Editorial: Education plan offers progress at last

"We want to offer more young people more things to do and places to go in their communities - chances to get involved, and places to be and enjoy themselves. We know that for some young people these extra opportunities are taken for granted; but for others - particularly those in deprived areas - there is a lack of interesting, accessible and affordable things to do."

No, it's not an outtake from The National Youth Agency's youth pledge, which describes what should be available to every young person in England.

It's a fragment from the Government's Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners - or education plan.

The plan sets out a "new, integrated youth offer" (see p2). The Department for Education and Skills will join the Home Office; Department of Health; Department for Culture, Media and Sport; Social Exclusion Unit and the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit to publish a green paper on youth this autumn.

The offer will include careers education and guidance. It will promote personal development and active citizenship, providing access to "exciting and enjoyable" pursuits such as sport, outdoor activities and residentials.

It will promote easy access to personal advice and support, drawing on the experience of Connexions. It will give better and earlier support to those at risk of social exclusion. It will provide opportunities for volunteering and mentoring, building on Millennium Volunteers. It will give young people a say in local services.

There will be special provision for care-leavers. There will be "new pathways" and positive activities for 14- to 19-year-olds. Leaving education at the age of 16 will be a "thing of the past".

Sounds great doesn't it? Like a commitment to youth work.

Ally this to Tony Blair's hope that youth services are put on a stable footing in the spending review (YPN, 7-13 July, 2004), and it seems the youth sector's lobbying about providing for young people as well as children is finally bearing some fruit.

Of course, the education plan is full of expansive visions and short on how the integrated youth offer will be financed.

But if the youth measures in the education plan are incorporated in Labour's election manifesto and actually acted upon, we could be on the cusp of the next stage of continuous transformation, presaged by Resourcing Excellent Youth Services, that The National Youth Agency's chief executive, Tom Wylie, talked about in last week's issue (7-13 July, p11).