Final Report
Transition to Working Life
May 2011
My Generation has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Funds
Through the URBACT II Operational Programme
MY GENERATION: FINAL REPORTS
FROM EDUCATION TO EMPLOYMENT (the E and E theme); TRANSITION TO WORKING LIFE
Readers of this report will, I hope, be able to explore both the MY GENERATION mind set and
methodological aspects as well as some of the good, concrete examples that have been developed
by the participating cities in order to animate schools and to strengthen connections between
schools and the rest of the community, including business/workplaces. The main idea is to support
cities to establish a collaborative process to better support young people’s transition from school to
work.
Introduction
Back in 2009 the European Parliament stated that unemployment among young people was one of
the EU’s major challenges and most serious problems. One year later (September 2010) 5.2 million
EU-citizens under the age of 25 were unemployed – an increase of 1.3 million young people
compared with the situation before the start of the economic crisis. In February 2011 policymakers
in Brussels warned of a “lost generation” of young workers, highlighting the situation as “the biggest
employment issue in Europe right now”1.
Compared to the overall unemployment statistics, young Europeans have been hit
disproportionately by the recession. This is a fact in all member states, even if there are big
differences between countries. In Spain, the youth unemployment rate is 40 %, while the number in
Germany, Austria and the Netherlands stops at 10 %. Nevertheless widespread youth
unemployment could be considered a ticking bomb, affecting both the possibilities and aspirations
of the young, but also adding a lot of pressure to welfare systems, community budgets and
challenges for future development, future innovation, management and leadership.
But just blaming the present crisis is not enough to explain young people’s problems in entering the
job market. The problem is far more complex than that. It is true though that a recession generally
hits young people’s job opportunities harder than the average, but there are also a number of other
factors at work. Some examples are:
-
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schools do not provide the young with the necessary skills requested by employers/labour
market
a large number of school drop outs leaves many young with a lack of basic skills and a
reluctant approach towards schools and studies
young people’s lack of integration in society, finding themselves objectified, problematized,
unused
John Monks, general secretary of the ETUC
2
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the continued belief in formal education as the only platform for real knowledge
the lack of coherent, sustainable and cross-sectorial approaches emerging from a holistic
point of view, i.e. a “chain of performance” set up between several policy areas such as
those of education, the labour market, social and social welfare, aimed at supporting the
young in a positive transition process
It is also important to remember that the transition process in most countries is becoming longer. As
an example, in Sweden research shows that the school-to-work (STW)-period has increased with
seven years in the last two decades2. It is also true that today’s transition period has become a
rather complex process, often involving the interaction of different kinds of policies: those of
education, the labour market, social and social welfare, immigration services etc. If we consider the
transition to work as a key stage in laying the basis for life long learning and work throughout life,
then training and education for one thing should aim at presenting youth with diverse pathways.
However, schools often fail to motivate youth, leaving them puzzled with how to benefit from
different opportunities. This is especially vital to those young people at greatest risk of not being
able to enter the labour market, but also for those who have chosen to follow an academic
education pathway, this must be taking seriously into account. In addition, a major challenge to
schools of today is to be able to connect to the outside world - to develop and explore both learning
in itself and the possibilities available for every young student.
Already in the early 80’s analysts predicted that 1/3rd of the young born in 1982 would have trouble
finding a job; due to the continued development of technology and the future innovations they
predicted that the number of jobs needed to produce goods would be reduced in a dramatic way. In
retrospect, we now know that the scenario on one hand seems to be spot on; lots and lots of jobs
have disappeared within industry and manufacturing while on the other hand, we now experience a
massive growth in services, to some extent reducing the gap, offering new job opportunities and
possibilities. Thus, there have been signs and alerts along the way for us all to react against. The My
Generation story could be used as a learning lesson, or rather, a wakeup call, to challenge societies
and cities to be a bit more proactive than reactive. We have to find better ways to adapt to changes
– and first and foremost we have to establish tools that will allow us to plan for change rather than
to react to consequences. Learning from the past should help us become better prepared to tackle
whatever future challenges, not only youth unemployment or the transition from school to working
life but all issues, both foreseen and unforeseen, coming our way.
To the MY GENERATION cities that stressed the education and employment theme as their primary
focus (Warsaw, Tirgu-Mures, Valencia, Patras, and to a great extent, also Gothenburg and
Rotterdam), the project has added valuable, innovative food for thought regarding the school to
work transition. To the rest of the cities, prioritising the Outreach and/or the Coordination theme,
taking part also in the E and E theme must have been a process of great interest. After all, the three
themes are links in a positive transition chain; and as such, links that are very closely connected.
