Learning and work
Just 20 per cent of the young people we support have between one and four GCSEs - the national average is 70 per cent - and over 40 per cent have no qualifications at all. In order to take control of their own future, homeless young people need opportunities to get motivated, develop skills, and gain the qualifications that will enable them to move on to sustainable employment.
Our learning team offers support at an appropriate level for each individual. We assess each young person’s needs, goals and aspirations when they arrive at Centrepoint, and work out with them a support and development plan that will help them get their life back on track.
Some young people need support to resume formal education and complete college courses they began months or years ago, and their support worker will link them with a college and help them gain access to a course.
Others need more intensive support and the motivation to start learning again after negative and disrupted experiences of education. Our learning team helps the young people we see to get motivated and start reconnecting with the services that exist to help them.
Most of the young people we work with have ordinary ambitions - to get a job and a decent place to live. But whilst keen to work, few are in a position to enter into employment quickly. Many face multiple barriers to employment, including lack of qualifications and work history, and low basic skills.
Through our support and development approach, we provide opportunities for young people to continue their education both formally and informally, and to gain valuable life experience. Our approach encompasses finance advice, CV preparation, help with job searches, interview skills and self-improvement programmes.
"At Centrepoint I did all the training courses that were on offer and picked up lots of new skills. They helped me apply to university and I was so happy when I got a place. When you are educated, you are educated for life. No-one can take that away from you." Binyam, 20
Each young person’s support and development worker will help them to identify their needs, and they will often refer young people to an advisor from our learning team.
The learning team acts as Centrepoint’s recruitment and training service for young homeless people. The team works with young people at on-site facilities in our foyers and through outreach sessions across all our other services. They provide young people with work experience and work opportunities that will improve their employability.
Through Centrepoint’s Life Wise, a unique and innovative package of workshops which have been developed by Centrepoint’s learning team, Centrepoint is a registered Accreditation Centre with The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), enabling homeless young people to gain qualifications and improve their options for employment.
In addition, Centrepoint has started to develop a range of apprenticeship opportunities for young people including a partnership with Capel Manor College that allows young people in Centrepoint services to gain NVQ Level 1 in horticulture.
