GETTING THROUGH TO THE YTS LOW ACHIEVER

The Problem in Cleveland In May 1985 it came to the attention of the Cleveland Area Manpower Board, via the Careers Service, that 40 per cent or more of those youngsters who had previously had difficulty in coping in their school environment were failing to succeed in YTS. A review of the literature of “both sides” — government/MSC proponents versus their critics in education and industry — revealed that there was cause for concern regarding the sector of youth referred to as low achievers. Some aspects of the problem, if indeed one did exist, were self‐evident. At some time during the school career the low achiever's ability to conceptualise within the school framework of cultural values and academic subjects either did not develop, or ceased to develop at some point, or was not yet sufficiently developed to keep up with class norms. This meant that, relatively speaking, while the rest of the class built layer after layer of verbal and numerate expertise it went on outside the scope of the low achiever's comprehension.