2
Lidström 2009
3
My Generation – setting the scene
Following the MY GENERATION basic ideas about co creation, holistic approaches and avoiding
target group thinking - causing objectification and an “us and them” situation - has proven to be very
fruitful in developing the E and E theme. As the participating cities by nature have differing
experiences, needs, policies and possibilities, approving the co-creative and open-minded
atmosphere has become a natural way to “live” social innovation and to connect different topics to
each other. By doing it this way the network, with help from everyone participating, has been able to
fill in the gaps in the “performance chain” regarding the transition support structure of every city. In
reality, this has meant that cities with an initial lower interest in the E and E theme or with specific
and addressed needs within the theme have been able to add both good examples from an
operative as well as examples on a more strategic level to their Local Action Plan agenda and thus, to
their local work.
To better visualise the MG concept both to the MG network and to external actors we have,
together with the young, developed the CITYSCAPE; a graphic “roadmap” covering the different
aspects of young people’s transition from school to work. This transformative experience sees them
move from puzzlement, disaffection and exclusion to the fulfilment of their potential and active
contribution as citizens. The CITYSCAPE is also a model for displaying and imagining the different
areas and services that the MG network has discovered. It covers the Outreach, E and E and
Coordination themes, connecting
them in a logical, yet challenging way.
By adapting the CITYSCAPE to future
city planning, there are opportunities
for every city; possibilities to better
understand the situation of young
people today and thus, to establish
holistic structures to better support a
positive transition process. The
CITYSCAPE,
together
with
complimentary
project
documentation, could be found on
the
MY
GENERATION
web:
http://urbact.eu/en/projects/activeinclusion/my-generation/ouroutputs/
When looking specifically at the E and E theme and what has emerged from the collaborative work
between cities in the MG network, the following areas have proven to be of great interest:
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Transformation of schools; schools closing the gap to community actors and business
The aspects and importance of recognition of non formal/informal learning
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-
Innovative, individualised and tailor made guidance and counselling services
The support of young entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial environments
The above areas have been explored bit by bit, some cities taking the lead, others following. At the
first E and E workshop in Gothenburg, the Swedish hosts brought forward the aspects of nonformal/informal learning and entrepreneurship. There were mind blowing presentations on Youth
entrepreneurship programmes in Swedish schools, there was study visits at creative business
incubators and there were good examples from partner cities of programmes working with young
people, marginalised by language, culture or social
reasons, in how to build trust and connections that
eventually could replace isolation with a more
inclusive transition process. Nevertheless, the
workshop was a fundamental icebreaker in exploring
the complex inner life of the transition process, being
not only related to schools but also to complimentary
areas such as guidance, non-/informal skills, job
creation, entrepreneurship and business support
mechanisms – in a context of co-creation and the
need for a holistic approach.
The second thematic workshop in Valencia really decided to emphasize the entrepreneurial aspect
as its main focus. Participating cities brought good examples of cooperation between schools and
business and of entrepreneurial training, examples that really had a positive impact on opportunities
for the young. Other examples supporting the entrepreneurial spirit took its starting point from the
insight that an increasing number of young people start their own business without the support
from agencies like the Chamber of Commerce. There was also the sparkling acquaintance with Hi5, a
spectacular initiative building on the driving forces, talents and non-formal skills of the young in
combination with the emerging growth of music, creative business and events3.
Other examples in line with the four key areas above have reached good practice status throughout
the life cycle of the project; one, focussing on the non-formal knowledge aspect, is the C-stick – both
a gadget (USB device) and a web based learning tool that, when connected, helps young people both
to collect, develop and display their various skills and competences. The C-stick system also provides
individual coaching and guidance to explore and visualise alternative pathways and opportunities for
the young.
Following the MG legacy that learning is not only a formal thing, a Youth Pass was invented where
the young participating in the project could have their experiences and new knowledge recognised
and signed off by managers from their respective city. This way the project in itself has worked as a
platform for innovative traineeships, offering important skills and tools that could be transformed
into highly requested knowledge in any business or workplace!
3
Hi5, http://www.hi5.nl/
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Cities and good examples – a deeper look
In Antwerp, exploring the E and E theme was of great interest due to the low performance and high
drop out rates among youngsters with a lower social background and youngsters with an immigrant
background. One of the most interesting activities in Antwerp has been the attempt to bring in
educational aspects and activities in the Youth Competence Centres (YCC’s), aiming at increasing the
interest in studying and to strengthen the networks and community relations of the young. Young
people that have succeeded in “the educational revenge” become role models, acting as mentors,
adding important experiences both to them and to the YCC’s. The YCC setup also includes RAC4
counselling, with the aim to “consciously stimulate young people, through participation in activities
that fit with their interests and lifestyle, to experiment and shift their limits (experiential learning)
and thus increase awareness on their own competencies (identification of competencies) and further
develop them’.
Antwerp also developed the C-stick device, as already mentioned. The city is a good example of
linking services to achieve a good chain of performance. Also by being awarded as the 2011
European Youth Capital, Antwerp continues to enhance its activities, both in practice and strategy.
