Coordinated by the Digital Inclusion Team

September 2010

Authors: Ellie Francis-Brophy, Elizabeth McCrum

Evaluation of OnlineMentoring Projectsupporting young people who areNEET or at risk of becoming NEET in Reading and Wokingham

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Evaluation of Online MentoringProject supporting youngpeople who are NEET or at risk of becoming NEET in Reading and WokinghamExecutive Summary

Over recent years, there has been greaterrecognition of the complexity of need amongNEET young people and those at risk ofbecoming NEET. This added understanding hasresulted in alternative forms of educationalinvolvement being offered in schools and othersupport situations. Some of these alternativeshave used technology. This project sought toextend the provision of information, adviceand guidance on work and study by offeringNEET young people an online platform to bementored by a business person willing to sharetheir work experiences and guide them throughrelevant exercises and online resources.

This report considers the processes a group ofinterested stakeholders undertook to set up anonline mentoring project for NEET youngpeople and those at risk of becoming NEET. Itillustrates the key delivery challenges throughqualitative data from interviews with keystakeholders and survey data from businessmentors who applied and completed training. Itfurther explores ways in which the key factorsand difficulties could be overcome in futureonline mentoring involving multiple agencies or organisations.

Propelled by the success of other public-thirdsector partnerships in ementoring betweenlocal council’s and Brightside Trust for children

leaving care, this project was seen as a viable,innovative and tailored approach to connectingwith NEET young people who may be dauntedby face-to-face support programmes. Theonline mentoring project was seen aspotentially being able to support theobjectives of increasing the likelihood of ayoung person being motivated to get into work(or training for work) by helping them to betterimagine a future; continuing to tackle digitalinclusion issues; providing a ‘24/7’ facility foryoung people to develop on-screen rapportand communication with a mentor keen toassist them set some education, employmentor training goals.

Reading Borough Council identified a need fora range of alternative services for NEET youngpeople to access career, study and traininginformation. After considerable discussionswith the Digital Inclusion Team, ReadingBorough Council coordinated a project ononline mentoring involving Connexions,educational charity organisations working withNEET young people and local businesses on arange of projects and another local authority,Wokingham Council.

This summative evaluation occurs at the end ofsix months implementation. Importantly, thekey outcomes of the first six months of thisproject were:

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• Reading Borough Council decided torestructure the team and refocus the energiesof some stakeholders into other NEET youngpeople projects and targets. This lead togreater leadership by the remainingstakeholder organisation.

• A strengthened resolve and determination bythe project coordinator to fulfil the length ofthe contract with Brightside Trust (untilJanuary 2011) and maximise the benefit toyoung people and interested volunteermentors. The reconfigured project group planto seek funding from the private sector tocontinue and Brightside Trust have indicatedwillingness to continue to provide technicalsupport and be a participant in the projectsfurther development.

• Five mentors were matched in July with 5young people at risk of becoming NEET.

• Lessons were learned about the timeframerequired to recruit business mentors andyoung people including the need to factor inconstraints like the school year. It was firstthought that safeguarding issues, marketingand recruitment could all be achieved withinone to two months. But the process over thepast six months has indicated:

- The amount of time needed by the projectmanager would have had to be greater thanhalf a day a week.

- Commitment by the project stakeholdersand greater task delegation and task follow-up would have needed to occur in a strategic,well-planned way.

- The importance in knowing the capacity of the project group – what experience they have in the area and in working across organisations.

Local authorities need to maximise partnershipworking to give NEET young people the bestchance of accessing the services they need.Joint working is particularly important inensuring that young people get the quality andlevel of support they need at points oftransition and when barriers are beginning tobecome entrenched. Transition points can be

when young people move between differentservices as their needs change over time; orwhen responsibility for providing supportchanges to a different service when a youngperson reaches age or leaves school.

Additionally, it is important for LocalAuthorities to build networks to support young people who are NEET with high needsthat cross service boundaries. This meanspartnership working needs to actively discussand plan how best to serve the needs of youngpeople more effectively when they ‘cross-over’and fit into more than one disadvantagedgroup and service.

Opening up decision-making by developing ashared process of negotiation, exchange andtop-down vertical approaches leading to widercircles of inclusivity are admirable goals inservice provision for young people. However,as our findings reveal, ‘crowded’ NEETinterventions do not necessarily mean that allparticipants feel valued or respond with thesame intentions and ‘faith’ in the process.

Project stakeholders talked of tensions inMarch 2010 which were based on theirexpectations, past interactions, imperatives toparticipate and the imagined (but yetunrealised) opportunities of the project.Difficulties prevented a strong focus on thepurpose – that is to run an intervention thatcan make a difference despite some of the

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incredibly complex problems, including digitalexclusion, some young people face trying toget a career started.

Other challenges in this project relate to theneed for clearer Information sharing. At keytimes, some stakeholders seemed to beavoiding questions, withholding information ortheir views about the next stages and theirlevel of commitment to the project. Failure tobe clear about how a program or policy’s causalsequence is expected to work usually results inwell intentioned programs being unable toachieve their outcomes or, alternatively, theyproduce outcomes that are contrary to thosethat were originally anticipated.

It is recommended that projects of this naturerequire strong information sharing protocols,particularly about initial concerns related tosafeguarding, young people’s access to theinternet or levels of literacy. Greateraccountability to complete tasks on time andto prepare for monthly project team meetings

may have been achieved by greater ownership,clearer task guidelines and links to progressingthe overall project.

The expertise of business mentors will alsoneed to be considered. Sometimes the learningand employment opportunities open to NEETyoung people are limited by their low levels ofeducation, skills and personal attributes.Effective mentoring would require genuineadvice and strategies to overcome barriers tolooking for jobs and courses and barriers tobeing selected for them. Other NEET youngpeople may be disadvantaged because they area young parent, pregnant, have a history ofoffending or living in care. Business mentors willneed support to effectively mentor NEETyoung people facing multiple challenges.

The full document is available on www.esd-toolkit.org.uk

Contact usesd-toolkitLocal Government Improvement and DevelopmentLayden House, 76-86 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5LG

Tel: 020 7296 6572www.esd-toolkit.org.uk

The full document is available on www.esd-toolkit.org.uk

© City of London 2010.

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