Breaking Barriers Collective: Working Together to Tackle Youth Employment Challenges

I recently attended the Breaking Barriers Collective, a collaborative event that brought together training providers, employers, awarding organisations, government representatives, charitable organisations and research bodies to explore one of the most urgent challenges facing the sector: how to support more young people into meaningful employment and training. The day focused on identifying the barriers that prevent young people from progressing into work and, crucially, on what we can do together across the system to address those barriers in a more joined-up and effective way.

As you will have no doubt seen, from other commentators and press releases, the morning was packed to the brim with expert opinion and insight and was kicked off by the Skills Minister, Dame Jacqui Smith. The focus of this piece, however, will be on the afternoon session, that I had the pleasure of facilitating, with an excellent group, consisting of representatives, from Awarding Organisations, Training Providers, Charitable Foundations, Sector Skills Organisations, Research Institutions and the CEC.

My role as facilitator

As a facilitator, I had the opportunity to guide a focused discussion on the practical barriers young people face when trying to engage with education, training and employment. The conversation in my group, was passionate and informed, with strong voices but refreshingly in this age of polarisation filled with respect and consideration for conflicting opinion – reminding me that I work in a sector filled with truly special people! The debate reinforced that the challenge is not simply about vacancies or qualifications; it is about how effectively we prepare young people for opportunity, how early we intervene when disengagement begins, and how well organisations work together to provide consistent support.

Key themes from our group discussion

One of the strongest themes to emerge from our discussion was the importance of early intervention. All group members, highlighted the value of alternative provision in schools as a way of re-engaging children and young people who are at risk of disengaging from mainstream education. If we can reconnect school-age learners with learning at the right time, we have a far greater chance of preventing longer-term disengagement from education, employment or training.

A second major discussion point was the need to prepare young people more effectively for opportunity, both in school and in post-16 settings. There was a clear view that, alongside qualifications and technical knowledge, greater emphasis must be placed on the development of essential skills. These included teamwork, communication, emotional intelligence, resilience, critical thinking, confidence, problem solving, self-efficacy, agency and the ability to deal constructively with challenge. These skills are often the difference between a young person being able to access an opportunity and being able to sustain and progress within it.

Our group also talked about the importance of practical readiness for work. This included simple but significant capabilities such as being able to speak confidently on the phone, communicate appropriately with colleagues, and present themselves effectively in professional settings. These may seem like small skills, but for many young people they are major barriers to taking the first step into work, apprenticeships or further training.

What collective action could look like

What stood out throughout the day was the shared recognition that no single part of the system can solve this challenge alone. Training providers, employers, awarding organisations, government, charities and research organisations all have a role to play. Together, we can design clearer pathways, align support more effectively, share evidence of what works, and ensure young people receive the preparation and encouragement they need before they reach a point of crisis. The discussion made clear that collective action must mean more than partnership in principle; it must involve coordinated, practical steps that improve young people’s confidence, readiness and access to real opportunity.

Recommendations for improving careers advice and guidance

A further area for improvement discussed was careers advice and guidance. There was a strong view that young people should have access to highly qualified and completely impartial careers advisers who are free from institutional or organisational bias. That advice, should be informed and supported by employers, businesses and sector leads, potentially through a model similar to sector skills councils, where the role is focused more on signposting and insight than steering young people towards predetermined routes. There was also interest in the potential for AI to help map young people’s interests, strengths and skills against a broader range of career pathways, helping them to see opportunities they may not otherwise consider. Alongside this, different forms of media could be used to promote careers more fairly and in a balanced way, so that awareness is not shaped only by the sectors or organisations with the largest advertising budgets. Taken together, these approaches could help create a careers system that is more informed, more equitable and better aligned to the needs and potential of young people.

What was particularly striking, however, was the extent to which the direction of the discussion shifted by the end of the workshop. The conversation began by asking what systems, providers and professionals could do for young people, but it gradually moved towards a more challenging question: what should young people be enabled to do for themselves? While there were many strong contributions advocating systemic change and systems thinking to improve outcomes for young people, Stephen Barrett of Energy & Utility Skills, although far from alone in his views, was especially compelling in setting out the case for smarter, more coordinated system design and collective responsibility. At the same time, Darius Norell of People and Their Brilliance brought a powerful and thought-provoking counterpoint, arguing that young people themselves must be given the voice, confidence and agency to shape their own futures, and that too much of the current information, advice and guidance system remains directive rather than enabling.

That perspective made many of us stop and take stock. Any advice we give may be well intentioned and accurate in the moment, but the world of work is changing rapidly, and pathways that appear secure today may look very different in the near future. In trying to help, there is a risk that we unintentionally remove ownership from the very young people we want to support by placing them on routes shaped by our own conscious and unconscious biases. It prompted a deeper reflection not only on our professional roles in education and careers guidance, but also on our roles as parents: are we always better informed than young people about the future direction of opportunity, or the skills businesses will need in a future none of us can predict with certainty? Perhaps the shift we need is away from directive guidance and towards the provision of clear, balanced and unbiased information, enabling young people to define their own paths, opportunities and careers with greater confidence and autonomy.

For me, facilitating this discussion was a reminder of both the scale of the challenge and the strength of the collective commitment to address it. The insights shared by the group reflected a strong appetite for earlier intervention, better preparation for opportunity, and closer collaboration across sectors. If we are serious about reducing the barriers young people face in finding employment, we need to create a system that values essential skills, supports re-engagement, and works together with purpose. Events such as the Breaking Barriers Collective provide an important space to move from discussion to action.

My heartfelt thanks and admiration go to James, Darius, Dan, Steve, Stephanie, Marie, George, Robert and Mark for their inspired contributions, their humility in accepting the opinions and views and others and their bravery in reflecting and inspecting their own beliefs and actions. This collective made my role as facilitator one to treasure and remember.

By Lee Reddington, Partnership Director, Occupational Awards Limited

Lee was Lead Facilitator of the Education Skills Working Group at the Breaking Barriers Collective