THE NATIONAL YOUTH AGENCY: Comment - Hoist with its own educational petard

According to a leaked Department for Education and Skills document obtained by The Observer newspaper, 'Ministers have admitted ... that their (secondary) education policy has had little effect.' Given the large sums of money pumped into mainstream education over the years, and the fact that most policy-makers and budget setters would rather swallow poison than challenge educational spending, the Government seems at present to be hoist with its own 'education, education, education' petard.

But the remedy lies within reach and indeed was alluded to in Ivan Lewis's address at the Resourcing Excellent Youth Services conference in London in December. 'We want to bring youth services from the margins of policy solutions to the problems in our communities to the mainstream.' He also referred to the 2010 target of 90 per cent of 16 to 20-year-olds participating in full-time education or training. But as long as the term 'educational' remains associated almost exclusively with schools it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to engage those young people for whom school and formal education have nothing but negative connotations.