Young people's experience of education and training

1. Introduction

1.1 SQW, in partnership with Young Scot, was commissioned by the Scottish Government to co-design and deliver research into young people's experience of the education and training system in Scotland. This document reports the findings from the study, including summary conclusions and recommendations.

Approach

1.2 The main stages involved in the study have been:

• Document review – a desk review of existing data, evidence and research pertaining to young people's experience of the education and learning system in Scotland was carried out to inform the research design
• Establishment of Insights Panel – a panel of 12 young people aged between 17 and 23 was set up to co-design the research and provide input and guidance throughout
• Research design paper – covering recruitment and sampling strategies, development of tools for the workshops with young people and the online task
• Communications and branding – a plan for engaging stakeholders and partners in the study was developed, along with associated project branding and logo
• Workshops – a total of 14 workshops were delivered during March and April 2017, engaging 145 young people aged 15-24 from across Scotland
• Analysis and synthesis of findings – the key findings were reviewed and a coding framework developed and applied to the data gathered
• Draft report – the first draft report of the findings from the workshops was submitted to the Scottish Government on 8 May 2017
• Insights Lab – a one-day event was held in central Edinburgh on 25 May 2017, which was attended by 45 young people and 11 policy officials from the Scottish Government
• Final report – the report was finalised based on the feedback received on the first draft and incorporating insights from the one-day event.

Document structure

1.3 The remainder of this document is structured as follows:

• Chapter 2 reports on the headline messages from the review of existing evidence
• Chapter 3 details the methodology and approach to delivering the fieldwork
• Chapter 4 reports on young people's experiences of education and training
• Chapter 5 considers key decision points and transitions
• Chapter 6 discusses the main influences on young people's learner journeys
• Chapter 7 reports on young people's ideas for change
• Chapter 8 provides summary conclusions and recommendations.