Ayesha Baloch From Impetus Discusses The Importance Of Reaching ‘Hidden NEETs’ To Break Barriers into Employment
FE News caught up with Ayesha Baloch, Head of Youth Employment Policy at Impetus, at the recent Breaking Barriers Collective. The Breaking Barriers collective was a recent collective intelligence event in partnership with Edge Foundation and FE News.
This is a really interesting chat with Ayesha about the importance of reaching the estimated 300-500,000 ‘Hidden NEETs’ who are not engaging with Youth Hubs or Job Centre Plus support (around one-third to one-half of all NEETs).
Ayesha also discusses the importance of joined-up data and exploring system-wide markers to reduce the number of NEETs. She explains that, in Impetus’s recent Youth Jobs Gap report, people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be NEET. Another great predictor of being NEET is qualifications and qualification levels, highlighting that people with qualifications below level 2 are more likely to be NEET compared to their peers with Level 3 and above qualifications.
She explains that, as Milburn highlights, there are no quick fixes, but she unpacks the importance of looking at data and data indicators in a joined-up fashion to intervene early with young people at risk of being NEET. With a joined-up approach on data from school to FE College, with local and national data held accountable by someone and wrap-around support available to those who have dropped out of the system. Ayesha also highlights the value of coaching and mentoring to young people who have dropped out of the system.
Check out the full interview below:
Thank you to OAL, who were the media sponsor at the Breaking Barriers Collective.
You can also watch:
Jacqui Smith, Skills Minister, opening address to Breaking Barriers and more on RONIs
Olly Newton from Edge Foundation on the importance of Systems Thinking
Amy Harcourt Shares Insights From A Young Person’s Perspective On How To Break Down Barriers Into Work for Young People
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