average Progress 8 score to being similar to the regional average, it does nothave a significant impact in terms of reaching the national average for state schools.

The following chart shows the percentage of pupils across schools and academies that areaverage and above, below average and well below average:

If the schools and academies with a score of below average were brought to within theaverage range, the overall Sunderland score would be -0.15. The impact would be thesame if the entire well below average schools were brought up to average.

Gender and attainment: Level 4+ English and maths (2016/2017)

There has been a small improvement in the overall gap between girls and boys at level 4English and maths:

However, there are larger differences in the attainment gap between girls and boys forthose schools and academies that are performing at average and well below theaverage for Progress 8:

Percentage of pupils by average Progress 8 scores

Figure 9 the percentage of pupils across schools and academies that are average and above, belowaverage and well below average

Gender gap Level 4+ English and maths 2016 to 2017

Figure 10 overall gap between girls and boys at level 4 English and maths 2016 and 2017

Gender gap by average progress 8 scores 2016 to 2017

Figure 11 differences in attainment for those schools and academies that are performing at average and wellbelow the average for Progress 8 2016 and 2017

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For those schools that perform above average at Progress 8 there has been a very largedecline in the attainment gap for Level 4 English and maths, while for those schoolsperforming average or well below average at Progress 8, the gap has increased. Thedifference is particularly marked for those schools and academies that are preformingaverage for Progress 8 (from -2.8% in 2016 to -7.9% in 2017).

The above graph shows that the attainment gap for maths has almost disappeared from2016 to 2017 (-3.2 in 2016 to -0.4 in 2017), while the gap in attainment for English hasincreased (from -13.4 in 2016 to -14.7 in 2017). There are also differences in the attainmentgap for English between schools that are above average, average and well belowaverage in Progress 8 scores:

As before, the largest decline in the attainment gap is in those schools and academieswith an average Progress 8 score (from -9.4 in 2016 to -16.2 in 2017).

Gender and average Progress 8

A complex picture emerges when average Progress 8 scores are compared by genderbetween 2016 and 2017. In the above average group girls have continued to improve(from 0.06 in 2016 to 0.13 in 2017) and boys have also improved in this group (from -0.19 in2016 to -0.12 in 2017). However, in addition to a further decline amongst boys in theaverage group (from -0.14 in 2016 to -0.27 in 2017) girls have declined in attainment forProgress 8 (from 0.04, which was above average in 2016 to -0.16 in 2017).

In the well below average group of schools and academies girls have declined (from -0.66in 2016 to -0.75 in 2017) and boys have seen an even sharper decline (from -0.42 in 2016 to-0.99 in 2017).

Differences in attainment by gender for English and maths (2016/2017)

Attainment gap for English 2016 to 2017

Figure 12 Differences in gender attainment English and maths 2016 and 2017

Figure 13 attainment gap for English between schools that are above average, average and well belowaverage in Progress 8 scores 2016 and 2017

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The Progress 8 gap by gender for all schools and academies shows how much the gap hasincreased between boys and girls:

Progress 8 and disadvantage

There are various ways in which disadvantage is measured in Progress 8 data includingpupils on free school meals (FSM), numbers receiving Pupil Premium and those residing inareas affected by disadvantage, for example the lowest 20% of the Indices of MultipleDeprivation (IMD20) and those regarded as being in the lowest 20% under IncomeDeprivation Affecting Children measures (IDAC20).

In all schools and academies in 2017 pupils on FSM perform less well on Progress 8 thanthose not on FSM and the gap is much larger for those schools that have an aboveaverage score for Progress 8.

Gender gap by school and Academy groups 2016 to 2017

Gender gap all schools and Academies 2016 to 2017

Figure 14 Progress 8 gap by gender for all schools and academies 2017

Figure 15 Progress 8 gap by gender for all schools ad academies 2016 and 2017

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Comparison of Progress 8 for pupils on Free School Meals (FSM) 2017

Figure 16 Comparison of Progress 8 for pupils on Free School Meals 2017

Figure 17 Comparison of attainment for al pupils on FSM English and maths 2016 and 2017

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Comparison of attainment for all pupils on FSM English and maths 2016/2017

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IMD20 2013

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Comparison amongst schools and academies with above average, average and wellbelow average scores for Level 4 English and maths shows that the schools andacademies that have performed above average have a declining performance for pupilson FSM between 2016 and 2017 (from -24.5 to -33.5):

The schools and academies that have performed average for Progress 8 show animprovement for pupils on FSM (from -26.3 to -21.8). Those that performed wellbelow average have seen a decline in performance amongst pupils on FSM (from -24.3 to -31.9).

Comparison by lowest 20% indices of deprivation 2017

Between 2013 and 2017 there has been a slight decline in the numbers of pupilsfrom the lowest 20% Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD20), from 40.93% of all pupilsin 2013 to 40.05% of all pupils in 2017:

In actual numbers the decline amongst all students from IMD20 from 2013 to 2017was 215 (16%). For those schools and academies that performed above averagefor Progress 8 there has been a slight increase in pupils from IMD20 (from 27.7% in2013 to 30.07% in 2017).

There has been a small improvement in the attainment gap for pupils from IMD20between 206 and 2017.

FSM attainment gap Level 4 English and maths 2016 to 2017

Figure 18 Comparison amongst schools and academies with above average, average and well belowaverage scores Level 4 English and maths 2016 and 2017

Figure 19 Indices of Multiple Deprivation in all schools 2013 and 2017-35

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The above graph shows that although pupils from IMD20 preform less wellcompared to those that are not from IMD20, there has been a small improvement inthe attainment gap at Level 4 English and maths between 2016 and 2017 across allschools and academies.

The above graph also shows a consistent pattern, whereby those pupils from IMD20preform less well than those not from IMD20 for all schools and academies.However, comparisons of pupils from IMD20 against Progress 8 do not show aconsistent pattern.

The following chart shows a comparison of schools and academies in the Progress 8scoring groups by the Progress 8 scores for pupils from IMD20.

Comparison of attainment for all pupils from IMD20 English and maths 2016/2017

Comparison amongst schools and academies with above average, average andwell below average scores Level 4 English and maths for pupils from IMD20:

Comparison on Level 4+ English and maths by those from IMD20 and those not fromIMD20

Figure 20 Comparison of attainment for all pupils from IMD20 English and maths 2016 and 2017

Figure 22 Comparison on Level 4+ English and maths by those from IMD20 and those not from IMD20

Figure 21 Comparison amongst schools and academies with above average, average and well belowaverage scores Level 4 English and maths for pupils from IMD20 2016 and 2017

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What the above graph indicates is that pupils from IMD20 in schools and academies thatscore above average or average for Progress 8 have less progress than those not fromIMD20, the opposite is true for pupils in the group that score well below average.

