Adult 18+

Transitioning through education - what supports are available?

Employment • Finance and mental health • Lived experience • Wellbeing • Young people

What’s the project?

With grant funding from Youth Futures Foundation, the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) is carrying out research to understand the range of support available to young people with special educational needs, mental ill-health, experience of the criminal justice system and experience of the care system as they transition through education and training into employment.

Your views will help shape the research outputs, which will be used to highlight where support systems work and where they need improvement. Youth Futures Foundation will be using the findings from this research to develop support for young people in these groups.

Find out more

We would like to recruit up to 10 young people to join the project’s Youth Advisory Panel.

Being part of the Youth Advisory Panel will mean taking part in two online meetings: the first meeting will take place in February 2025 and the second meeting in March 2025.

Our discussion will cover your experiences in education, looking for work and/or entering work – so that we can get to know you and understand how your experiences help shape your views on our research. We would also like to hear your views and opinions on our research plans and emerging findings.

We are looking for 10 young people to join our Youth Advisory panel:

  • Must be based in England
  • Must be aged 18 to 30 (in 2024)
  • Must have experience with one or more of the following:
    • The criminal justice system including being arrested, cautioned or convicted, attending court, experiencing a driving ban, receiving civil injunction, Community Protection Notice (CPN) or Criminal Behaviour Order or had a period of time in a young offender institution or prison.
    • The care system in England; this could include short- or long-term periods of time away from your family (for example, in foster care or being adopted). You do not need to currently be in care.
  • Be available for the discussion on Monday 10th February or Tuesday 11th February 12-1pm.
  • Must have access to a digital device and stable internet connection to join online meetings with video/camera on.

You will receive a £30 voucher as a ‘thank you’ for your time each time you take part in an online meeting with the IES research team. You will be able to choose an Amazon or Love2Shop voucher.

We will also provide you with a certificate of participation and a summary paragraph you can add to your CV, if you wish, describing the role of the Youth Advisory Panel in this research and the skills used to take part in it.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please email [email protected] with brief answers to the following questions:

  1. What is your name?
  2. What is your date of birth?
  3. Are you based in England?
  4. Why are you interested in this specific opportunity?
  5. Please tell us which group you would like to join, based on your experiences
    1. Criminal justice system experience including police, young offender institutions or the prison service,
    2. Experience of the care system in England; this could include short or long-term periods of care away from your family. You do not need to currently be in care.
  6. Which session can you attend? Please specify either Monday 10th February or Tuesday 11th February.

This information will not be shared with anyone outside the research team and will only be used so we can create discussion groups of 4-7 people as part of the 1-hour online meeting.

  • Sometimes after talking about topics like mental health, people feel they need a little extra support or someone to chat to. Is there anything that IES could do to support you or make your involvement experience better?

You are welcome to send your responses in audio or video format if preferred. If you need any help completing your expression of interest, you can get in touch with [email protected]

Please click here to read the IES privacy policy

Monday 3rd February at 8pm.

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