Educating Generation Next

Young People, Teachers and Schooling in Transition

Lucas Walsh

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781137526403
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

Is the current industrial model of schooling capable of preparing young people for modern working life? This book provides an unsettling picture of the challenges young people face following the uncertainty of the Global Financial Crisis. It asks whether teachers and schooling are able to provide the skills needed in a contemporary global economy.

Part I

Navigating Seas of Uncertainty: The Impact of the GFC and Beyond on Young People

1

Young People, Precarity and a Workforce in Transition

The last several years have been an uncertain time for countries throughout the world. Economic and political orthodoxies have been challenged, within wider calls for austerity. New ways of living and working are emerging, with some groups experiencing these very differently to others. Recent economic instability has had a profound impact on young people. This was particularly pronounced following the GFC in 2007–08. In countries such as Greece and Spain, youth unemployment exceeded 50 per cent within the four years following the downturn. Young people in Australia, despite its comparative economic prosperity, also felt the impact of the GFC. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) observed in its report, Jobs for Youth: Australia, that ‘past experience suggests that in Australia, like in most other OECD countries, any deterioration in labour market conditions is disproportionally felt by the youth’ (2009, p. 1). Socio-economic and geographic factors magnify the impact of economic instability on certain young people, affecting, in turn, their participation in education and employment, which are explored in more detail in Chapter Two.

Accompanying these trends are long-term structural changes to the workforce, which in combination set the economic context of this book. Young people face declining opportunities for full-time work, increasing part-time and casual work, underemployment, underutilisation and unemployment. This chapter explores the impact of recent economic instability and, in particular, traces the impact of the GFC year by year alongside longer-term structural changes, on young people in Australia, as well as in parts of Europe.

The aftermath of the GFC: 2008 to present

In the years following the GFC, the working lives of many young people became unstable. They became more insecure, and growing numbers of young people not in study experienced unemployment. To illustrate the severity of the impact of the GFC, we can see the steady intensification of insecure working conditions and precarity in the years following the downturn.

Prior to the GFC, unemployment for those aged 15–24 was at the lowest recorded level since the 1970s (OECD 2009). This low level of unemployment reflected greater numbers of young people choosing to study before entering the workforce, as well as growth in part-time rather than full-time work (Lamb & Mason 2008). But as in many other countries, the impact of the GFC was immediately felt in Australia and rippled across the years that followed.

Data collected during the last several years by Professor Stephen Lamb and his team of researchers at the Centre for Research on Education Systems at the University of Melbourne (2009–12) make for sobering reading. Between 2008 and 2009, the proportion of teenagers not learning or earning full-time jumped from 13.4 per cent to 16.4 per cent – the highest level since the recession of the early 1990s. During this period, the rate of unemployment among teenagers rose by over 6 per cent, one of the largest annual increases for this group in 20 years. In 2009, a quarter of 20- to 24-year-olds were not engaged in full-time work or full-time education (Robinson & Lamb 2009, p. vii). This increase from 2008 also reversed the downward trend from the previous decade. Young men were more likely to be unemployed, while young women were more likely to be in part-time work or not in the labour force.1 Fewer teenagers began apprenticeships in 2009, the level of commencements having stalled following the GFC (Robinson et al. 2010).

Between the first quarter of 2008 and 2009, the number of Australian teenagers in full-time work fell significantly from 249,000 to 208,000 (Colebatch 2009). One estimate suggests that all but 400 of the 30,600 jobs lost between January and July 2009 were lost by teenagers (Martin 2009). This decrease was neither matched by the number of full-time students nor matched by an increase in full-time employment.

Counterbalancing these fairly dramatic figures were greater numbers of young people choosing to study before entering the workforce, with 83 per cent of 20- to 24-year-olds completing Year 12 at school or attaining a post-school vocational education and training (VET) qualification at Certificate III or higher in 2008 (Robinson & Lamb 2009, p. 25) – a steady rise but still short of the 90 per cent attainment targets set by the federal government for 2015 (COAG 2009), particularly in regions such as the Northern Territory. Between 2001 and 2009, Year 12 attainment of people aged 20–24 increased from 70 per cent to 75 per cent. But for most disadvantaged, the rate of increase was marginal, fluctuating between 50 and 60 per cent (ABS Survey of Education and Training, cited in Bentley & Cazaly 2015, p. 16).