In the latter group pupils that do not come from IMD20 have a Progress 8 measure of -1.07,while those that do come from IMD20 have a score of -0.89. This may indicate that pupils inthese schools and academies with higher needs (as suggested by their relativedeprivation) receive more attention at Key Stage 2 but that, as indicated by the previousgraphs, this effect falls off at Key Stage 4. This effect is masked by the Progress 8 scores forall schools and academies:

As previously stated the above analysis of Progress 8 and Attainment 8 scores ispreliminary. It has been included in the report to indicate that there are importanttrends and differences in educational attainment that lie below average Progress 8scores, for example, the findings on gender and disadvantage.

In so far as educational progress and attainment if a factor that influences theemployment chances and choices that young people make, it is important thatthere is a nuanced and sensitive approach to the data that can better informstrategy and local skills plans.

Progress 8 comparison IMD20

Figure 23 Comparison of all schools and academies in Progress 8 scoring groups by scores for pupils in IMD20

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Attainment gap IMD20 across school and Academy groups

Figure 24 all schools P8 attainment in relation to the number of students IDM20

because it encourages policy-makers to focuson the symptoms rather than the causes ofdisengagement. By branding young peopleNEETs, official statistics identify them as aproblem to be addressed by public policy butfail to focus on why they became disengagedin the first place.” (Gracey and Kelly, 2010)

Influence of parents

Parental experiences and attitudes to workare viewed as significant influence onyoung people:

“We have had young children saying “I don’tneed to work; mummy and daddy don’t”.”

“Every child we speak to has ambitions anddreams but there is a parent role that happensbehind closed doors that is very hard toengage with, a cycle of disadvantage thatperpetuates itself.”

“What limits these young people is the lack ofparental support, for example we had a youngwoman who didn’t speak, avoided eye contactfor first few months then one day she said thatevery time she goes home her dad says she is‘shit’. It dashes her hopes and expectations, herparent feeling that she is not doing well. Maybeits jealousy, maybe the father did not do welland doesn’t want to see the child do better.”

“The biggest barrier are parents, they are also

the biggest influencer in making choicesabout their child’s career.”

“We had someone join a team on workexperience; they were 18 and had been NEET.I know she helped to care for two youngersiblings who had special education needs anda lot going on at home. One day she just senta text to say she wasn’t coming in to the officeanymore. I’m not sure whether anyonefollowed up with her to see whether therewere things that could be done to help herremain in the workplace and also help herfamily.”

Respondents thought that young peoplewere very influenced by what their parentsknow when it came to understandingabout the employment market:

“Young people tend to know what theirparents know, they are not really aware of thereality about where the job market is going,how wide it is.”

Home schooling

Respondents thought that it was importantfor the local authority to consider thepotential impact of home schooling onpreparing children and young people forwork:

“Lack of attendance at school is a barrier to a

Perceptions and misconceptions aboutthe labour market

Respondents thought that many childrenand young people are influenced in theircareer choices by perceptions aboutpotential financial rewards, but that thesecan be unrealistic:

“Money, earning potential is an incentive, thelink to their desire for particular lifestyles, butthey need real world expectations, they can’tall be footballers or pop stars.”

The Sunderland Youth Parliament alsospoke about the importance of financialincentives for young people:

“In Sunderland there is a gravitation towardsgetting employed and earning money,immediate gratification, before they thinkabout furthering their education.”

Respondents also spoke about the mind setand family culture for some young peopleand how negative or unrealistic attitudesabout employment can affect youngpeople’s chances of finding work:

“Some of it is about the mind-set and culture ofthe young people, there is an expectation thatyou’ll still get given things even if you don’twork.”

“Where there is a lack of career progression

and higher ranking jobs, there is evidence tosuggest that aspiration is weaker too.”

Some respondents thought it wasimportant to note that not all youngpeople have negative attitudes nor severepersonal problems and that theiraspirations should be recognised more:

“There are a significant number of youngpeople who are attracted to the opportunitiesfrom the college and are keen to developtheir skills and use the opportunities.”

“The danger is that we assume all children aresuffering from these issues, but it’s not the case.There are a relatively small number of youngpeople who are caught in the wider issues,which are becoming health issues that affecttheir ability for planning and making careerdecisions.”

“We shouldn’t just focus on the NEETpopulation, we need to think about theaspirations of all children, Sunderland mayhave a higher percentage of NEET youngpeople but it still a relatively small number.”

This may be a significant point as otherresearch has highlighted the dangers ingrouping young people into the categoryof being NEET:

“The term NEET is itself unhelpful, partly


the least able to actually provide a good homeschooling environment.”

Home schooled children are not classed asvulnerable by virtue of being homeschooled, however, the draft guidancestates that local authorities should keephome educators and home educationsupport organisations informed aboutOfsted inspections. Also, if children who arebeing home educated are deemed to bevulnerable then the draft guidance statesthat:

“Ofsted will look at the way each localauthority deals with this issue, in particular theways in which it identifies children who are notreceiving suitable education and what stepsthe local authority takes to deal with that.”

(Page 8)

Parental engagement

Parental engagement is widely perceivedby respondents as a priority area fordevelopment that can bring significantbenefits in terms of raising young people’saspirations and addressing the cycle ofdisadvantage and poor educationalattainment:

“There is a role in terms of up skilling theparents, and giving them information sothey’re also educated. It’s also about helpingthem to know where to explore the informationand who to ask. Teachers could also be upskilled so that they can explain the relevanceof what students are learning to the real world.For example practical uses of trigonometry oralgebra.”

There is a perception that parentalengagement falls off at secondary school:

“The rule seems to be the younger thechildren, the better the engagement. Nurseryschools are very good at engagement, butthe older the children are the parents seemless engaged. This may be because theparents aren’t involved as much anymore,such as in taking the children to school.”

Children and young people themselvesmay also be creating barriers by notinforming their parents about things theyare doing in school:

“Children themselves seem to keep theirparents separate. Some parents are shockedby the work their children do as they don’t getto see it often, and are then impressed by theirwork when they do see it.”

lot of this, because it causes wider issues, suchas reliability, perseverance, punctuality etc. Thisresults in young people who are unable to stickto routines.”

