ABSTRACT
The government’s Connexions strategy now dominates efforts to co-ordinate support services for young people as they move from school to work and from family to independence.
Connexions works with several objectives that particularly assist excluded young people. First is the notion of a flexible school curriculum that engages young people with diverse interests and abilities and leads to the relevant, sought-after qualifications. This includes the flexibility for young people within school to opt out of elements of the GCSE curriculum to spend more time on work-related learning. All pupils, regardless of their curriculum path, receive a Graduation Certificate by the age of nineteen that certifies the young person’s accomplishments including the development of key interpersonal skills. Second, alongside the more diverse curriculum is a new system of apprenticeships offered through sixth forms and colleges of further education that combine trade skills with further learning. Third, there is targeted financial support both to reward participation in learning and to reduce the financial barriers to further education. Finally Connexions has put in place a network of personal advisers to work with young people recognised as at risk from ‘disaffection’ (DfEE 1999b).
