Ofsted to lead review on preventing drift to Neet

Schools and post-16 settings will be part of an Ofsted review into preventing young people from being not in education, employment or training (Neet).

Inspection evidence will help decide how schools and post-16 settings can use “effective strategies” to support 16- to 18-year-olds, amid concern that there is a national Neet crisis.

The review arrives as the government promises to “rewire the education system” and while almost 1 million people aged 16-24 in the UK are considered Neet.

The research study, jointly funded by Ofsted and the Department for Education, plans to publish its findings by the middle of 2027.

The review will look at how schools and post-16 education and training providers identify barriers that increase the likelihood of young people becoming disengaged.

Review to seek effective practice in schools

It will also seek effective practice in these settings that can support transition and help young people remain in their post-16 destinations.

A major review into the Neet crisis, which published an interim report in May, found that the school system does too little to prepare students for work.

Alan Milburn, the former government minister leading the review, has also suggested that primary schools should try to identify pupils in danger of becoming Neet after they leave secondary school.

School and post-16 staff and young people will be interviewed as part of the project, with case studies drawn from eight local authority areas.

It will focus on the relationships between schools, post-16 education and training providers, local authority services and other relevant partners involved in prevention, transition and re-engagement.

Ofsted said each case study will draw on multiple sources of evidence, including “secondary data analysis of inspection evidence and relevant national datasets to inform sampling and our understanding of context, and qualitative fieldwork in each area”.