Public Accounts Committee Inquiry into Developing the Skills for Northern Ireland’s Future

Youth Assembly Members’ Views

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Background

The Youth Assembly was established in June 2021. The current 90 Youth Assembly Members took their seats in October 2023. At the time of recruitment, they were in school years 9-12 which is approximately age 12-16. They are a diverse group. Membership includes young people from every constituency and recruitment was designed to ensure proportionate representation of Section 75 categories including gender, religious background, race, care experience, sexuality, disability, and young people with caring responsibilities.

The Youth Assembly was established to perform three functions:

To engage with the work of the Northern Ireland Assembly, specifically with Assembly Committees on legislation and inquiries relevant to young people;
To undertake project work generated by the three Youth Assembly committees; and
To enable consultation with government Departments and to participate in youth voice projects.

Developing the Skills for Northern Ireland’s Future

Youth Assembly Members received a briefing from Public Accounts Committee staff and deputy Chair Cheryl Brownlee MLA on 22 January 2025. They had an opportunity to ask questions and discuss the key points. Youth Assembly Members will attend the Public Accounts Committee meeting on 30 January 2025 to present their views.

Youth Assembly Members gave their views via a Mentimeter survey. The survey results can be accessed in Appendix A.

The Youth Assembly Members wish to record their gratitude to the Committee staff and to Cheryl Brownlee MLA for meeting with them which has been invaluable to them in understanding the inquiry and forming their views.

Youth Assembly Views

Youth Assembly Members welcomed this inquiry and the opportunity to take part. Eleven Members attended the online meeting on 22 January. Most of the Members who attended the meeting are students in Grammar schools. This is coincidental, however this should be taken into account when interpreting the survey results.

Access to qualifications

Most of the Members stated that they had access to a wide range of qualifications and were made aware of a variety of options. Members described that, in their schools, progression from GCSEs to A levels is a ‘default’ expectation. “Going to Tech is seen as a last resort”. Most of the Members said that they were not encouraged to explore alternatives to school-based provision at post-16.

They reported that they were required to achieve a certain number of points in their GCSEs in order to be allowed to return in Sixth Form. If they do not do well in AS (lower sixth), they will not be allowed back to complete the A level in upper sixth.

One Member, who attends an all-ability school, said that her school provides a range of qualifications at post-16 including BTECs, apprenticeships and A levels.

Members would like to have more GCSE options including Politics, PE, economics, and a wider variety of languages. Some said that they do not feel they have enough choice as they have to study certain subjects (e.g. English, maths, science, languages) and, depending how the choices boxes are laid out, they can be limited in the combinations they can choose.

Members reported that if you do not wish to choose academic subjects, there are few or no vocational qualifications to choose from. They felt that challenges with fitting the subjects into the timetable means that they can’t always access the subjects they wish to study. One Member said that the timetabling and subject option process seemed to prioritise the top students.

Guidance

Members felt that they received adequate careers guidance when choosing qualifications and most said that the advice provided was useful though there was a great emphasis on the A levels to university pathway within their schools.

They had opportunities to meet with a range of adults including teachers, careers teachers, external careers advisors and external organisations.

Members said they would like more one-to-one, personalised advice which would include consideration of grades but also individual strengths and interests. They would like clearer information on what to expect from the qualifications (i.e. how much coursework will there be? when are the exams?) and where this could lead.

One Member said that, as a young carer, she would like advice on how to manage her responsibilities at home and plan for her own career.

One Member reported that the careers advisor they met couldn’t access their previous grades and therefore they felt that the advice they were able to provide was limited.

They would like opportunities to find out more about careers through guided research and work experience. They would value advice from former students and more information on study opportunities abroad.

Academic v. vocational qualifications

The vast majority of Members stated that academic and vocational qualifications are not equally promoted or valued.

Members felt that, in their schools, they were expected to continue on to Sixth form to study A levels. Many said that only academic subjects were available at their school. They further said that apprenticeships were “undervalued” and “only seen as an option if you’re struggling with academics”. They would like less focus on university as the only option.

Some Members reported that teachers in their schools encourage pupils to take “their subject” for GCSE or A level even if it may not a good fit and make pupils feel guilty if they don’t choose it. They stated that this was because the teacher did not want to have their timetable filled with ‘Learning for Life and work’ lessons.

One Member reported that teachers in some subject areas were more open to vocational routes e.g. teachers of Home Economics, but that this depended on the subject.

Skills needs in Northern Ireland

Most Members are not aware of the skills needs in Northern Ireland. A brief discussion was held following the survey about the importance of the following areas to the Northern Ireland’s future economy: STEM, ICT, creative and digital media, agri-food sector, business and financial services, manufacturing and engineering, renewable energies, and health and life sciences.

Members were equally split on whether the current curriculum aligns to these areas.

Collaborative practices and duplication

Members were split on the question of collaborative practices between schools and Further education (FE) colleges. They suggested that it is more common in non-selective post primary schools than in grammar schools.

They are aware of some examples of duplication citing schools which offer vocational courses such as beauty, childcare, technology which are also offered at the local FE college.

Further comments

Views on work experience came about through a discussion following the survey. Members reported that work experience which is organised through their school is becoming less common as schools cannot afford the insurance required for pupils. They agreed that work experience is an important part of exploring future careers. They said that, where a school does not offer a work experience programme, they must organise this themselves without help from their school.

