Escolas primárias devem ser instruídas a identificar crianças em risco de desemprego futuro

Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into Britain’s crisis in youth worklessness, said he would call for sweeping changes in education policy alongside a shake-up of the benefits system to address the problem.

Speaking to the Guardian, he said ministers needed to “make somebody responsible” for identifying and supporting the children who risked becoming Neet (not in employment, education or training) after their GCSE year up to the age of 24.

“The warning signs are there from a very early, early age. You know, frankly from preschool,” he said.

“So, definitely primary schools should be identifying children who are at risk of being Neet. And secondary schools and other services should be intercepting, intervening, supporting and helping those young people to get on a different path.”

In an interview during a visit to Dublin this week, the former Labour health secretary said the recommendation would form part of his final report into Britain’s youth worklessness crisis, which is expected this autumn.

Britain’s young adults are bearing the brunt of a rise in unemployment, with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who are Neet surpassing a million earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade.

Representing as many as one in eight young people, the rate has swelled at a significantly faster rate than in other countries amid a sharp rise in mental ill-health and a tough jobs market.

Milburn’s review comes as Andy Burnham puts tackling the crisis in youth employment at the top of his agenda for government, including changes in his first weeks as prime minister to retool technical education and apprenticeships.

Labour is also gearing up for a fresh tilt at welfare reform amid concerns over a spiralling benefits bill and the hit to the economy and people’s lives from a prolonged period out of work.

Milburn said welfare reform would form a critical plank of his final report, but cautioned that any steps to restrict benefit payments for young people would need to be accompanied by higher levels of education, health and job support.

He said that by the time a young person reached the benefit system it represented an “upstream failure” in education, skills and health policy because a functioning system could have helped them to find a job.

“I think we’ve got to turbocharge that education; that support. We’ve got to turbocharge opportunities for young people; we’ve got to make it easier for young people to get a job,” he said.

“And alongside opportunities, of course, there has got to be some obligations. Of course.”

Burnham has said he is determined to reform the welfare system as part of his efforts to fix Britain’s dismal track record on youth employment, but would also provide more support for young people.

Speaking on a fact-finding mission to the Republic of Ireland, which has recorded the fastest fall in Neet rates in the EU over the past decade, Milburn said that far too often youth disengagement began long before the age of 16.

Sugerindo que pode começar antes mesmo de a criança chegar aos portões da escola, ele destacou um estudo realizado em Bradford que descobriu que crianças que não estavam preparadas para a escola aos 4 e 5 anos de idade tinham quase três vezes mais probabilidades de se tornarem Neet quando atingissem a idade de 16 a 17 anos.

"Sabemos quais são os fatores correlacionados [para uma criança em risco de se tornar Neet] – seja pobreza, saúde mental ou estar sob cuidados. O que não fazemos é pegar esse conhecimento e transformá-lo em ação."

De acordo com a proposta a ser descrita no seu relatório final, espera-se que as escolas em Inglaterra sinalizem o risco de uma criança se tornar Neet a partir do final da escola primária, inclusive recorrendo a registos de frequência.

O Departamento de Educação também seria solicitado a actualizar a sua orientação sobre prémios estudantis para enfatizar que o dinheiro extra que as escolas em Inglaterra recebem para apoiar as crianças mais desfavorecidas poderia ser usado para esquemas de tutoria e mentoria para aqueles em risco de se tornarem Neet.

Os números oficiais mostram que as taxas de absentismo escolar aumentaram desde a pandemia de Covid, com o número de alunos ausentes persistentemente – faltando pelo menos um décimo do tempo escolar – quase duplicando para 1,3 milhões de alunos em 2024 e 2025. As taxas de absentismo grave – faltando metade do tempo de aula – e o absentismo persistente também aumentaram dramaticamente.

O relatório intercalar de Milburn, publicado em Maio, alertou que o absentismo persistente estava associado a um risco 3,9 vezes maior de um jovem ser Neet quando atinge a idade de 16 a 18 anos, e a um risco 6,3 vezes maior de um jovem ficar impedido de ganhar ou aprender por um período prolongado.

Embora algumas escolas tenham estratégias que utilizam as chamadas ferramentas “Roni” (indicador de risco de Neet), a prática não é generalizada nem obrigatória.

“Temos que avançar porque o que estamos fazendo é pagar – este país e os jovens – estão pagando o preço do fracasso”, disse Milburn.