NATIONAL YOUTH AFFAIRS RESEARCH SCHEME (NYARS) SCOPING STUDY OF YOUTH POLICY PRIORITIES AND DIRECTIONS
Summary of findings
National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) NYARS was established in 1985 as a co-operative funding programme between Australian, state and territory governments. It facilitates nationally based research into factors affecting young people. NYARS research findings assist with policy development and implementation by Australian, state and territory ministers and departments responsible for youth affairs. Background to Scoping Study Eureka Strategic Research was commissioned by NYARS to undertake a Scoping Study of youth policy in Australia. The purpose of this Scoping Study was to: provide a stocktake and review of current youth policy priorities and directions; and determine issues that governments identify as having the capacity to influence young people‟s opportunities, decision-making and outcomes over the next 20 years. The first stage of the Scoping Study involved a stocktake and review of the relevant youth policy documentation for Australian, state and territory governments. Subsequent stages of the Scoping Study involved consultation in all states and territories with a range of groups including: policy-makers concerned with youth affairs; advocates for young people; academics and researchers in the field of youth affairs; representatives of non-government organisations concerned with youth affairs; and young people themselves. This Scoping Study will be used by Australian, state and territory governments to help inform future policy and research priorities in the youth sector. However, the Scoping Study is not a consolidation of the views or priorities of Australian governments, either individually, or collectively. It was designed as a preliminary investigation: in order to provoke thought and debate on youth priorities, as well as to assist in the development of advice to governments. As such, the Study reflects the views expressed during consultations and is not necessarily exhaustive. General priorities The Scoping Study findings identified a range of general priorities as youth policy issues that cut across government departments and portfolios over a broad range of areas. Youth participation Youth participation was identified as a top priority, and one that should continue to be so over the coming decades. While gains have been made,
there was a clear perception that still more needed to be done to facilitate the participation of young people. The Scoping Study identified a need to create more opportunities for young people‟s community and social participation, including through youth development activities and volunteering. Those consulted were also committed to increasing participation of young people in decision-making, and saw the need to: provide a wider range of mechanisms for participating in decisionmaking; increase the range of organisations which encourage such participation; and involve a broader range of young people at more meaningful levels of participation in a broader range of areas, not just on issues that pertain only to young people. This would require efforts to encourage a culture-shift for many organisations working with young people from “doing for” young people to a culture of “doing with” young people, where developing youth policy direction and programme delivery involves young people to the maximum extent possible. It would also require continual collection and dissemination of information about bestpractice and opportunities for appropriate skill development based on that information. Collaboration Collaboration was seen as a priority because many issues faced by young people can only be comprehensively addressed when all the relevant stakeholders work together to develop a solution. With regard to linkages between Australian, state and territory governments, many of those consulted felt there was a need for: more informal mechanisms for communication; communication mechanisms developed specifically for mid-level policy officers; and mechanisms which regularly included those outside the relevant offices, such as other public servants and those working in the youth sector and with individual input from young people themselves. Prevention and early intervention A greater investment in prevention and early intervention was considered to be a priority because it was likely to be a cost-effective investment for the community. The Scoping Study identified the importance of developing the connections of young people, including with families and carers, educational institutions; as well as with individuals and organisations in the wider community. Developing the youth sector Those consulted by the Scoping Study also stressed the importance of developing the youth sector, both the profession and its organisations, in order to support young people more effectively. For the profession, this may include the further development of professional youth practice, including continued training and more networking opportunities. For organisations, this may include building capacity, developing service standards, and becoming more responsive to the needs of young people. Some also expressed the view that governments should fund appropriately the peak agencies in youth affairs and support the presence of Commissioners for Children and Young People, both nationally and in each state and territory.
