This report comes at a particular time in our national discussion around education. It is written with this moment in mind.

This discussion focuses on the rising numbers of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), with proposals to fix this problem suggesting measures that reverberate all the way down the age range and throughout our education system.

It is, of course, good that we are focusing on young NEETs. I hear so often from young people about their desires to get on in the labour market, and the  current NEET crisis is felt in communities across the country. When young people from an area go away to university, only to return to limited employment opportunities, children notice. When their friends cannot find Saturday jobs, children notice. Employment is a children’s issue.