In Glasgow as well as in Birmingham, there are several programmes aiming at supporting young
people who are at risk to find a job. In Glasgow the initiatives of the ChoiceWorks and Get Ready for
Work programmes are managed by the City Council as an answer to city strategies and needs, while
in Birmingham, the programmes put forward are delivered by external organisations. There is
Streetgames, using sports as a common driver to motivate and reach young, and Worth Unlimited,
focussing on building hope, unlocking potential and realising worth in young people. Both
organisations show good results and hopefully they could nurture from collaborating and sharing
experiences in the future.
Gdansk did not highlight the E and E theme as their first interest, but still the city provided one good
example – the Communication Schools – on how vocational education could strengthen connections
with business to be able to bridge the gap between business demand and supply of knowledge and
competences. In Gdansk, the jump from state owned production units to private owned and
managed ones led to a huge gap in the matching process of needs verses vocational training, the
situation getting further complicated with the emergence of creative industries. With the
Communication schools, the education programmes have been adjusted to match the expectations
of employers. Furthermore in Gdansk, the growing interest in entrepreneurship has initiated a
discussion between schools and City Hall, local NGO and business associations and companies
themselves regarding the introduction of a model for promoting entrepreneurship throughout the
entire education system.
To Gothenburg, the aspects on informal and non-formal competences as well as on promoting
entrepreneurship have been of greatest interest. A thorough baseline study on the nature of
informal learning was produced which, as a result of the LSG (Local support group), formed a good
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RAC, Recognition of acquired competences
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local platform for innovative actions on documenting and evaluating informal knowledge. The
reporting procedure as well as the LSG work brought relevant actors together in a joint discussion on
the theme, thus improving the communication between schools, the municipality and business
society regarding areas of improvement in supporting young people to finding a job. A way to realise
ideas has been the use of the European Social Fund to help finance projects; here the UPP! project is
a good example on innovative thinking, using a multi stakeholder approach as well as an inclusive
and individual approach towards the young participants.
Patras did, by promoting the DRASYNA model, offer a “one-stop-shop”-solution dedicated to young
people who are unemployed/semi-employed and/or members of vulnerable groups facing social
exclusion. The DRASYNA model includes the provision of consultancy, networking and sensitizationpromotion services with a holistic approach to services delivered, needs of business/workplaces and
actors involved. Through the supportive work of the Patras LSG one has also succeeded to find ways
to connect both students at University level and young unemployed (supply) with labour market
demand. In this matching process, Vocational Training Centres play an important role.
In Riga, the LSG proposed the development of an internet-based collaboration platform for students
and entrepreneurs. The platform, hosted by the NGO “Youth Consulting”, is planned to be launched
autumn 2011, allowing students to announce topic of his/hers planned research (within bachelors’ /
masters’ thesis or other academic paper) and thus, to find a particular company that is interested in
this research, providing mentoring and/or support in the implementation of research. On the other
hand, the platform will give an opportunity for companies to post their research requests and see if
they are of interest to some of the students. The address is www.prakse.lv.
Rotterdam, the MG lead partner, has proven to be a social innovation platform in itself. The first E
and E example from Rotterdam was the Community Schools; an innovative model aimed at
encouraging young people with complex problems to study and gain work experience. The activities
might not be as innovative as the approach; no young person entering the Community school is
“allowed” to drop out. If the program by any reason proves to be “wrong”, the school does whatever
it takes to find a suitable place outside the school, using its network with supporting community
actors such as institutions, NGO’s etc. The Community School provides a new setting for dealing with
young people with complex problems and it has the purpose to develop a clear method that can be
multiplied in Rotterdam and other cities around The Netherlands.
Rotterdam further hosts activities as the Go to Guide- and Dutchversity/Hi5-concepts, the first
delivered by the Chamber of Commerce (see earlier references). They are both considered as great
examples of better “guidance” in the transition from education (or no education) to employment.
Dutchversity/Hi5 is part of the Rotterdam Local Support Group and has not only inspired the
Rotterdam LSG members but also the LSG members of partner cities. In Rotterdam many
organisations have connected to the Hi5 concept; working on the empowerment of the young and
informing youngsters on the possibilities on the labour market. Within the LSG the educational
members, the Rotterdam youth department, the Chamber of Commerce and youngsters have now
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connections with Hi5, a good starting point for sustainability regarding development of services
supporting the transition process.
