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A new approach to encourage more young people to stay in learning after they turn 16 - 16+ Learning Choices - has been launched today.

The approach - an alternative to England's plan to compel all young people to stay in education until they turn 18 - follows a commitment in the skills strategy to encourage young people to stay in learning post-16 to ensure their employability and contribution to Scotland's economic future.

It also follows the publication of Building the Curriculum 3, which entitles young people, wherever they learn, to a coherent curriculum up to the age of 18 and a senior phase of learning where they can continue to develop their skills.

16+ Learning Choices will require:

• Better learning provision and opportunities for young people, appropriate to their needs and interests
• Better and more high quality information, advice and guidance to help young people choose the right learning options, well before they leave school
• Better and more accessible financial support for young people in greatest need so that their family income doesn't limit their learning options, particularly in the current economic climate

To support this, a consultation is also being launched, which proposes big improvements to the way the most vulnerable young people - learning in a community setting or with a third sector provider - are supported. The consultation also proposes refocusing the support available to young people in school, college and workbased learning towards those most in need.

The package was launched in North Lanarkshire, which is one of the early implementers of 16+ Learning Choices and has been working with local partners to better support young people leaving school in December.

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Fiona Hyslop said:

"It is crucial we equip our young people with the right skills to reach their potential and so they can play their part in Scotland's future economic success, including helping it recover from the current downturn.

"Our new model for post-16 learning will support that by ensuring all young people of this age have a suitable offer of learning but with a particular focus on improving the skills and life opportunities of those who leave school at the earliest opportunity, often with no - or minimal - qualifications.

"To support these changes, we intend to look again at the financial support and guidance available for these young people which is currently too rigidly tied to school based learning. We must improve the support available for young people who learn best in a community setting or with a third sector provider.

"We have already made a significant step towards better recognition of the third sector's role in this with the recent launch of the Inspiring Scotland fund. However, during these tough economic times we must also ensure our resources are targeted effectively and fairly at those young people who are in need of the greatest help, including those who are in or leaving care, as well as those young people whose families have the lowest incomes."

Lord Smith of Kelvin, Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland and chair of the Smith group - an influential group of employers and educationalists who have taken an active interest in the agenda for 'More Choices, More Chances' for young people, said:

"I welcome the Government's plans for 16+ Learning Choices. I am a keen supporter of its efforts to give young people more choices and chances, a strategy more important than ever as we experience difficult economic times. The planning of continued learning post-16 through well-defined pathways will not only be central in improving life chances for many individual young people; it is also a highly sensible step in ensuring our economy has the skills and learning it needs to stand ready for recovery."

The package announced today goes hand in hand with a wider set of measures designed to transform the prospects of our most vulnerable young people launched last week by Inspiring Scotland to boost opportunities delivered by the third sector for 14 to 19 year- olds and their families.

North Lanarkshire is one of 21 'early implementer' local partnerships who have been working to implement the new framework for young people leaving school this Christmas. The others are: Aberdeenshire, East Renfrewshire, Angus, Falkirk, Renfrewshire, Clackmannanshire, Fife, South Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, Dundee, Highland, Stirling, East Ayrshire, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, West Lothian. We expect 16+ Learning Choices to be implemented nationally by December 2010.

Curriculum for Excellence is the Scottish Government's framework for learning for all young people aged three to 18, across the whole spectrum of learning providers. It aims to help young people become successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors, responsible citizens.

Young people have access to a range of different streams of financial support depending on the learning they are undertaking. The consultation seeks views on how these schemes could best be delivered in the future, to ensure maximum help for those most in need.

The schemes covered by the consultation include:

• The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). This is administered by local authorities and provides support to 16-19 year-olds from low income households who are attending non-advanced full-time education at school, college or who are home educated. It is a means-tested weekly allowance of £10, £20 or £30. In addition, recipients may be eligible for two bonus payments of £150 each during the academic year, to reward achievement and reflect progress
• Training allowance for those on the Get Ready for Work Programme - a national programme for young people aged 16 to 19, who without additional support would be unable to access other training, learning or employment opportunities. In England this has now been replaced with an EMA for vocational training to enable parity between work-based training and school and college learning
• The Young Person's Bridging Allowance. This is intended to support 16 and 17 year-olds who are in transition between training places and waiting for a suitable place. It isn't available to young people for whom there is a child benefit entitlement and is only available to those leaving work, young offenders and young people with disabilities for whom child and family benefits are not available

In December 2006, the Scottish Government commissioned research on the effectiveness of EMAs to inform the proposals in today's consultation. This research, published on July 30, 2007, found that although there were a number of positive effects, including the improvement in the attendance and punctuality of some young people, increased retention in colleges and increased personal responsibility of young people, the majority of recipients would have stayed on at school even if they had not received an EMA.

Related Information

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/11/20140003/0