Communication-related priorities Many of those consulted emphasised a range of communication-related priorities that impact on young people. They saw a need to pay greater attention and commit more resources to influencing the portrayal and perception of young people in the media and the general community, so that views are better balanced and more positive. This may include raising the profile of youth-specific events, initiatives and awards, the greater promotion of the stories of young people from all walks of life, and various „attitudechange‟ strategies such as community education. There appeared to be a need for more information on best practice about effective ways of improving community perceptions of young people. A further communication-related priority was the need to put young people and youth issues on the political agenda in order to create the momentum required to deliver better outcomes. Many of those consulted felt that a national youth policy is required as a practical demonstration and declaration of the priority and directions the country intends giving to the development of its young people. The final communication-related priority identified in this Scoping Study was the need to better communicate what is available to young people. There is a need to increase the amount and effectiveness of communication about the range of programmes and services available, across the whole population of young people. Programme evaluation Programme evaluation was universally raised as a priority that requires further attention. In order to put evidence-based resource allocation on a sound footing, there is clearly a need for a broader approach to programme evaluation. Such an approach would take account of a wide range of outcomes-focused data, coupled with a greater willingness both to provide training and to resource evaluation across the sector, as well as to share the results of evaluations. Social exclusion Many of those consulted by the Scoping Study felt it was critically important to respect the diversity of young people and to ensure that all young people can access and benefit from what the community has to offer. They strongly believed that “one-size-fits-all” approaches to young people are destined to fail. To that end, particular attention needed to be paid to particular categories of young people who may be experiencing social exclusion. There was a concern that young people lacked a sufficiently detailed understanding of the nature and extent of social exclusion, and that there was not currently a developed policy response from the sector in general, or Australian governments in particular. Polarisation of outcomes A number of general societal trends were identified as important in terms of the impact that they are likely to have on young people in the coming decades. There was an expectation that there will be a polarisation of outcomes, meaning that inequality of opportunities, income and wealth will increase both between various groups of young people and between young people and older people. The increasing polarisation of outcomes for young
people was an issue on which there was a wide range of opinions and little widely-known information. Consequently, it seemed clear that this was a priority on which further research and policy action would be useful. The ageing population Australia‟s ageing population was also seen as a significant issue for young people, which is likely to become more significant in the upcoming decades. Many of those consulted by the Scoping Study felt strongly that more needed to be done to prepare society for the impact that this demographic shift would have on young people and youth policy. There was a clearly identified need for further research on the effects that the ageing population would have on current and subsequent generations of young people, both on their economic and wider social prospects. This research would need to profile the different impact it will have across different sections of society, and pay particular attention to how it will affect groups of young people experiencing social exclusion, particularly Indigenous young people. The research would also need to canvass the range of possible policy responses and their effects. Further research would also be useful on declining fertility, and on whether greater efforts should be made to reverse this decline. . Priorities within government portfolio areas In addition to general issues that cut across government departments and portfolios, consultation participants also identified a range of more specific issues under the following headings, which are often closely associated with portfolio structures within governments. The issues listed below were considered by consultation participants to be the major issues, and are therefore not to be considered necessarily as exhaustive. Education and training a continuing need for more flexible education and training opportunities; a need for schools to be involved in the provision of more youth services; a need to continue with efforts to provide widespread career and transition support; ensuring the curricula covers a diverse range of issues to assist young people‟s personal development and to assist in the transition to independence; the rising costs of education; and the need for workforce planning to avoid skills shortages. Employment and income the availability of apprenticeships and traineeships; and the growth of casual employment, which was seen as adversely affecting young people‟s skill development and transition into economic and social independence. Environment, a particularly strong concern for young people, including environmental sustainability and protection. Health and safety obesity, mental health,
risk-taking behaviours; and the need for more youth-specific services.
Housing and homelessness a lack of public housing, both for emergency and long-term accommodation; the need for more preventative measures to tackle homelessness as well as more appropriate support for young people who are already homeless; and the „housing crisis‟ in the private sector, restricting the ability of young people to rent or buy. Justice, where the main issues identified was a desire for a less coercive and more supportive youth justice system, with a focus on rehabilitation and looking after the interests of the young person rather than punishment and community protection. Recreation, arts and leisure the need for opportunities for young people to develop and express their creativity and to celebrate what they have to offer society; and a lack of places for young people to go simply for company and support. Transport, where the main issues identified were accessibility and affordability. Conclusion As indicated in the “Background” section to this summary, the Scoping Study did not aim to comprehensively identify all youth issues of potential importance. As an independent research project commissioned by the NYARS scheme, it does not claim to represent the views or priorities of Australian, state and territory governments However, as this summary demonstrates, the Scoping Study did identify a broad range of issues which will make a valuable contribution to inform the directions of future research for the NYARS scheme and more generally, as a resource for youth policy development.