Labour force data from 2009 showed just over 29 per cent of 20- to 24-year-olds were in full-time education (Robinson & Lamb 2009, p. 19). Data from the last decade have shown that school completers2 are more likely to gain further qualifications (65 per cent by age 23), while early school leavers3 are less likely to obtain any further qualifications (57 per cent by age 23). This gap in qualification levels between school completers and early school leavers widens in the post-school years (Robinson & Lamb 2009, p. viii). For school leavers, the transition to the labour market via certain pathways other than higher education slowed or stagnated. For example, estimates for 2008 indicate that the percentage of teenagers undertaking traineeships and apprenticeships flatlined after a decade of growth (Robinson & Lamb 2009, p. 12; Robinson et al. 2010).

And for those seeking full-time work post-school, opportunities fell steeply following the economic downturn. A significant amount of part-time work was undertaken on an involuntary basis; that is, young people indicated a preference for full-time employment, but increasingly had to accept part-time work. Many students engaged in full-time post-school study took on more hours of part-time work. (We will explore the implications of this below.)

The data have consistently shown that further or post-school qualifications are increasingly important in helping young people to make the transition to the labour market after leaving school. Census data from 2006 indicated that about six in ten Australians attained a post-school qualification by age 24. Just under a third had a university degree or higher, with 31 per cent attaining a VET qualification. Young women were much more likely than males to have a university qualification (33 per cent compared with 23 per cent of young men) (Robinson & Lamb 2009, p. viii). As the minimum level of qualifications required for work continued to rise, post-schooling providers of training, university and further education faced the challenge of meeting growing demand. Australia lacked and continues to lack solid long-term alternative pathways for those young people not taking the conventional pathway from school to higher education, particularly given the immediate impact of the economic downturn on apprenticeships and training opportunities – which, as indicated above, contracted significantly.

Amongst the most vulnerable in making the transition from school to work or further training and study were those from low socio-economic backgrounds and living in regional and remote areas. Census data from 2006 showed that a young person living in the wealthiest areas was three times more likely to attain a university degree or higher by the age of 24 than those living in the poorest areas. The 24-year-olds living in metropolitan areas had more than double the rate of attainment of university and higher-level VET qualifications as rural areas, in which vocational certificates are particularly valuable. For just under one-third of this group, this was their highest post-school qualification (Robinson & Lamb 2009, p. 31).

Globally, the rate of young people’s unemployment had reached an all-time high of 75.8 million people aged 15–24 out of work (UN 2012a). A year on, the unemployment rate of young people hovered at 12.6 per cent, compared to an adult unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent (UN 2012a). In the UK, this rate rose from 13.5 per cent in December 2007 to 19.5 per cent in June 2009, before it plateaued at around the 20 per cent level for the next several years (Eurostat 2015, 30 January). Rates in parts of Europe were even higher.

In Australia, levels of teenage disengagement from work and study remained as high in 2010 as in the previous few years. Teenage males continued to be particularly affected by the economic downturn. They had greater difficulty finding full-time work. Unemployment rates in general continued to be much higher for teenagers than for adults. Despite modest improvements, the percentage of school leavers not fully engaged in education or work was at its highest level in two decades. The unemployment rate of teenagers not in full-time education approached 18 per cent. Full-time job opportunities for teenagers continued to decrease, offset by a small increase in participation in full-time education. Levels of participation by 20- to 24-year-olds in earning and learning improved; however, nearly a quarter of this age group were still not engaged in full-time education or full-time work (Robinson et al. 2010).

By the first quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate for people aged 15–24 in OECD countries was 17.4 per cent compared with 7 per cent for adults (aged 25 and over) (UNRIC 2012b). A record number of young people in Europe were unemployed. Young women particularly struggled to find work. The rate of unemployment for this age group continued climbing to 22.1 per cent in the 27 European Union countries and 21.3 per cent in the euro area – up from 21 per cent and 20.6 per cent, respectively, in the previous year (Eurostat, Unemployment Statistics, cited in UNRIC 2012a). Around 5.5 million young people were out of work (European Commission 2014, p. 1). Amongst the highest levels registered were in Greece, Ireland and Spain, where youth unemployment rates had almost doubled. The GFC effectively wiped out any positive gains in employment during the beginning of the new millennium (ILO 2012). As the UNRIC (2012a) noted:

With the exception of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, none of the advanced economies saw a return of unemployment rates for younger people to pre-crisis levels in 2011. This will have substantial long-term consequences, lowering the career path expectations of young entrants into the labour market and diminishing the incentives for the coming generation to take up long and expensive studies.

While the rate of young Australians not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET) was less than the OECD average in 2011,4 the rate is still striking given how well Australia fared economically compared to many of its counterparts in the OECD.

