Basic Skills and Social Exclusion - Centre for Longitudinal Studies

Social exclusion at 16BackgroundI' I [w II\ I' lIricil i1\\(Ii lvi IHA raining and getting a job, or staying on for further education. Out' previolivwork shows that the great majority of men and women wit ii poor adult basic skilLhad opted to leave full-time education at the minimum age of 16. The BCS'TI)liort members were 16 in 1986 when the youth labour market in many parts (1In' country had all but collapsed. The route into work for man y early schoolli avers was therefore the government funded Youth Training Scheme (YTS)These schemes often failed todilivera fitil-lirtie job at tin ('1111 and l;iid orilvhi;iHhI ('lit)(' t ('ellage wag id'l lit , iiii agaitci this hackdi l l liii Ii' ii LIlly tin iily social exclusion risk and how the y coatipare wit!! their peers overall. \Vxamine school-life, early labour market experiences, plans for the futmv.lationships with their parents and !rieink ;tnh thiiir 'i;] hifv. Tit li i(Illlpl't( (1111 m - 1 , rrvidd ill till iitlillllh\.School life('(.' Of I/ic i(oc//(i\t age 16,il1couIjutilll if) i_)hlIhI;IIIIllI1lnII (HI I. 1iL\\ll'nisessed by their teacher to he iii the bottom 2U% lor ovenill academic ability ai Hhave below average reading or writing skills. They were also less likely to Ilit ered for any public exanuriations. In all of these aspects of school life, high riskor readers fared less well than low risk poor readers. Thus early risk was allii b litional handicap to poor reading. Disruptive behaviour in the classroomI liowed this pattern for boys. Among girls it was onl y those with the dotibiiirden of pot lni11Ig LIII iII ,ihI 5(lili (\(1Ili0lt1 risk \VlIl \Vl( III! lhit'I1lli\IIItiLIh(IgilI.