“We need to look closer at why the youngpeople don’t attend school. To solve thisattendance issue, the role models in the homemake a difference.”

A recent report by the BBC claimed thathome schooling had increased across thecountry by 40% in the last three years:

“Across the UK 48,000 children were beinghome-educated in 2016-17, up from about34,000 in 2014-15. Mental health issues andavoiding exclusion are two reasons parentsgave for removing children from classrooms.”

(BBC Online News, 2018).

The number of children Electively HomeEducated at the time of writing the report is131 (academic year 2016-2017).

The Department for Education are currentlyconsulting on home education and havecalled for evidence on greater oversight ofchildren whose parents elect to educatethem at home (Department for Education,2018a).

Accompanying draft guidance for localauthorities states that parents may have a

variety of reasons for electing to homeschool their children, some of which maybe positive but some may be negative:

“…these various reasons are not mutuallyexclusive and for some children at least severalof them may apply. When local authoritiesengage with home-educating families theyshould bear in mind this diversity.”

(Page 6)

Some respondents thought that increasingpressures placed on pupils as a result ofthe drive in schools for better Progress 8and Attainment 8 scores could be drivingsome parents to elect for home schooling,because they would not be subject to thesame pressures on subjects and thenational curriculum.

Some respondents also reported that morepupils were being home schooled andthey questioned if this was a way ofavoiding exclusions:

“Schools are increasingly putting pupils ontohome schooling, it is often associated withproblems in the school environment, possiblyas a means of avoiding a formal exclusionwhich looks bad for the school.”

“Those students that are being home schooledare from the more deprived families, they are


employment market is doing, for example,number of digital jobs required next few years.”

“We should open up the city’s Work DiscoveryProgramme to parents and ensure those youngpeople who are more likely to become NEETare given targeted IAG support and mostdefinitely access the opportunities availablethrough Work Discovery.”

“It would be a real test for the partners acrossthe city to put collective efforts into targetingsupport to those young people who show thesigns of becoming NEET, but are supported toremain engaged in EET.”

If parents themselves are engaged in re-education this is thought to be particularlyhelpful for young people:

“Parental influence can be positive or negative,if parents understand the opportunities that arethere they can be a very positive influence. Asparents learn more, that in turn influences theirown career decision for example re-enteringeducation, up-skilling and re-skilling which inturn influences young people’s decision makingabout education and careers.”

“Adult learning skills for parents are alsoneeded, to support them to act as role modelsand encourage the children to follow in theirfootsteps.”

Research also suggests that families fromdisadvantaged backgrounds have highaspirations but they need the informationand understanding on how to mobilisethese effectively to achieve betteroutcomes for children (House ofCommons, 2014).

However, the evidence also suggests thatmany practitioners do not haveappropriate skills, knowledge andconfidence to work with parents,particularly those from deprivedcommunities. (The Scottish Government,2016). This was also a concern expressedby respondents:

“Parents do not have a good understandingabout career options and education at all,schools are missing a trick by not engagingwith them more on this. Parents put themselvesin the hands of schools and expect to beguided by the school, but I’m not sure theschools have that knowledge or are willing todo it.”

Parental engagement is also viewed asessential for ensuring that children andyoung people are aware of employmentopportunities:

“Parents are really important to engage with,they aren’t aware about the opportunities foryoung people, unless parents know peoplefrom different industries, it’s hard for them tokeep in touch with what is happening.”

“There is a nub of an older parental populationwho hark back to the previous industrial past,they don't really understand what is there todayfor children. Younger parents are more likely toadapt and be up to date with this.”

“We are not making enough from the parentalnetwork, particularly in schools.”

“We don't want every parent to be a qualifiedcareers counsellor, so we need balance in whatwe want parents to know and how to helpthem help young people navigate theeducation and employment routes.”

Most respondents thought that more couldbe done to use technology and digitalinnovations:

“There is a lack of understanding about theimpact of technology and social media.”

One respondent spoke about using textmessages to parents to help reduce

truancy and improve attendance levels ina school:

“There were huge attendance issues, now forany student that misses a lesson, the parent issent 7 texts: one to say the child is off, the other6 detailing exactly what lessons they’vemissed.”

Parental engagement is something thatindustry needs to be doing, not justschools. The benefit of parentalengagement is vastly increased beyond astrict educational context if parents areincreasingly engaged with industry andhave a comprehensive understand of theevolving labour maket:

“If doing an employment programme, it is wiseto engage parents at the start so you havethem on board and they don’t undermine thekids, these programmes work best whenparents are broadly supportive and involved.”

“Industry needs to work more with the wholefamily unit, Nissan are good at doing this, wecould learn more from their programmes,replicate this with other employers.”

“Industry could do more work with parents, itdoes work but it is quite intensive and we needto direct messages for parents better as theseare not penetrating through the schools. It isimportant to explain to parents what the local


“There are some significant attitudes aroundsending children to university. In those familieswhere they have never previously been touniversity, certain courses would be helpful, forinstance financial management guidance tounderstand the implications of these courses,also careers guidance to understand the bestways into getting into different careers.”

Some respondents thought that theinfluence of peers could have a biggerimpact on aspirations and breaking thecycle of disadvantage:

“Peers are a bigger influence than parents, theycannot break the cycle if they’re around lowaspirational peers.”

Peers were also seen as a potential sourceof role models to create positive change:

“Peers are closer to people’s lived experience,they can be ambassadors and positivemodels.”

“What about young people aged 19 to 23 whohave successfully passed through and have astable lifestyle, are these better role models forthe younger kids?”

Many respondents viewed developmentand wider use of role models from outsidethe family as a way to raise aspirations:

“Using national role models, sport andentertainment figures, has been problematicbut they can be used well to raise aspirations.The difficulty is in knowing who at a more locallevel can fulfil these roles?”

“We need role models to talk to young people,explaining that you’re not tied to one routeand can move and change.”

“Teenagers are less responsive to parents andmay be more responsive to other role modelssuch as youth works, teachers.”

One respondent highlighted the goodwork being done by the North East LocalEnterprise Partnership (LEP) on providingvolunteer mentors from the businesscommunity:

“Good work is being done, the LEP has set upa volunteer mentors programme for middle-achieving young people, the mentors arepeople from business or an employer whohave time to spend with students or groups ofstudents.”

However, some respondents questionedthe degree to which this programme wasbeing realised in Sunderland:

“I am doubtful that the LEP mentoringprogramme is having much effect inSunderland yet.”