Unemployment continued to be consistently higher for teenagers. One in four long-term unemployed were aged 15–24. Since 2008, the percentage of young Australians without a job for a year or longer had almost doubled. More young people who were not in some form of study or training had part-time jobs. Among those in the labour force, three times as many teenagers (15–19) and more than twice as many young adults (20–24) had part-time jobs compared to the mid-1980s. An average of nearly one in five teenagers changed their labour force status every month in 2011, compared with one in ten older workers. Young people changed employers more regularly (Robinson et al. 2011, p. 11).

In 2012, 81 million young people globally were unemployed (and notably 152 million of those who had jobs resided in households that earned less than the equivalent of 1 euro (or around AU$1.50) a day (UNRIC 2012a). In Greece, youth unemployment hit 53 per cent, and in Spain, 55 per cent. Some reports suggested that there was soon a flight of young people from Spain seeking opportunities to work in countries such as Germany (The Economist 2013a), although Spain had experienced similarly high levels of youth unemployment in the past. Fluctuations like this were not new. In June 1986, when Spain began publishing youth unemployment data, it was 43.8 per cent. It then declined consistently over the first five years of the series, falling to 28.8 per cent in March 1991. Over the next three years, the Spanish youth unemployment rate increased rather dramatically to approximately 1986 levels, at 43.1 per cent in March 1994. It then declined steadily for a seven-year period, falling to 20.9 per cent in September 2001. Over the next seven years, cyclical fluctuations were less dramatic, with the rate reaching a historic low of 17.2 per cent in March 2007, just prior to the GFC. Youth unemployment then spiked dramatically, increasing more than threefold in just over five years to be at 55.4 per cent in December 2012 (Eurostat 2015, 30 January). The potential mid- to long-term damage to the social and economic fabric of these countries soon became apparent. Widespread protest and civil unrest erupted throughout Europe in the wake of the GFC (news.com.au 2011).

In Australia, the rate of unemployment was far lower but still significant. On the upside, more young people were participating in education. School retention to Year 12 rates (the final year of schooling in Australia) reached an all-time high (79 per cent). Furthermore, university-level attainment among 24- to 35-year-olds increased from 24 per cent to 35 per cent between 2001 and 2011 (Robinson & Lamb 2012, p. 7). And as suggested above, as a corollary of declining full-time jobs, rates of part-time employment increased significantly – in the case of teenagers, it had tripled over the previous 30 years. In 2012, a quarter of 18- to 19-year-olds was not in full-time study or work despite government targets aiming to get more young people qualified or into a job (COAG 2012b). Many were seeking full-time work but could not get it. Unemployment for teenagers (15–19) was about three times the overall rate of unemployment in Australia (Robinson & Lamb 2012).

By 2013, the number of young people out of work in OECD countries was nearly a third higher than in 2007 (The Economist 2013c). OECD data suggest that around 26 million young people in advanced economies were NEET. World Bank data indicate that over ten times as many young people in developing economies were estimated to be ‘inactive’ (The Economist 2013b). This amounts to almost 290 million young people neither working nor studying, which, as The Economist pointed out, was ‘almost a quarter of the planet’s youth’ (The Economist 2013b). The figures in Europe were particularly severe. Prior to the GFC, the youth unemployment rate in Greece had experienced a reasonably steady decline from 1999 (the second year in which data are available) to 2008, during which it fell from 31.7 per cent to 21.1 per cent. It then increased dramatically over the course of the next five years, reaching a peak of 58.8 per cent in June 2013 (Eurostat 2015, 30 January).

In Australia, the effects of the GFC continued to be offset to some extent by participation and attainment in education. Both education participation and attainment rates amongst young people continued to increase. For example, four out of five students (82 per cent) who commenced secondary school in 2013 stayed in school to Year 12, a significant increase from 75 per cent in 2008 (FYA 2014). But young people also experienced higher unemployment rates than older age groups. Around 250,000 young people were leaving school and entering the workforce each year (Birrell & Healy 2013a). The underemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds had increased from 11.3 per cent in 2008 to 14.9 per cent in 2013 (ABS 2014). High rates of casualisation and involuntary part-time work reflected a labour force that had become more precarious, insecure and fluid. High rates of underemployment and unemployment persisted despite the fact that Australia overall had emerged from the GFC relatively unscathed.

By early 2014, 40 per cent of Australia’s unemployed were young people (Brotherhood of St Laurence 2014). The overall unemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds reached as high as 12.2 per cent (more than double the general unemployment rate), with much higher rates in certain regions, such as rural and regional communities (Pro Bono 2014). But these pockets of unemployment were not confined to regional and remote areas. As Kelly and Mares (2013, p. 4) sug...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Introduction
• Part I: Navigating Seas of Uncertainty: The Impact of the GFC and Beyond on Young People
• Part II: Young People, Teaching and Schooling in Transition
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index