The city of Tirgu-Mures suffers at the same time both from high youth unemployment and youth
workforce migration, making the E and E theme an especially important argument for participating
in the MY GENERATION network. Besides presenting the example of the “Opportunities for young”
programme, where young unemployed people got sufficient training and re-training (young
academics also participated) in tourism management following the requests and needs of the
tourism sector, the work of the LSG has mainly focussed on mapping and understanding the reasons
that stand behind youth unemployment and youth migration figures. In this sense the Tirgu-Mures
provides essential input to cities facing the same problems. In general, the overall problem goes
back to the bad connection and as a result, the lack of cooperation between education and
employment, creating a gap between the demand and supply side of the labour market. After
mapping reasons, one of the conclusions, summarising the whole issue both of the MG as such as
well as of the E and E/transition theme was that “coherent, long-term services can be operated only
in partnerships, meaning that education, employment and the business community as well as the
young all have to contribute with their information, ideas and suggestions to draw up strategies
which are advantageous to all parts...”
In Valencia, the My Generation work has focussed on the transition from school to work and on the
attempts to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship among young people through municipal activities.
Initiatives to support entrepreneurial activity have been launched directed both to students in lower
educational levels as well as to students at university levels. The "We have an idea. Educating to
undertake" pilot project aims at promoting self-employment of the students of the past Primary and
Secondary schools. The project “seeks to encourage entrepreneurship from the earliest stages of
education, without waiting to the college educational cycle, which may be already too late. It aims to
create a space that will encourage and support the students to generate ideas, develop the concept
of self employment, and encouraging entrepreneurial thinking through play activities and
participation”.
In Valencia, we also learned from the enterprise education carried out at the Florida education
centre. Since the introduction back in 2005, more than 200 young people have participated in the
programme, which seeks new ways to integrate education and enterprise in order to spread
entrepreneurial culture among young people with different background and nationalities.
Last but not least, Warsaw has had Education and transition to employment as the main theme for
its MG work. Improving the work and attractiveness of schools has been one important driver in the
MG work together with the requirement to offer education that matches the needs of the labour
market.
To Warsaw, participating in MY GENERATION has been a very positive process. A lot has been done
during the life cycle of My Generation; schools are developing in the right direction, there are more
and more sport and cultural projects, both on the local and on the international level. There is also a
huge change in the number and quality of offers in vocational education, offers that now are in line
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with the current labour market demands. There is also now a much stronger focus on supporting
entrepreneurship in schools.
Final reflections
There is no doubt that the work and the results carried out by the MG network cities present a
genuine melting pot of innovative as well as less innovative - but still interesting - examples of links
in a chain of performance to support a transition period that has become both longer and more
complex than ever before. The cities’ examples provide good, practical knowledge in how to
motivate schools to become more attractive and demand led, how dropouts could be motivated to
get back into educational activities – and, even better, how the dropout syndrome could be
decreased. There are examples of multi stakeholder incentives aiming at creating holistic support
structures, including innovative ways of coaching and counselling, to promote positive transition and
to reduce youth unemployment. And there are very good examples of how the true potential of the
young could be transformed into self-employment, new companies and projects. There is a
framework to learn from concerning the important issue of informal/non formal learning, taking into
account the many learning opportunities and arenas beside the traditional formal ones and the
consequences and opportunities this brings, both to the young themselves and to employers as well
as to the society as a whole. Any city should, just by picking from the examples in this report, get
great help in modelling their own transition support system. So far so good.
Nevertheless, one has to be realistic about the possibilities to deliver transformative change in
school systems and curricula, in attitudes and organisations. Along with a strong vision, one has to
go back to, and jointly accept, the MG legacy and the basic principles of the MG work; to promote
the positive potential of the young generation in the cities – with the young and for the young, as
well as to promote seamless transitions and services that could overcome the breakdowns in
growing up towards positive self-reliance. In the MG case, these key messages are very well taken
into account in the Final report made by the city of Tirgu- Mures:
“… the educational community has to regenerate its system, by introducing new profiles in its
curricula, correlated to local economic tendencies, by offering trainings in real business environments
(on voluntary basis, too), by cooperating with companies in offering on demand skilled young human
resource, by focusing on identifying and stimulating the competencies and abilities of each individual
for active participation within society, by informing and counselling its students.
The business community has its share, too. First of all it has to change the way of thinking, by
offering jobs to the young human resources, opportunities to demonstrate their potential and
creativity and has to cooperate with the educational community on a win-win base. Moreover, they
could also encourage young people to become entrepreneurs.
On the other hand, the Employment Agency has the role of a mediator in between these two
communities: Education and Business. It is within his responsibility that supply and demand on the
job market meet. And for this a good database is needed as well as advantageous employment
policies on both sides that would facilitate companies to employ young people.
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Non-governmental organisations could also participate to this process of integrating young labour
force into local economy, by preparing, qualifying the young for specific jobs.
Young people have to make their voice heard and express their needs, while they have to develop
also their informal knowledge besides getting skilled.
In conclusion, the Office for Counselling and Orientation in Career would represent the centre with
the role of combining the responsibilities of each involved community on a “win-win base”, so that
the final beneficiary would become the local community.
Ulf Hägglund
Thematic expert – Education and Employment
May 2011
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