There are examples where co-education ofparents and young people known as familylearning programmes, has had a positiveimpact on aspirations and promoting socio-economic resilience:

“Family learning is a powerful method ofengagement and learning which can fosterpositive attitudes towards life-long learning,promote socio-economic resilience andchallenge educational disadvantage.”(Scottish Family Learning Network, 2016)

Evidence from 2013 showed significantprogress in children’s attainment levelswhen they were educated alongside theirparents:

“Engaging the most disadvantaged parents intheir children’s education, while simultaneouslyoffering them the chance to learn themselves,can improve pupils’ attainment by 15percentage points and improve a child’sreading age by six months.” (National Instituteof Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), 2013)

It can have positive impacts on aspirationand addressing disadvantage:

“Educational interventions involving the wholefamily make a significant difference not only tothe aspirations and attainment of children, butalso to the skills, confidence and ambition oftheir parents. Family learning has long-term

benefits as it affects behaviours and attitudesto learning across the whole family.” (vanSteensel et al, 2011).

There is also evidence that family learningapproaches have a positive impact onclosing the attainment gap fordisadvantaged pupils:

“Embedding family learning across education,health and socio-economic policies is crucialto closing the poverty-related attainmentgap.”

(The Scottish Government, 2016)

Influence of siblings and peers

Siblings are viewed as having influence,particularly if there are no older siblingsthat have progressed to higher educationroutes:

“If a young person has never had anyone intheir family who has been to university, how dothey cope with the idea they’ll have £30,000worth of debt after?”


“The quality of schools is a big thing, but not theonly thing. Some young people don’t knowabout the opportunities on offer. There arevocational course they can embrace but theydon’t know about these.”

Respondents thought that vocationaloptions needed to be made available atan earlier point, for example at 14 years oldand that the focus should not only be onthose students staying in education:

“We should be looking at starting morevocational courses at 14 years old and bringingchildren out of school and into a different formof education.”

“There are more sixth forms where children canstay on in the same school until 18, however thisdoesn’t help those who are not going to stayon, just the ones who would have stayed onanyway.”

There is also thought to be a mismatchbetween the type of skills that were beingtaught or made available and the changesthat have taken place in the local labourmarket, for example the move towards to aservice economy:

“The kind of jobs that are being created noware service orientated, there is a mismatchbetween the old skills and the need for modernskills that fit the local labour market.”

“There is a mismatch between academic skillsand vocational ones, SME’s can’t affordapprenticeships so their skills needs are notbeing met.”

“The North East is getting a good reputation forthis work, but it is not being realised inSunderland as it should be, the mainbeneficiaries are young people in Newcastle.”

Respondents thought that it was necessaryfor role models to come from a similarbackground to those children and youngpeople they are seeking to influence:

“There are fewer positive role models for the kidsfrom a background of cycles of deprivationand disadvantage.”

“Sunderland do have 80 city ambassadors butthese are too removed from the poor, deprivedbase.”

Opportunities for vocational education andtraining

The focus on Progress 8 attainment and therestricted options for curriculumdevelopment were thought by respondentsto be restricting the amount of vocationalcourses available for students:

“There are young people who are not enjoyingschool or college and would rather dovocational skills to make them moreemployable.”

“Some can’t get English and mathsqualifications, we need to value otherachievements more than we do; this is anational problem.”

This is also thought to be a problem withincentives between schools, furthereducation colleges and universities:

“We need to get the incentives betweenschools, colleges and universities right for morevocational training routes.”

“The pipeline is not right for what jobs arethere, we are generating a lot of youngpeople at HE who will be disappointed andeven at FE the pathways are not right, forexample computer games developmentattracts students but at the end of it there is novolume of jobs.”

“Certain courses attract the students in, butthen there aren’t jobs in that sector available.There’s a huge problem in terms of incentivesbetween schools, colleges and university. Toomany people going to university for theamount of jobs there are. We can’t have 50%of people walking into graduate jobs.”

Lack of knowledge and awareness aboutvocational training opportunities werethought to be a factor influencing youngpeople’s choices:


Ensuring that there is effectivecommunication of the local education toemployment offer and that this is relevantto children, young people and their parentsand/or carers is not the sole responsibility ofthe local authority. In fact, the statutoryrequirement to provide information, advice,and guidance (IAG) is in the hands of theschools. Together for Children Early Helphistorically offered to provide secondlanguage acquisition (SLA), but this wasrefused. The schools can still choose to buythis provision from whomever else they wish.Together for Children’s statutoryrequirement does extend however toproviding IAG to SEN children and lookedafter children. Beyond the statutoryrequirement, to get the most out of allavailable provisions, this is something thatneeds to be done by all partners workingcollaboratively including schools andacademies, local industry, further andhigher education and social andindependent sector agencies that work insupporting children and young peoplethrough education and into employment.

Work experience

Respondents thought that there arebarriers for young people and parents innavigating routes to employment post 16:

“People only know the job market at acertain point in time, however they don’tnecessarily know what it’s like today. Itdepends on how wide your supportnetwork is, and what information you’rebeing fed by who and when. When Ispeak to young people not many knowwhat they want to do. They don’t have aclear idea, and there are just spikes ofinterest.”

“There seems to be little proactive searchingfrom young people about the career optionsthey may have.”

Work experience is viewed as a good wayto promote understanding about differentemployment options. However,respondents identified some barriers to thisincluding employer selectivity:

4 Communication and therelevance of the localeducation to employment offer


“Businesses and employers would rather havestudents they’re familiar with to offer workexperience placements, so that they can get agood use out of it, but also so they know thatthe young person wants to be there.”

“It’s still an old boys network in terms of gettingwork experience, industry needs to be clearerabout roles and nature of the relationship,tapping into the broader networks. Forexample, can parents trade in workopportunities with other parents where theywork in an area? But it needs to be individuallymatched for the business to get something outof it.”

Work experience programmes are viewedas working well for the local automotiveindustries, but this does not suit all childrenand young people:

“There are lots of sector based work academieswith other companies; Barclays, contactcentres etc. Students can get work experiencewith Nissan, they get a guaranteed interview,and if not successful with Nissan, the NAC groupwill try and get the young people into theirsupply chain, but not every young person wantsto be engaged in the car industry.”

Sunderland Work Discovery Programme

One particularly successful and innovativeprogramme in Sunderland thatdemonstrates this collaboration is theSunderland Work Discovery Programme.Sunderland’s Work Discovery Programmehas gained national recognition forengaging young people with business,and how to encourage them to gain theskills to improve their employability.

