Conference Program

This paper examines how multiple dimensions of young people’s social lives shape their post‑16 transitions in two contrasting English settings. It considers the influence of contemporary policies and practices within and beyond schools and colleges, and the material and structural conditions of place, related to recent shifts in labour market policy - factors that interact differently across localities. As Brown and Donnelly (2023:1) argue, advancing a social justice agenda in education requires close attention to the spatial dynamics that produce and reproduce educational inequalities.

The paper draws on findings from Young Lives, Young Futures, a mixed‑methods longitudinal ESRC-funded study examining how England’s vocational, education and training (VET) system can more effectively support the post‑16 transitions of young people who do not enter university at 18. The study includes a three‑wave nationally representative survey of over 10,000 young people, alongside qualitative interviews with 123 young people (many interviewed three times) and 75 policymakers and practitioners across four local authorities with contrasting labour markets and education and training provision.

This paper follows up on three concerns emerging from our wider project. First, we examine the evolving policy landscape that is reshaping young people’s transitions into, through, and between work, education and training (Wyn, et al. 2019). A proliferation of new directives and initiatives—such as the Youth Guarantee and the Jobs Guarantee—is reconfiguring provision and reframing expectations of young people’s participation. Second, we explore and contrast the experiences and perceptions of young people in two of our four study regions: Bellden, located in the deindustrialised north of England, and Tapley, a super‑diverse, cosmopolitan locale in the south. We analyse how space and place shape these transitions differently across contrasting labour markets, educational opportunities and local policy enactments—the geography of youth transition policy in practice. Finally, we bring these strands together to reflect critically on the limits and challenges of achieving more socially just outcomes for young people navigating post‑16 pathways in these uncertain times

This abstract is being developed at a time of heightened concern about young people’s declining participation in education, training and employment and their uncertain transitions (Berrington, et al. 2017; Diniz and Murphy, 2025). The 2025 White Paper highlights that nearly one million 16‑ to 24‑year‑olds are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET), a situation with serious implications for their future life chances, wellbeing and economic prospects. It recognises this as “a national challenge that demands urgent care and coordinated action” (2025: 7). Against this backdrop, our paper interrogates how the emerging policy landscape is attending—or failing to attend—to regional differences that powerfully shape young people’s access to opportunities, highlighting the persistent spatial inequalities and uneven geographies of youth opportunity that policy often overlooks.