John Westergaard Annual Lecture with Professor Sharon Gewirtz

Rethinking the ‘NEET problem’: a youth-centred perspective The School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations are delighted to invite you to this year's John Westergaard Annual Lecture with Professor Sharon Gewirtz.

Thursday 23rd April.

The Lecture will be held in The Wave, Lecture Theatre 02 starting at 4:15pm with a drinks reception beforehand. 

Timings:
3:45pm - 4:15pm : Drinks reception
4:15pm - 5:15pm : Lecture 
5:15pm - 5:45pm : Q&A

Please note:  this is a hybrid event, the lecture start time is 4:15pm. 

Abstract
The growing number of young people aged 16-24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is currently a major focus of policy concern in the UK. The proposed solutions are primarily concerned with getting young people off a NEET ‘worry register’ and into some form of education, training or work. What seems to be less often talked about within policy discourse around the ‘NEET problem’ is the nature and quality of the education, training and work that policy makers are seeking to funnel young people into. In particular, insufficient attention is paid to: the experiences and voices of the young people concerned; the role that oppressive school and work cultures can play in contributing to young people’s disengagement from education and work; and the systemic and cumulative injustices that young people who are most at risk of being NEET are caught up in.
In this lecture I will share insights from Young Lives, Young Futures, a longitudinal study of the school-to-work transitions of the approximately 50 percent of young people who don’t go to university, to shed light on these neglected areas of policy debate and to propose some alternative framings of – and solutions to – the ‘NEET problem’.

Biography
Sharon Gewirtz is a sociologist and Professor of Education in the School of Education, Communication & Society at King’s College London where she also co-directs the Centre for Public Policy Research. Her research, which has a particular focus on issues of equality and social justice, brings together structural analyses of regulatory systems and policies with micro-level explorations of how these are lived and experienced and is widely published in a range of education and social sciences journals, books and reports. Recent outputs include Creating more equitable school-to-work transitions for young people not taking the university route: An ‘equalities-ecologies’ framework in Journal of Vocational Education and Training and Navigating uncertain times: mentoring roles and dilemmas in the contemporary university in  Discourse : studies in the cultural politics of education.
Professor Gewirtz was elected as a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences in 2019 and served as a sub-panel member representing Education in the UK Research Excellence Framework 2021.