This article examines the position of young women in the UK and France who are defined as not in education, employment or training (NEET) and economically inactive (EI). While the challenges facing the young unemployed are well documented, far less is known about economic inactivity and its propensity to impact to a much greater extent on the…

This paper examines the role of the UK's post-16 education and training system in supporting the young unemployed. It maps the trajectory of a series of time-limited policy initiatives, which have attempted to install a training system for young people alongside containing fluctuating levels of youth unemployment. The impact of the expansion of…

This paper explores the changes and continuities to apprenticeship in England since the 1960s. It argues that apprenticeship is primarily a model of learning that still has relevance for skill formation, personal development and employer need. It also argues that, since the late 1970s and the introduction of state-sponsored youth training,…

This paper is based on research conducted as part of the Equal Opportunities Commission's General Formal Investigation into gender segregation in the United Kingdom labour market. The project comprised a survey of and focus groups with 14/15 year-olds in eight English schools in spring 2004 and a survey of 15/16 year-olds in four Welsh schools in…