Aspirations and Decision-Making Competence in the Achievement of Employment and Education Outcomes A Study of BoysTown’s Social Enterprises for Australian Youth Salote Mafi

BoysTown Social Enterprises ●BoysTown delivers social enterprises for marginalised young people aged years to improve their quality of life ●The overarching objective:  Prepare young people aged years for the open labour market by providing paid employment in a supported environment ●The key components are:  Experiential learning of vocational skills  Training to reinforce the learning of vocational skills  Case management to address barriers to employment

Research Project ●Australian Research Council linkage project between BoysTown and Griffith University  Reconnecting Disaffected Youth through Successful Transition to Work Assess Identify Disseminate

Method Mixed method  Quantitative surveys  Qualitative semi-structured interviews Young people in BoysTown’s programs  542 young people surveyed at entry, mid and/or exit  60 young people interviewed BoysTown staff  15 executive, management and frontline staff interviewed  36 frontline staff surveyed Employers  4 employers surveyed and interviewed

Participants in the Study 542 participants  75% male and 25% female  25% Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander  17% from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background  Average age of 19 years  Age range from 14 to 26 years

Client Profile Limited work history  83% had never worked full-time  45% grew up in homes where parents did not work Long-term unemployment  10 months average time spent in unemployment  30% in long-term or very long-term unemployment Low levels of formal education  85% dropped out of school before completing Year 12  39% dropped out of school before completing Year 10 Lack of stable or secure accommodation  18% in supported or unstable accommodation  42% in public housing

Decision-Making

Aspirations

Agency

Employment and Education Outcomes 73% obtained positive employment or education outcomes  41% gained full-time employment  20% engaged with education  12% gained part-time employment Of the participants who obtained an outcome:  89% remained in their outcome for at least 13 weeks  80% remained in their outcome for at least 26 weeks

Predicting Outcomes Factors used in predictive analysis  Personal agency  Interpersonal and collective agency  Relational agency  Valuing job, life and financial aspirations  Believing that aspirations can be achieved  Decision-making competence  Help-seeking when making decisions Participants more likely to achieve full-time outcomes  Young people with decision-making competence and who believe they will achieve their aspirations

“ It’s good, they change lives, they turned me around… Because before I came here I was starting to fall down the wrong path but when I came here I changed. I’m a better person now.” What the young people say…