July Reading List

In this recently released report, the British Council and Social Enterprise UK map the state of global enterprise, drawing on survey data from 27 countries across five continents, and including both developed and developing, stable and fragile countries, representing over 40% of the world’s population. Though challenging to calculate, data suggests that there are around 11 million businesses around the world that could be recognised as social enterprises, making social entrepreneurship a significant and notable movement. Using research, data and case studies, British Council and Social Enterprise UK paint a picture of the commonalities and challenges facing social enterprises around the world, the environments in which they operate in, and underscores the important role of enterprises in driving forward more equitable and inclusive economies and societies in the 21st Century. – Soizic, Enterprise Development Manager 

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Amanda Vernalls, Head of Research and Insight at Youth Sport Trust discusses research by the Children’s Commissioner for England, providing a roundup of the latest research on the benefits and necessity of play and physical activity on young people’s development.  Vernalls presses the importance of young people participating in physical activity, exploring the wider research evidence base, and positive association between physical activity, learning, and attainment. Research shows physical activity enhances cognition, emotional regulation and is also associated with higher academic achievement, highlighting the importance for schools to invest in this area. Secondly, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to access the benefits of sports and play, highlighted by research from Sport England. The increased inequality levels post-pandemic makes closing this gap even more vital, given the potential sports have in driving upward social mobility. Making sports fun can drive engagement and ensure physical activity becomes a natural part of young people’s routine. With more than six in ten young people in the UK stating that having fun is an important aspect of their lives, allowing young people to co-create multisport programmes could enable a positively engaged experience. – Zunaira, Research and Projects Assistant 

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This reflective blog, by The Young Foundation CEO Helen Goulden, encourages us all to think about the knowledge we consume – who has created it and for what purpose? Helen’s reflections centre on the rise of participatory research, which, as a research approach, can encourage us all to be more curious, as a means of cutting through the ‘noise’ of the sheer volume of information that we consume on a daily basis. The message is this: if we can empower more people to be more curious, through equipping them with the skills to ask purposeful questions and explore different perspectives, then we can enable them to take action on the issues and within the communities that matter to them. I recently participated in the Young Foundation’s Peer Research Conference, HIVE – alongside three of our Young Evaluators – to discuss the merits of working with young people as peer researchers in our evaluation of the #iwill Fund. We are just starting out on our peer research journey here at the Centre, and up until now, my perspective has been on its value as a process for supporting equitable and ethical research. This blog suggests a larger ripple effect, where participation can support collective action from the bottom up. – Jo, Project Manager 

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The Resolution Foundation’s report ‘Not working: Exploring changing trends in youth worklessness in the UK, from the 1990s to the Covid-19 pandemic’ unearths some extremely interesting findings related to the long-term view youth worklessness trends. In part it is a success story, with the share of young people aged 18-24 who are workless (i.e. outside of either work or full-time education) having fallen from 22% in 1995 to 15% in 2021. Interestingly this fall is almost entirely attributed to young women: between 2003-2005 and 2017-2019, worklessness fell by 13 percentage points for young women, while worklessness among young white men increased by 2 percentage points over the same period. With mental health problems among young people also increasing, it is a stark observation that young people with mental health problems are more likely to become workless and remain workless for longer. It will be an absolute priority of policy makers to ensure mental health and wellbeing support is embedded into their provision: thus, prioritising young people who face the most significant barriers into employment. This is a useful read providing context for any youth organisations providing careers advice and guidance to young people. – Hannah, Research and Evaluation Lead 

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University College London is running a five-year project investigating youth equity issues in learning STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Whilst ‘education’ in general and ‘STEM’ specifically may not resonate, the tools embedded within this project may be valuable to all youth provision. The equity compass tool in particular ‘helps users to adopt a social justice mindset when developing and reflecting on their practice’, and encourages practitioners and policy makers to review eight elements of equitable practice spanning four areas: working with and valuing minoritized communities, embedding equity, extending equity, and challenging the status quo. The use of the term ‘compass’ is a helpful reminder that equity as a principle should be our ‘true north’: a guiding star we continually navigate towards, even if occasionally straying off the path. 

The Equity Compass has a set of guiding questions to support reflection and formative learning and professional development. This could be a useful tool to bring to your teams to open up discussion and meaningful action to further leverage equity in your youth provision. Having these conversations helps us to ‘be’ equitable and to discuss how to ‘do’ equity in our practice with young people. Scroll down this page for guidance on using the Equity Compass and for useful resources. – Kaz, Director of Strategy and Learning 

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There are some great practical and simple tips in this short reflection on moving research from ‘insights to action’, by Kendra Thompson-Dyck and Deven Wisner (Assessment and Research at the University of Arizona) over on the AEA365 blog. The piece talks about taking research and evaluations out to those who have agency or power to effect change, as well as (crucially) creating space for different communities to ‘provide unique insights and/or provide member-checking on the insights you’ve derived from the evaluation.’ As the authors point out, intentional reporting done in this way takes time, funding, and patience; as well as providing advice for working in a smart and efficient way when taking research into the community – for example, creating a master slide deck that you can adapt for different audiences (the article also links to a handy Google Docs template that you can adapt to collect real-time feedback), they also emphasise that these processes need to be factored into the evaluation plan right from the start. – Catherine, Organisational Learning Lead 

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This short guide from UK Trauma Council, funded by NSPCC and ESRC, shares latest research findings on childhood trauma and the importance of social relationships for mental health, designed for anyone supporting children who have experienced complex trauma in the form of maltreatment. To understand why maltreatment increases the risk of mental health issues, the guide closely examines how social difficulties following maltreatment may arise, and the pathways which can impact a child’s ‘social world’ and mental health over time. The guide also considers how adults and systems can support children to build a better social world, including supporting children to develop new social competencies, boosting a child’s sense of agency, and changing adult thinking and behaviour, such as considering the meaning behind an action or set of behaviours based on a child’s experience. – Hannah, Communications Manager 

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This blog from 2020 – Coming to terms with ourselves in research - popped up in some recommended reading this week, and caught my attention. Author Johanna Ennser-Kananen of the University of Jyväskylä in Finland opens her piece noting that, in her research, ‘who I am matters’. She advocates strongly for understanding researcher positionality: the position a researcher takes towards the world around them in general and vis-à-vis a particular research topic or study, its process, and participants in particular. All of these things have a strong bearing on every element of the research process, and need to be ‘unpacked’ and explored, rather than eliminated. The author also notes that this position is not uncontroversial, given the traditional focus on neutrality and objectivity in research – particularly in evaluation. Stating our potential biases does not, of course, reduce them but the blog argues this creates opportunities to examine and shift them, and to build richer dialogue and relationships with peers and research participants. The blog also includes a range of thoughtful and considered prompts for exploring one’s own positionality. - Bethia, CEO