2023 PhD Project
About The Project
This project is based on the ongoing work of the Mansfield and Ashfield Education and Skills Group. The group, which comprises influential policymakers which includes two local MPs, district and county councillors, employers and school leaders, has been carrying out small research projects with the educational and employer community in Mansfield to look at opportunities to raise educational standards and develop skills across the area.
Ambitions of the group include understanding the progression routes for young people, identifying challenges and then influencing policy and practice in order to reduce or eliminate these. Work to date has included a review of alternative provisions in the area (for children excluded, or at risk of exclusion, from schools), and an investigation of pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of barriers to progression.
Changes to local policy have the potential to change practice in schools and transform outcomes, and therefore lives, of young people in the region, as well as potentially influencing policy nationally.
This project proposes a qualitative narrative investigation into the experiences of young people in the Mansfield and Ashfield area prior to, during and following transitions from education to employment. This is applied specifically in an area where the incidence of adults who are not economically active is high, which can have significantly negative life consequences including, but not limited to, economic disadvantage (Ralston et al. 2021). It is known that being out of education or employment is “sticky” and difficult to change (Gadsby 2019), so this academic study also seeks to find solutions and support better transitions in future, reducing the adverse effect of the silent system background (Downes 2014).
Pilot studies have identified intergenerational family factors as a strong precursor to continued employment or economic inactivity. A focus on this less researched role of the family aims to understand how their influences can contribute to productive education-to-work transitions and inform practice, potentially transforming life chances for young people in the area.
This project has been co-created and is supported by researchers from Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham and partners at the Mansfield and Ashfield Education and Skills Group.
Project Aims
This project aims to address the following research questions:
- What, if anything, do families do to support young people prior to, during and following the education to employment transition?
- What factors enable and constrain the support families provide to young people?
- In what ways, if any, does the intergenerational transmission of identity affect young people’s transitions between education and work?
- To what extent does a young person’s individual sense of agency affect their transitions between education and work?
The Project Team
- PhD Candidate: Stuart Greensmith White
- Lead Supervisor: Dr Chris Rolph, NTU
- Co-Supervisor: Dr Charlie Davis, UoN
- Community Supervisor: Kate Watson, Aspire Multi Academy Trust