Non-Enrolled Youth Voices Heard In New Research

Overwhelming, hurtful, or distracting social interactions, mental health struggles and  hardships and complex lives outside of school driving a greater need for relationships with  teachers – are the three main themes revealed as affecting overall engagement and wellbeing in education detailed in the report Absent Voices: Understanding the stories of  Non-Enrolled Tamariki and Rangatahi revealed today. 

Commissioned by youth development charity Blue Light, the research was designed to engage and enable the voices of non-enrolled youth, to understand the reasons behind their increasing disengagement from education, and to explore solution pathways to address the  significant challenge of their sustainable re-engagement. 

“We wanted to create safe spaces for these Tamariki and Rangatahi, so they could tell their  stories, express their voices, have them heard, and influence decisions” says Brendon  Crompton, Blue Light Chief Executive. 

“Dis-engagement from school not only robs young people of their future potential, but the  impacts can also be seen in their outcomes later in life such as violence, substance abuse and  unemployment” Brendon comments. 

Youth confirmed in this Report that the key transition points for them in their schooling – from primary to intermediate and from intermediate to secondary created significant risk in  their engagement in school – yet was no alternative pathway or structured support for them  during these transitions. 

“Alternative Education is only available to secondary school students, and the systemic under funding of this service results in severe restraints in resources which means it does not work  for many youth” Brendon states. 

The research also highlighted that when in school youth were clear about what they needed  to stay in school. 

“The emotional, social, and support needs that these youth (who experience hardship and  complex lives outside of school) stated they desire from teachers, along with their need to access more effective mental health resources in and out of school, could be addressed  through providing trained Youth Workers to mentor, guide them and bridge the gaps in  accessing support” Brendon states.  

What this research reveals however, and what was clear from interviewing the non-enrolled  youth, was that there is a clear lack of strategies for re-engaging non-enrolled youth back into

education. Their prolonged absence from school, and any form of education, leaves youth  with the daunting task of “catching up”. 

“When I would stay home and then go to school for like a day, I would have anxiety cos I had  missed a lot of homework and that, so I had to like ‘catch up’” states a non-enrolled youth. 

“There is a gap in schools’ knowledge about effective engagement strategies for non-enrolled  youth successfully and sustainably re-engaging back in school” Brendon notes, “and this is  coupled with non-enrolled youth also lacking the knowledge about the pathways for re engagement that are available, and how they go about accessing the support they need.” 

For a full copy of the Report: 

Absent Voices: Understanding the stories of Non-Enrolled  Tamariki and Rangatahi 

https://bluelight.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Absent-Voices-FINAL.pdf 

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