Each year more than 1000 young peopleand more than 40 local businesses takepart in the programme. Young people areinvolved in a wide range of challengesand activities including participation inworkshops, inspirational lectures andexciting demonstrations from industry. Theprogramme is very prominentlycommunicated and marketed and hashigh profile events at the Stadium of Lightand at business locations across the city.

Some of the activities and challenges thatyoung people have been able to do haveincluded taking part in brick laying andwelding demonstrations to constructing aracing car and learning how to build andcontrol an 8ft high robot. The activities aredesigned to be fun and engaging whilehaving a serious message that showcases


• Management information services

• Careers information service

• Marketing services

More specifically:

• Connexions IT provisions6; outline jobsearches and CV support

• Qualification pathways from academic(A-Level) support to vocational

• Advertise and direct young people to6th forms, universities and post 18opportunities

Connexions also have a Parent Pathwayprogramme that includes ensuring parentshave access to Personal Advisers in schools,colleges, Connexions centres, and others. Inaddition Connexions seeks to ensure thatparents have access to their onlineresources and hard copy materials andthey will inform parents of where these canbe found. They also seek to engage parentsin feedback.

Respondents expressed some concernsabout the decline in availability of the localConnexions service:

“Connexions as an agency, have had anumber of cut backs.”

“The sign posts for careers advice are not asstrong as they used to be, Connexions hasbeen decimated, nine gone and only one left,it’s a real problem, schools are being asked topick this up but it’s not working, it doesn’tsupport the right people.”

“In terms of careers guidance, it is reallyimportant in secondary curriculum but it hasbeen diminished. We use what is left of theConnexions service but that has virtuallydisappeared.”

Sunderland Careers’ Centre providesconfidential advice and support on agroup and one-to-one basis They are alsoinvolved in assessments for EHCs and haveindependent SEND support.

Talent Match is led by the ‘Wise Group’and delivered by Remploy. It engages with18-24 year olds to help them find work offthe back of their own enterprise andspecifically targets those furthest awayfrom the job market facing serviceboundaries to work.

The North East LEP is recognised for itspositive work on developing careersadvice in schools (Social MobilityCommission, 2017). Respondents didrecognise that some schools wereimproving their approach to career

the diversity of jobs that are availablelocally across a wide range of sectors.

Respondents to this inquiry clearlyrecognised the value and collaborationinvolved in the programme:

“Work Discovery is a brilliant programme, whichhas thousands of children attending, and seesthe employers engaging with young people.”

“Work Discovery is a really good tool, it kickedoff about 5 years ago and at first the schoolsproved to be barriers, but it has changeddramatically now, we are constantly in touchwith schools & pupils.”

This also now includes participation atprimary school level:

“Primary schools have been involved with theWork Discovery programme for about a year.”

Although the programme was initiallycalled Work Discovery Week, it now involvesactivities throughout the year, but this wasnot fully appreciated by all respondents:

“The Work Discovery Week is excellent andhelps large numbers of young people,energising the young people and employers,but it is one week, a big show business event,the disadvantaged groups need longer termsupport, something more intensive.”

“In Sunderland there is the Work DiscoveryWeek but apart from that, there isn’t anythingthat is really coordinated.”

This may simply be a branding issue, but asone of the city’s flagship programmes itcould be worth exploring how to bettercommunicate the other ways in which theprogramme involves young people andbusinesses throughout the year.

Some respondents, while appreciating thevalue of the programme, questioned thedegree to which it impacts ondisadvantaged children and youngpeople including those how are NEET:

“The youngsters who engage with the WorkDiscovery Programme are the ones who aregoing to do well anyway.”

Careers guidance

Connexions are the statutory body set upto provide advice, information andguidance and much of their work is donein coordination with Sunderland CityCouncil and/or Together for Children. Ingeneral, Connexions provide the following:

• Work experience placement (viaConnexions Hub)

• Continuing professional development


6 Previously, there was a certified IT zone but this is no longer in operation.

guidance and the provision of InformationAdvice and Guidance (IAG).

“Having a Director of Careers in the schoolresponsible for IAG, basically the same asGatsby benchmarks7, has been a very goodmove and should be recommended to otherschools.”

“Young people are not navigating routes toemployment well, due to decline in support forchildren at key stages of their lives, there is arecent push to re-introduce careers advisersinto schools, they have to be good though.”

However, as a national programme,respondents had concerns about theconsistency and quality of IAG in schools:

“The national offer for careers advice is patchy,the government could improve this a lot.”

This was thought to be a particular problemwhen industry were not directly involved inIAG:

“Everybody still complains about careeradvice. It’s still a case of being lucky to get thechance to speak to someone, and they’re notgetting the opportunity to connect withdifferent employers from different backgroundsso they get a narrow view.”

“We need more tailored advice onemployment options and more knowledge in

schools about what employers want. Thisshould be tied in with Progress 8 and lookingmore at apprenticeships.”

Understanding the NEET population

When talking about the NEET population inSunderland respondents highlighted thecomplex range of needs amongst thispopulation, including mental healthproblems, drug and/or alcohol use andproblematic family backgrounds:

“A lot of the NEET population have complexneeds, not just English and maths, they havecomplex mental health needs, low self-esteemand a lack of confidence.”

“Many have problems with drugs, mentalhealth, multiple disadvantage…”

Respondents also thought it was importantto recognise the numbers of NEET youngpeople that have particular high levels ofneed, for example care leavers, those inthe criminal justice system and as a resultof being pregnant at a young age:

“There are more in care and not in typicalfamily settings.”8

“There are a number of NEET young peoplewho are pregnant and also in justice system.”


7 In 2013 Gatsby commissioned Sir John Holman to research what pragmatic actions could improve careerguidance in England and subsequently he developed the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks.

8 OFSTED identified that NEET figures for CLA 16-18 years group was better than national average. The 18-21years care leavers group however have much higher NEET figures

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Children who started to be looked after during the year ending 31 March

“Care leavers (looked after by the local authority via fostering) and young offenders are NEET.”

The total number of children in Sunderland who started to be looked after in the yearending March 2017 was 335; this was a 39% increase on the previous year.

Figure 25 Children who started to be looked after by Local Authority during the year ending 31 March

% Care Leavers in education, training or employment

Figure 26 Percentage in education, training, or employment in Sunderland, the North East, and England

The number of care leavers aged 17 and 18 at the end of March 2017 for Sunderland was65. Amongst these, 43% were NEET.

