Problematising engagement with technologies in transitions of young people identified as ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ (NEET) in Scotland

Abstract

Dominant debates and digital upskilling strategies in Scotland have been long underpinned by the notion that engagement with technologies can transform young people's lives. This paper offers a critique of such dominant understandings and contributes to the scarce research on the impact of technologies on disadvantaged young people's life chances. It reports on qualitative fieldwork exploring everyday lives, transitions and technology use amongst 22 NEET-identified Scottish young people aged 16-24, drawing on thinking tools from Bourdieu. Findings show that participants followed 'accelerated' transitions towards vocational pathways, whilst technologies played a liminal role in making occupational choices. Furthermore, processes underpinning the post-16 transitions policy field were found to strongly shape the young people's trajectories, directing them towards the least valuable options in terms of work and training. Concurrently, uncertainties about how to navigate the realm of work and perform the self in relation to the labour force constituted a common feature of participants labouring subjectivities and these were reflected in the ways they used technologies while looking for opportunities. However, even when the young people acquired digital employability skills, these had little impact on their transitions as the old social divisions were a much stronger influence.

Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Education Amidst Digitalisation

“…In addition, 76% of all young people said they had carried out basic computer tasks like copying or moving a file or folder. At the same time, previous studies suggest that some young people are not as savvy (or unsavvy) with digital technology as we might think [67]. While they might not be technophobes, they still may not have certain literacy skills when it comes to digital devices, or they may be digitally deprived [68].…”

Is the Digital Revolution Conducive to Neet Activation? Opinions of People Involved in Neet Activation

“…This applies as well to young people in the NEET status. A number of initiatives targeting unemployed youth try to equip the participants with digital employability skills, such as searching jobs on-line, ability to write a CV with word editing software, and filling a job application through a computer (Szpakowicz, 2022). The Madej--Kurzawa et al ( 2021) study allowed for the identification of four groups of EU countries differing by NEET rates and digital skills.…”

Connection Brokers: How educators work within and between social networks to cultivate community digital resilience to support children with disabilities using the Internet

“…To thrive as digital citizens, children with disabilities need tailored and dynamic Internet Safety Education (Author's, B). Critically, they also need support from the communities of educators they interact with, which is not always present (Lundy et al, 2019;Chadwick et al, 2017;Szpakowicz, 2022;Newman et al, 2017;Chiner et al, 2022;de Groot et al, 2022;Glencross et al, 2021;El-Asam et al, 2021;Livingstone et al, 2022).…”

“…Current conceptualisations heighten digital exclusion at the expense of a strength-based digital inclusion and citizenship perspective (Helsper, 2012;Chadwick et al, 2022). For example, Internet access can be a great enabler for children with disabilities (Lundy et al, 2019;Author's, C), however, if universal restricted mediation occurs due to assumed deficits (Chiner et al, 2022;Nevard et al, 2021;Newman et al, 2017;Szpakowicz, 2022), the individual child's ability to activate digital resilience at the community level is also disrupted. In the above exampleAs seen in extract 5, a lack of information flow due to structural holes may contribute to such a restrictive approaches as an educator 'going in blind' cannot predict risks/stressors without relevant information.…”

“…Accessibility and assumptions of risk are important issues, as they can lead to children with disabilities being further digitally excluded in a world demanding increasing digital participation (Mascheroni et al, 2022;Nevard et al, 2021;Lundy et al, 2019). These are interrelated issues that foreground the 'recursive loop' of social and digital inequalities, where digital disparities can reinforce and/or amplify social inequalities and vice versa (Mascheroni et al, 2022;Szpakowicz, 2022).…”