Between the Rhetoric of Employability and the Reality of Youth (Under)Employment

Neet Policy Rhetoric in the UK and Scotland

Bibliographic Data

ID18930674
AuthorsC Mcpherson (0000-0002-2337-8132, King's College London, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume4
Issue2
Pages135-152
Publication date2021-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Applied Youth Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2204-9193 • E-ISSN: 2204-9207
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s43151-021-00045-5
PMID40477303
OpenAlexW3174420492
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited27

In the UK and Scotland, considerable resources have been devoted to tackling the persistent issue of young people who are, or are at risk of becoming, not in education, employment or training (NEET), a pathologized status that incurs significant penalties for young people and the economy. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper analyses and evaluates policy rhetoric to explore how the NEET ‘problem’, agenda and population are constituted by the UK and Scottish governments. In doing so, numerous unifying and problematic NEET policy tropes are identified, challenging the popular notion of significant policy divergence between the punitive reputation of Westminster and the image of Scottish governance as more socially democratic. Moreover, this paper differs from traditional policy analysis by also evaluating policy from the perspective of young people, drawing on empirical data from a qualitative study of the school-to-work transitions of NEET and marginally employed young people in Scotland

Economic growth · Economics · Employability · Pedagogy · Political science · Rhetoric · Sociology · Education Systems and Policy · Employment and Welfare Studies · Philosophy · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access