52

54

56

58

60

62

64

Sunderland North East England

Some respondents thought that theproblems were exacerbated by cuts inservices, particularly access to mentalhealth services for care leavers andchildren and young people in school:

“Care leavers often suffer from mental healthproblems, but the services are being takenaway from schools.”

“There is an absence of provision to supportyoung people with mental health problemsbecause there isn’t the funding, the needs arerising and the funding is falling.”

Respondents thought that workingeffectively with the NEET population ofyoung people required more intensive, one-to-one work:

“They should be receiving one-to-one,additional support but the resources are notthere for this.”

“Support and funding are being taken away byschools and the young people are disengagingbecause they don’t have access to theseservices.”

Respondents also thought that there was alack of knowledge and understandingabout how to work effectively with NEETyoung people:

“Knowing what constitutes effective practicein this area is hard.”

“We continue to gaze at a problem that hasbeen here for a long time, the move to actionis the hardest thing.”

Recognising the needs of differentdemographic groups

Respondents were asked if they thoughtthat there were different issues and needsregarding support for employment fordifferent demographic groups, manythought that the needs were the same:

“Nothing really that stands out, most of thework being done is in line with the nationalpicture for different demographic groups.”

“The needs of different groups are very similar,they want the same things. There could besome systemic issues but there isn’t anythinginherent. It depends on the different schoolsthey went to.”

“All of the young people have such individualneeds that it’s hard to put them all together into one group.”

80 Education to Employment - Sunderland 81Education to Employment - Sunderland80 Education to Employment - Sunderland 81Education to Employment - Sunderland

The percentage of NEET who were pregnant or parenting was 9% compared to 4% for theNorth East and 3% for England (Department for Education, 2017):

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Sunderland North East England

NEET - % Pregnant or Parenting

Figure 27 Percentage who are pregnant or parenting in Sunderland, the North East, and England

high profile experience that could be usedto inspire girls and young women from otherschools into science careers.

Ethnicity

Sunderland has a relatively low percentageof Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME)populations (4.3%), however thepercentage of BAME children and youngpeople aged 0 to 24 years is higher (6.8%)9.Respondents did recognise the need toengage more with these communities oneducation and employment:

“BAME population is low and we are not goodat engaging with them, and we don’t havespecialist support for these as do with disability.”

“There are low population numbers of BAMEpopulations in North East, but that doesn’tmean we shouldn’t engage more with them.”

Based on the Work Discovery model, thecouncil recently organised an event withkey business sectors for the local BAMEcommunities to explain careeropportunities. Respondents thought thatthe event was very informative as therewere many misconceptions amongstcommunity members about local careersand the employment market:

“We need to do more to educate the minorityethnic communities on the size of the labourmarket. The council recently organised acareers event for the BME community. The lowlevels of knowledge about the local labourmarket surprised people, but they were able toinform them and let them know what thecommutable options are from Sunderland.Some thought Asda/Sainsbury’s/retail was thelargest sector but actually this is reducing insize.”

Disability

Respondents thought that the councilcould do more with employers to supportthe employment opportunities for disabledchildren and young people:

“The council needs to do more work withemployers on disability, it is not a priority for alot of firms and smaller firms lack the resourcesto support this adequately. There is poor co-ordination on this area.”

“With regards to disabilities we are not cluedup enough on it, a little bit scared. There is aneed to work more with schools on this.”

For example, one respondent spoke aboutthe NHS England disability advisor role andhow this could be used to more effect inSunderland:

Education to Employment - Sunderland82

“Almost all of the recent employmentapplications were male. Obviously it is open togirls too, we offered a contract to one girl for ayear but it didn’t work. The girls simply aren’tinterested in this type of employment.”

“I’ve not witnessed differences between girlsand boys but have been told that it is hard torecruit women engineers. But we do needdiversity in the work force, not just forSunderland but nationally.”

However, one respondent cited theexample of Rolls Royce and how havingapprenticeships for young women couldact as positive role models for others:

“The local primary school has Rolls Royce onthe doorstep, they have femaleapprenticeships coming in and these can bea powerful role model, changing perceptionsfor young girls.”

In 2016, 19 female 6th form students fromSt Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy wentto the Johnson Space Centre in Houston,Texas as part of NASA’a Girls in STEMprogramme to attract more girls intoscience careers. The Sunderland 6thformers were intended to act as scienceambassadors on their return, includingpresenting an account of their week to therest of the academy. This is the type of

Gender

Some respondents did recognise issues withrespect to gender and education:

“In the North East there has been increasingdisengagement amongst white working classmales.”

“The obvious problem is with girls in STEMsubjects.”

Respondents thought that these differenceswere not played out once a young personwas on an employment route:

“The success rates between boys and girls aresimilar.”

“We have similar numbers of males and femaleswith similar success rates, generally no realdifference.”

“We have good representation of girls andboys, there’s not a huge problem with genderdifference.”

Although respondents recognised thatthere are issues with attracting more femaleyoung people to some industries such asconstruction or engineering:

“We need more girls in engineering but they area difficult target group, girls’ perceptions aboutthe nature of the work stop them seeing this asan opportunity.”


Education to Employment - Sunderland84

Disadvantage

The demographic factor that respondents’thought was most relevant for the NEETpopulation was disadvantage:

“Working Class, middle ability boys is wherethe problems are.”

“The gap in Sunderland is around deprivation.In order to target some of the challenges foryoung people, the deprivation within thesegroups needs to be addressed.”

“The differences in opportunities are moreabout where people live.”

Respondents thought that the localauthority inclusion strategy needed to bemore aligned with the strategies foreducation, skills and employment:

“The strategy around inclusion was targeted onthose who don’t access the employmentmarket but it did struggle with the people sideof things as it wasn’t written by the correctpeople. It wasn’t integrated with the rest of theemployment strategy.”

“The economic development strategy waswritten by economic advisors, it wasn’t strongon the people side, the inclusion strategy wasa bolt on and not integrated into other corestrategies, so we have struggled more with theinclusion agenda, but we are doing it in bitesize chunks.”

“NHS England have someone who is employedto promote employment by disabled peoplebut no one in Sunderland has taken this up. Weare missing a golden opportunity but it is hardto know who the right person is to engagewith.”

Another respondent spoke about the needto provide a realistic level of expectationand skills matching for disabled youngpeople:

“Access to work placements and engagingwith the world of work is limited for SENDpupils…we need to provide a very honestaccount of what the young people are able todo, trying to break down the embarrassmentfactor, especially those who have autism andhow they can engage in the work place.”

