Surviving not thriving: Understanding young people’s experiences of resistance and compliance to secondary school in England

This session sheds light on how young people identified as ‘at risk’ of becoming Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) experience secondary school in England. This session aims to amplify the voices of those young people struggling to cope with school, and prioritise their experiences in a desire to offer insight and critique to the current quasi-market led English education system.

Education is not a commodity made equally available to all; it never has been. Yet it remains imperative to consider how the current neoliberal schooling system that operates in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and during uncertain and precarious local, regional and global shifts shape young people’s experiences within and outside of secondary school.

Data is drawn from a national, longitudinal research project that aims to Map Interventions for young people ‘at risk’ of becoming NEET in England (The MINE Project). Funded by The Leverhulme Trust this is the first project of its kind to develop a national, comprehensive and critical picture of early intervention strategies aimed at reducing NEET populations.

Findings reveal that mainstream school is failing some of our most vulnerable young people, with many exiting provisions due to feelings that their needs are not being met.

Session Speaker

Professor Lisa Russell 
She/Her/Hers | Professor of Education and Employment | Manchester Metropolitan University
[email protected]

If you have any queries please contact David Allan on [email protected]