EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING

Explore our programmes

Blackpool: Connected Futures

Delivery Year 1

About

Connected Futures

Connected Futures is a place-based grants program launched by the Youth Futures Foundation 2022 to improve youth employment in marginalised communities.

The program targets young people who may be at risk of NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) or facing other challenges that hinder their access to opportunities.

We focus on finding locally tailored solutions to the barriers young people face and involves collaboration between local authorities, delivery organisations, and young people themselves to co-design solutions. The goal is to create lasting changes in how the education and employment support systems work for marginalised young people.

Why
Blackpool?

In Blackpool, the percentage of 16-17 year olds not in education, employment, or training (NEET) or whose activity is unknown is 7%, significantly higher than the England average of 3.% and the North West average of 4.1%.

The rate of employment (62.0%) has decreased over the last 5-year period and is lower than both the regional (73.2%) and national rate (75.7%). Blackpool has the highest rate of 16–20-year-olds with no qualifications across the county

HOW THE PROGRAMME WORKS

The Blackpool Connected Futures programme has 4 key work streams which are interlinked to ensure that young people in Blackpool are given the right support to enable them to access further education, gainful employment or training opportunities at post 16.

Connected Curriculum

An enhanced careers-focused programme which enables young people to develop essential employability skills and learn more about the world of work. Students in some schools will be given the option to study a level 1 or 2 accredited qualification at a local college in place of a traditional GCSE option.

Data and Systems

Reimagining the way that data is collated, processed, analysed and utilised across different services. Through increasing capability, capacity, collaboration and improving data and information sharing systems across schools, colleges, and the Local Authority, there will be both a clearer picture of the need and what works and for whom across Blackpool.

Tiers of Support

A common framework to ensure that services, young people and their families have a shared understanding and language around the support need within the town. It will also enable us to understand existing service provision pathways and identify gaps within the Town’s offer.

Youth Leadership

Through the development and delivery of the Youth Leadership Blueprint, the Youth Advisor team will ensure that power dynamics and practices around decision making are shifted by centering young people’s experiences and voices at the heart of Blackpool’s strategy, the partnership and within and across each of the Delivery workstreams

Impact

Engagement

24/25 impact coming October 2025

Employability

24/25 impact coming October 2025

Training

24/25 impact coming October 2025

Destinations

24/25 impact coming October 2025

Blackpool: Pathways for All

Delivery Year 5

About

Pathways for All

The Pathways for All programme provides advice and support for vulnerable young people when moving between schools and colleges and into further education or training, to ensure that they are offered the best possible level of support at this critical transition point.

The programme supports young people identified as at risk of NEET to achieve sustained post-16 destinations through two streams:

● Developing agency: engagement coaches
working directly with young people; and

● Improving structures: a town-wide approach to
defining ownership of the NEET issue and
effectively coordinating multi-agency support
(through steering groups, data sharing, etc).

Why
Blackpool?

Half of 16-17 year-olds previously excluded from
Blackpool schools are NEET. One in 20 of all 16-17
year-olds in Blackpool are NEET, almost double the rate for England as a whole.

HOW THE PROGRAMME WORKS

The programme focuses on three different workstreams.

Engagement

Programme partners share their data, allowing us to identify which young people are likely to be “at-risk” of becoming NEET and during which periods of time this risk increases.

The students who are considered most “at-risk” of becoming NEET are allocated an Engagement Coach to work with them to support their engagement in Education, Employment and/or Training.

Data in Blackpool showed that the most significant period of risk for a young person was in the first six months of post-16 education. With this in mind, Engagement Coaches begin working with year 11 students, establishing relationships before the risk period begins. The continues through year 12, and beyond if necessary.

Coaching

Engagement Coaches complete approximately five contact sessions with each young person per term, made up of a combination of:

1-to-1 sessions
Group sessions
Coaching sessions
Visits to colleges or other post-16 providers

The sessions cover:

Getting to know the young person
Visioning and planning
Individual coaching sessions
They may include group coaching on specific skills, as well as campus visits and college/sixth form information sessions depending on the young person’s interests.

The Engagement Coaches will also be available on results day to support the young people as their results are released.

The intensity of direct support from Engagement Coaches will vary depending on the needs of the young person, any additional pastoral support they may have access to and the assessed risk of their becoming NEET.