Some respondents were also concernedthat employers may say they are disabledfriendly but were not in reality:

“A number of organisations say they aredisability friendly, but in reality they really aren’t– this is usually because they simply don’t knowhow.”

“We have no disabled young people, theworking environment doesn’t accommodate tothem, and it’s heavy engineering, very hard toaccommodate for disabled people.”


Employer strategies

As noted above respondents expressedconcerns that young people at risk of beingNEET or who were already NEET were notwork ready:

“The mental health issues of young peopleneed to be addressed before the route toemployment.”

“They lack low level skills in maths, English and IT,but also the soft skills, being able to get to workon time, knowing how to present themselves, alot struggle with this.”

“The main problem is awareness that they arenot work ready – turning up on time,appropriate behaviour, dress, knowing how orwhen to turn in sick, conforming with the ‘softskills’ as well as the hard skills. We can’t expectthem to have the hard skills before they’vestarted, that comes with training, but the softskills should be there.”

There becomes a more acute issue whenthere is a cost attached to theseexpectations. For example, even for part

time work the financial cost of a uniformcan be burdensome for someone on lowwages. Not having the correct dress istherefore not always a choice and canhave adverse effects on a wider range of‘soft skills’.

Capacity to work with NEET applicantsand understanding about their needs asemployees are thought to be lacking:

“One of biggest gripes of employers is thatyoung people don't turn up on time, they arenot work ready, have poor work attitudes andhow they present themselves in the workplacecan be poor but employers don't know how towork with these young people.”

“Businesses need to remember that these arejust young people- they need mentoring inboth soft and hard skills, it is a perfect exampleof badly managed transition points. Theexpectations are rarely aligned. It is veryimportant that business and educationproviders make clear what is required.”

Some respondents thought that localemployers lacked medium and long-term

5 Engaging industry in theskills agenda


strategies for addressing these problems:

“Employers’ expectations are high but it isn’t asimple case of supply and demand for skills.Employers lack medium and long termrecruitment strategies for skills that match thelocal population.”

Respondents saw this as being linked tobusiness imperatives or the ‘bottom line’,something that can be particularly difficultfor SMEs:

“It is difficult for commercial companies to workin this area.”

“These strategies from large organisations doeventually trickle down to the SMEs. It is thedifference between altruism and socialmotivations versus the bottom business line.SMEs view things as the bottom line.”

“NEETs can be harder to work with and requirepatience. It is difficult with a SME who may nothave the expertise and resources to specificallyfocus on the needs and problems.”

For larger employers, the focus is viewed asbeing on the existing workforce and lifelonglearning, rather than creating new entrypoints:

“Employers aren’t doing enough to offer entrylevel roles, they still want graduates.”

“Larger corporations can provide long-termcareers, they are recognising the challenges,for example creating touch points alongsomeone’s career where you are entitled tosome sort of audit and analysis of skills anddirection. Virgin Money, Sage, NorthumbrianWater, NHS, have started to create a careerstrategy of life long careers.”

Engagement between industry andeducation

Sunderland does have variousprogrammes for increasing engagementbetween industry and education, inparticular with schools.

Some respondents thought that strategiesfor increasing engagement betweenindustry and education needed to start atan earlier point in the education cycle, forexample at primary school level:

“Why aren’t these employer programmeshitting hard enough? Maybe it’s the curerather than prevention method, they are notengaging early enough.”

“We need to plant the seed early, at primaryschool level. More children taking part incareers led events with industry involvement.”

“There should be more integration of rolesbetween industry and schools, especially


by government by 10% per month.Government views the apprenticeship levyas an opportunity for schools to improvetheir skills base. The local authority isresponsible for informing the school whetherthey need to take into account the levy. ForMATs, it is the responsibility of the sponsor, orthe main employer.

At the end of 2017, apprenticeships weredown 61% on figures at the end of 2016.Data from the government’s progress reportin May 2018 (Department for Education,2018c) shows:

• Improvement from May 2017: 37% arenow ‘new starts’ rather than existingemployers. This compares to 3% in 2016and represents a total of 494,900.

• The standard measurement of asuccessful apprenticeship has shiftedaway from a qualification basis to a skillsand knowledge basis.

The Government has not published datasurrounding disadvantaged young peopleand apprenticeships, and is still consideringthe approach it will take on how theycollect these data.

The Department for Education’s evaluationfrom learners on apprenticeships(Department for Education, 2017b) shows:

• 86% of learners recognise their schemehas benefit to their future career;

• 2% were unemployed immediatelyafter their apprenticeship finished, butthis rose to 9% after one year;

• 70% were very satisfied with theiropportunity, 5% were dissatisfied;

• 56% joined immediately from school orcollege, 33% joined from a previousemployer, and 12.5% were NEET beforestarting;

• 60% reported improvements in English,Maths, and IT; and

• 72% said apprenticeships exceededexpectations, 21% said theirexpectation had been met.

There are problems regarding generalawareness about apprenticeships, forexample in the learners feedback reportcited above 30% didn’t realise they wereon an apprenticeship programme andnearly half (46%) said an apprenticeshipwasn’t their first option. There has alsobeen criticism from industry and learnersthat education providers aren’t informingyoung people sufficiently about vocationalopportunities.

influence in primary school – get it earlier ratherthan later.”

Other respondents recognised that morewas being done to engage employers atprimary school level:

“Nissan are particularly good, they dosignificant work with primary schools.”

Respondents thought that local industrycould make more use of the networks thatsurround schools including parents andcommunities:

“Industry is not making enough use of theparental network around schools, work to getcommunities more engaged in schools couldhelp, sponsoring, giving time, tapping in tobusiness employment networks via parents.”

Many respondents however, thought thatthere should be greater co-ordinationbetween the regional and local authoritylevel strategies for skills, education andemployment and individual industrystrategies:

“Sunderland is disjointed and particularlydisadvantaged, there is not as muchcoordinated activity with employers inSunderland as in surrounding authorities, forexample there is much more coordination inNorth Tyneside.”

Apprenticeships

In April 2017, Government funding ofapprenticeships changed in England withthe introduction of the apprenticeship levyand a public sector target onapprenticeships. The latter, althoughwelcome, has placed an added strain onlocal authorities are now expected tobecome providers of adequateapprenticeships.

The apprenticeship levy applies tocompanies with more 250 employees withthe aim that 2.3% of a company’s staffwould be enrolled on an apprenticeship.Companies are then charged at a rate of0.5% of their annual pay bill, if this exceeds£3 million.

