ESRC Festival of Social Science presentations

Nov 8, 2013

This event builds upon a LLAKES/SKOPE event held in 2012 on ‘Transitions Within Learning and Within the Labour Market’. Policymakers in the UK voice persistent concern about effective transitions from education to work. This seminar takes an international perspective comparing transitions in the UK to four other countries: Germany, Holland, France and the U.S. Taking the end of compulsory schooling as the point at which to think about transitions and pathways to and within work, this event will consider four main questions:

1.   How different are the transition structures in different countries, and what can the UK learn from this?

2. To what extent do different countries have in place different systems of support for transitions or career pathways?

3. What might be learnt from these systems in terms of the structures of support, and roles of different stakeholders?

4. What is being missed by policymakers and at what cost?

The presenters are to be drawn from academic educationalists, economists and sociologists. Topics that we expect to cover include: the various stakeholders and their roles in the transitions and pathways to work and within work; the similarities and differences between transitions and pathways across five countries; the support infrastructure which make various transitions and pathways more and less viable and successful in these countries; assessments of the effectiveness of education and training policies with regard to transitions and pathways. This event will promote the social sciences by bringing together a range of international perspectives discussing the complementarities and conflicts arising from different disciplinary viewpoints and highlighting areas of research which policymakers have yet to take fully into account.

The event will be held in London at 76 Portland Place on the 7 November 2013. We anticipate an audience of about 60, including members of SKOPE’s extensive network of academic and private sector researchers, policymakers, policy analysts and practitioners.

Date:  07 November 2013
Venue:  76 Portland Place