Supporting young mothers into education, employment and training: assessing progress towards the target

The government has set a target of increasing the participation of teenage mothers in education, employment and training (EET) to 60% by 2010 to reduce their risk of long-term social exclusion. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project conducted in the South West region of England to establish the tracking practices employed by practitioners working with young parents to ascertain whether and to what extent teenage parents are engaged in EET. The range of support that is currently needed by and provided to teenage parents when returning to or continuing their EET was also investigated. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 24 participants from a unitary authority, county and city within the region; participants were working in a variety of professional roles with responsibilities for teenage parents. The results show that in the South West there are currently no standard procedures or practices in place for effectively tracking the participation of teenage parents in EET. There was evidence of a good understanding of the needs of young parents amongst practitioners and that a variety of support was being provided to them. However, it needs to be understood, and addressed, that having contact with young parents and providing them with support does not necessarily lead to the standardised information that is needed in order to assess progress towards the target. We conclude that in order to assess in a meaningful way progress towards the target of 60% participation by 2010, a clear protocol for the collection and collation of information--and responsibility for this--needs to be developed and implemented.