The government have recentlyannounced that from April 2019 Small andMedium Enterprises (SMEs) who previouslydidn’t qualify for the levy will now join thescheme. The aim is to make the marketmore demand led and give employersmore say. It is a particularly salient reformfor Sunderland, which as a high proportionof SMEs. The Council also haveresponsibility to act on behalf of any otherbody under their remit e.g. Fire & Rescueand Schools. However, local authoritieshave their apprenticeship fund topped up


it’s not enough, there are still gaps but when wetalk about skills and competencies, it is aboutmore than just trading a certificate for a job butthat is seen as the path of least resistance.”

Apprenticeships were thought to be failingNEET populations in particular, especiallythose from more deprived backgrounds:

“The numbers taking apprenticeships is falling,at the top end there are more options andchoices, this end is holding up but the drop off isat the disadvantaged end, the kids with moreproblems.”

However, the Youth Parliament thought thatthere was a lack of university levelapprenticeships:

“There is less of a focus on degree levelapprenticeships.”

Some respondents gave examples ofindividual industries where apprenticeshipsare working well:

“… 10-15% of employees are apprentices. Theycan’t always offer employment after, but in the10 years they’ve ran it, none of the apprenticeshas gone on to be unemployed immediatelyafter.”

“There are more focused discussions withindustry about apprenticeships.”

“The public sector are putting in systems, but ittakes a long time to put procurementarrangements in place and to get moreapprenticeships built in to this.”

However, on the whole respondentsthought that apprenticeships were notbeing targeted in the right ways, forexample focusing the apprenticeship levyon existing employees rather thanattracting new entrants:

“Most employers are only using the levy for theirexisting employees, it is very short term, there isa finite amount you can do on this and in theman time they are missing the opportunity tobring on more new people.”

“The apprenticeship levy could be used morecreatively, as it was intended to develop newemployment roles and meet the skills deficits.”

“The apprenticeship levy is an unmitigateddisaster for government, might as well givethem the money back. Those who pay aredoing well for their own groups of employees,for example they can up skill current staff butthe Levy is not being used well to bring on newstaff. In time it will be a bigger problembecause we are not creating the right careerchoices and it restricts opportunities for thetarget groups of young people who needhelp.”

There is a perception amongstrespondents that the apprenticeshipsystem is too complex, especially forsmaller employers:

“Employers are not engaging withapprenticeships because they seem toocomplex and yet this is the area that isneeded, especially with SMEs.”

Also, there is a view that apprenticeshipsare not being targeted at the right groupsand skills base:

“Lower skilled apprenticeships are available,they are a route forward, but at the nationallevel, they are usually picked up by the lowerskilled, older workers, whereas the nationalmarketing is pitching them more at youngerpeople.”

“Only 3% of all apprenticeships are in digital,


Achieving a radical improvement in theaspirations and opportunities for youngpeople, particularly those who are NEET isnot something that can be realised in theshort term. The strategic context for skillsand employment, nationally and locally ischallenging and a number of importantdevelopments such as the IndustrialStrategy and vocational skills plans are stillbeing worked through. For cities such asSunderland there are additional challengesrelated to the makeup and mix of the localemployment base and historical trends ofgenerational disengagement and lowaspirations.

For NEET populations there are some acutedifficulties including the level of personalneeds such as mental health problems,being in care, young parents and comingfrom a background of deprivation. It is alsoimportant that the NEET population anddisadvantaged children and young peoplemore broadly are understood, for examplethey do not constitute a homogenousgroup.

As system leaders for skills, economicgrowth and inclusion local authoritiesneed to have effective strategies andmechanisms for collaboration by whichthey can address the complex and interrelated issues for children and youngpeople but also their parents and familiesand with system partners. The city’sstrategic partnerships (Education andEconomic Leadership Boards, and theChildren’s Strategic Partnership) providethis foundation, and should work togetherto develop effective strategies with widerstakeholders, including local employers.

The findings in the report highlight anumber of issues and point towards someareas that are deserving of furtherattention. For example:

• there is a need for more nuanced andsensitive analysis of educationalprogress and attainment data, so thatskills issues relating to specific groupscan more readily understood andresponded to;

6 Conclusions andNext Steps

92 Education to Employment - Sunderland92 Education to Employment - Sunderland 93Education to Employment - Sunderland

• respondents have also made calls forgreater collaboration acrosspartners/partnerships with clearleadership to ensure that skills andemployment strategies are co-ordinatedeffectively;

• parental engagement is widely viewedas one of the most significant factorsthat can influence decisions made byyoung people about career andemployment choices and there is scopeto improve and strengthen parentalinvolvement in education and skills, andIAG;

• there are some strong foundations tobuild on for communicating the localeducation to employment offer, such asthe Work Discovery Programme, butthere is a need to consider ways inwhich this and similar programmes canbe more targeted and relevant for thosewho are disadvantaged and/or NEET.

At a national and regional level there is aneed to ensure that policy and relatedgovernment funding benefits cities likeSunderland, and is not solely concentratedin larger urban areas with bigger and moreprosperous populations. Smaller supplychain businesses and SMEs also need to bemore fully involved in local development of

the education to employment offerincluding additional support to enablethem to provide work experience andapprenticeships.

Next steps

There are different ways in which the nextsteps from this report can be developed,including further and wider engagementwith local stakeholders on the issues raised,for example with parents and youngpeople, educational providers andindustry. The local authority may also wishto identify a particular cohort such asvulnerable children and/or boys who arenot fulfilling their earlier educationalpromise; increasing participation of girlsand young women in STEM subjects orworking with those in the most deprivedneighbourhoods. One or more of thesecohorts could be the subject ofsubsequent inquiry with a view toidentifying specific, locally tailoredsolutions and innovations.

Further local programme work will need tobe at the request of, and funded by, thelocal authority, possibly alongside partnersfrom industry.

Nationally, BBI intends to hold a roundtable with stakeholders from government,


national regulators, industry andstakeholders from across the educationaland skills sector. The purpose of the roundtable will be to explore the issues raised inthe report and how central policy andstrategy initiatives can be better utilised toaddress some for the areas of concern thathave been raised.

BBI hopes that the leadership team fromSunderland City Council will take an activepart in this roundtable, alongside authorityleaders from the range of key cities.

If sufficient interest can be gained fromindustry partners a national summit will beheld towards the later part of 2018. This willenable broader engagement with a widerange of stakeholders from across thecountry.

Finally, BBI would like to publish anddisseminate this report so that the findingscan be read and discussed more widely.


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