August 2015: Boot camp or creative skills?

Matthew Hancock, Minister for Skills has just announced the introduction of Boot Camp for young people who fail to get a job. The image of compulsory morning runs and fierce sergeant majors barking orders is perhaps not accurate as so far, the minister seems to be advocating three weeks of CV writing and interview practice. I sympathise for the young people who will be forced to endure this programme and even more for the luckless tutors who will have to try to make the experience palatable for the unwilling recruits. Instead, we should look beyond the statistics and understand the reasons why a young person has failed at school.

My company has spent four years working with long-term unemployed people delivering a work experience programme that combines practical skills training with intensive one-to-one support. Unusually, it’s delivered through technical theatre and the production of a short play for children but the experience is both rigorous and effective. The young people who sign up (and it’s not mandatory) usually know nothing about theatre and are highly dubious, fearing they will be made to perform or participate in arty-farty games. It’s reassuring for them to discover that most of the activity is very practical and their first job is to build a pop-up theatre space involving rigging, construction and team work.

The work is fascinating and has taught me a lot about why people are unemployed. The evidence is sobering; our informal analysis reveals that at least 30% of our participants have learning difficulties, 29% have mental health issues and around 10% are on the autistic spectrum. Many are care leavers and a surprisingly high number have lost a parent at a critical point in their education. Not surprising that so many have left school with no qualifications at all. Of course a few are reluctant to work – perhaps because they have grown up in families where unemployment is the norm – but most are desperate to get off benefits and earn money. The problem is that they don’t know what they can do.

At the start of the three-week programme we ask them all what sort of jobs they are applying for. The response is generally similar: “Retail, warehousing, admin – anything really” accompanied by a glazed look revealing how hopeless the enterprise is.  In fear of sanctions, they dutifully send off their weekly job searches and plod round the local shops handing over CVs which almost certainly end in the bin.

The truth is that the hard thing is knowing what you want to do in life. Once you know, it’s relatively simple to achieve it. But finding out is a tough business and requires reflection combined with positive life experience that in turn opens doors to completely new options. Middle-class kids with supportive parents start that process early on in life with access to clubs and hobbies, interesting activities and exciting travel – all firing up the process of exploration which can lead to knowing what you want to do.

The trick is then to connect personal direction with the acquisition of really effective soft skills which will make the young person employable. Big companies like McDonalds are crying out for staff that can problem-solve, task manage and work in a team but there’s no easy way of teaching these skills, you have to experience them directly to understand why they are important.

For our reluctant recruits to become both employable and stimulated by the prospect of exciting and satisfying work the key is to engage them in a variety of tasks which are both practical and purposeful. Every task completed successfully is a step towards increased confidence and self-awareness. Of course people with low self-esteem will be reluctant to paint, sew, build or frankly anything else we might suggest at the start, but we’re really good at cajoling (Go on, just have a go!) and when the persuasion works, they are on track to become effective team players. Theatre may seem like a trivial enterprise but it’s surprising how transferable the skills are. Whether it’s taking charge of the van loading, producing sound effects, supervising front-of-house or operating a technical effect, our participants develop skills that can take them in a variety of directions.

Worryingly, we live in a society which is quick to condemn often damaged and vulnerable young people as feckless and lazy. (Send them to a boot camp! That’ll teach ‘em. Force them to sit in a classroom for hours on end and maybe then they’ll realise the importance of work.) Some hope. Wouldn’t it be better to consider the possibility that each individual has something really unique to offer? They just need help to discover it.