Members felt that careers education must begin earlier in the school journey and that there should be better links between schools, local businesses and FE colleges.

Appendix A Mentimeter responses

The following questions were put to members of the Youth Assembly during an interactive discussion using the Mentimeter engagement tool. The questions asked, and responses provided, are shown below:

Do you feel you have access to a variety of qualifications (academic, vocational, apprenticeships etc)?

8 people said 'yes' and 2 people said 'no'.

Are you made aware if a wide variety of qualifications?

6 people said 'yes' and 4 people said 'no'.

What guidance have you received when choosing qualifications?

19 responses were received and they were:

1 on 1 meeting with careers advisor
A phone call with a careers advisor
We had careers advisors and unifrog accounts
Individual careers interview wit a specialist Careers tacher in Year 10 before GCSE choices
University course requirements
What is needed for university
I had a careers meeting; Teachers advise what subjects to pick
A level requirements
Careers advisor
We were really only told about choosing universities for GCSEs rather than actual advisors
Mostly to do with personal preference / personality
University representatives, employers etc come in to speak to us
Subject week (teachers show a GCSE class plays out for their subject!)
Met with LLW teacher to discuss what A levels / GCSEs you want to do
Peoplehawk accounts
In the subject itself, we've been told what careers path it can lead to
Year 14s talking about subjects
Outside organisation chat

Who provided this advice?

10 responses were received and they were:

Teacher
Students
Music teacher
Careers teachers at school
LLW teacher
Head of Careers
Career advisors and teachers and past pupils
Careers Service NI
Careers department
Teachers for GCSEs and careers advisor and teachers for the future

How useful was the guidance you received?

2 people said 'very useful'
5 people said Quite useful
3 people said 'not useful'
No one said 'Not at all useful'

What else might have been useful?

14 responses were received and they were:

A careers teacher
More individual advice rather than just general advice
More transparency surrounding coursework / exams in subjects
A second meeting a few weeks later with Careers teacher or service
Careers workshop and possibly independent people
We had a career advisor, she was supposed to know our grades but wasn't able to access them. That would have helped. Honestly, online resources were better
Bringing more talks about careers before GCSEs
Less focus on university; Speaking to students who are studying the subject we're thinking of at university
Contact with former students who are now in a similar career about their experiences
Allowing us to do more research into jobs
More information on studying abroad
More personal meetings with teachers and careers advisors
Not just subjects, but interests such as hobbies

Do you have a career path in mind?

10 people said 'yes' and 0 people said 'No'.

If yes, has this influenced your qualification choices?

5 people said 'yes'.

No one said 'no'.

5 people said 'to some degree'.

Have you been supported in working towards this?

7 people said 'yes'.

3 people said 'no'.

Are there any qualifications you would like to access that are not currently offered to you? What are the reasons you have been unable to access them?

16 responses were received and they were:

GCSE politics
I would love to do politics and government, but it's not offered
GCSE politics
I would like to do Politics; GCSE Politics
GCSE Politics and GCSE PE
Classical civilisations
In my school there is nearly too much choice
Different languages but not offered and won't let me do it, even privately
A wider range of languages!
GCSE Politics, Classics, Economics
No single/double award sciences offered
Economics
Drame
If our subject choices don't fit into the timetable, you are denied them
Our timetabling prioritised top students

In your experience, are academic and vocationa qualifications equally promoted are devalued?

1 person said 'yes'.

9 people said 'no'.

Why do you say that?

16 responses were received and they were:

STEM
Going to a grammar school, doing A Levels is expected
Schools DO NOT promote going down more vocational routes e.g. trades
There is a strong emphasis on continuing through to sixth form, which is mostly academic in nature
As my school only offers academic options rather than vocational
Stigma
Apprenticeships are kind of undervalued - seen as an option if you're struggling at academics
Can only do academic subjects
If you can't do the academic side, it's hard to do anything else
In my school, BTECs, CTECs, apprenticeship and going to tech are all promoted equally
My school heavily promotes A-level routes. Even at GCSE, it's all anyone can talk about!
A lot of teachers would give a lot extra effort to those hoping to do A levels
Suppression of English based subjects
My school used to offer SERC alongside A Level but that stopped due to being under subscribed
Barely any advice on vocational options it's almost expected to do A-Levels and to aim to go to university
Although some subjects eg HE strongly emphasise going to a FE college rather than A Levels - some subjects are more open to it than others

Are you aware of the 'skills needs' in NI?

3 people said 'yes' and 7 people said 'no'.

Do you feel the current curriculum aligns to these skills needs?

5 people said 'yes', 5 people said 'no' and no one said 'I don't know'.

Do you have any experience of collaborative practices between schools and FE colleges?

5 people said 'yes' and 5 people said 'no'.

Are you aware of instances of 'duplication', where schools and colleges offer the same vocational qualifications?

9 responses were received and they were:

No?
Yes, like some will offer level 2 while others offer level 3
Yes
No
No
I'm not aware
No
I know a lt of secondary schools offer like beauty in school, and some FEs so also!
Pretty sure the tech department in my school offers a BTEC that NRC also offers

Post 16 - are you encouraged to explore alternatives to school-based provision?

3 people said 'yes' and 8 people said 'no'.