ABSTRACT
Education and employment are essential for individuals to achieve independence. They also provide tools for people to fulfil their interests and aspirations. Lack of education and unemployment are two of the main causes of social exclusion, others being issues associated with age and mental and physical health. Their absence can cause alienation and poverty, which in turn exclude individuals from participating in society and can drive them to anti-social behaviour. This link can be seen in the UK, where high levels of burglary committed by 10–17-year-olds correlated with the number of 16-year-olds not in full-time education (Howard 2000). Anti-social behaviour affects individuals and communities as a whole and, in addition to high levels of crime, neighbourhoods with high levels of social exclusion also often suffer from unattractive and even threatening public environments. Often the average income is too low to support anything other than very basic facilities and all these factors combined contribute to lowering the quality of life for the entire community. As a result, people who are able to move, transfer elsewhere, further exacerbating the situation. Providing opportunities for education and employment therefore helps both individuals and the community as a whole.
