Nearly one in six young people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) live in areas of high deprivation, which can shape their educational and employment opportunities. Young people today face an increasingly complex set of decisions and transitions, influenced not only by their own ambitions and abilities but also by wider social, economic and structural factors. In a region that has seen major economic change, including the decline of traditional industries and the growth of more precarious, non-standard work, it is increasingly important to understand how young people see and engage with the opportunities open to them.
This PhD project will explore the aspirations, educational experiences and progression pathways of young people aged 11 to 24 as they move through education and into employment. The researcher will look at how aspirations relating to education, careers and employment are formed and how they change over time, paying particular attention to young people facing structural disadvantage, including those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, underrepresented communities and areas of deprivation. The project will investigate the barriers that can limit opportunities, such as unequal access to information, guidance, social networks and resources, as well as the factors that support successful transitions. It will also consider how changing labour market conditions, technological developments and evolving expectations of work shape young people's outlooks and ambitions.
Working in partnership with the Leicester and Leicestershire Careers Hub, the Pathways Uni connect Programme, schools, colleges and other regional stakeholders, the project combines academic research with community engagement so that findings are directly relevant to practice and policy. By capturing the voices and lived experiences of young people from across the region, it will generate new evidence about how aspirations develop and translate into educational and employment outcomes. The project aims to contribute to regional efforts to improve educational progression, social mobility and career opportunities for young people. Its findings will help inform future interventions, careers education strategies and policy development, supporting local partners to address long-standing inequalities and create more inclusive pathways into further education, higher education, training and employment.
This project has been co-created with and is supported by researchers from the University of Leicester and 冈本视频, and partners at the Leicester and Leicestershire Careers Hub and the Pathways Uni connect Programme. The successful candidate for this project will be enrolled at the University of Leicester.
Project Aims
- To explore how young people's employment aspirations are shaped by structural disadvantage within the Leicester and Leicestershire labour market.
- To examine the lived experiences of young people navigating education-to-work transitions.
- To develop a creative qualitative understanding of young people's aspirations, opportunities and challenges. To generate new empirical evidence on youth transitions and employment pathways in Leicester and Leicestershire.
- To contribute to and extend the long-standing body of labour market research on youngpeople in the region.
- To compare contemporary experiences of young people with historical evidence from earlierstudies conducted since 1962.
Full Supervisory Team
- Lead Academic Supervisor: Dr John Goodwin (University of Leicester)
- Academic Co-Supervisor: Dr Rik Kennedy (冈本视频)
- Community Supervisor: Gerarde Manley (LLBSP Careers Hub)
- Community Supervisor: Jess Bogic (Pathways Uniconnect Programme)
Estimated thesis submission: