Aspirations and Decision-Making Competence in the Achievement of Employment and Education Outcomes

1. Aspirations and Decision-Making Competence in the Achievement of Employment and Education Outcomes A Study of BoysTown’s Social Enterprises for Australian Youth Salote Mafi

2. BoysTown Social Enterprises BoysTown delivers social enterprises for marginalised young people aged 15-25 years to improve their quality of life The overarching objective: Prepare young people aged 15-25 years for the open labour market by providing paid employment in a supported environment The key components are: Experiential learning of vocational skills Training to reinforce the learning of vocational skills Case management to address barriers to employment

3. Research Project • Australian Research Council linkage project between BoysTown and Griffith University • Reconnecting Disaffected Youth through Successful Transition to Work Assess Identify Disseminate

4. Method Mixed method Quantitative surveys Qualitative semi-structured interviews Young peoplein BoysTown’s programs 542 young people surveyed at entry, mid and/or exit 60 young people interviewed BoysTown staff 15 executive, management and frontline staff interviewed 36 frontline staff surveyed Employers 4 employers surveyed and interviewed

5. Participants in the Study • 542 participants • 75% male and 25% female • 25% Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander • 17% from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background • Average age of 19 years • Age range from 14 to 26 years

6. Client Profile Limited work history 83% had never worked full-time 45% grew up in homes where parents did not work Long-term unemployment 10 months average time spent in unemployment 30% in long-term or very long-term unemployment Low levels of formal education 85% dropped out of school before completing Year 12 39% dropped out of school before completing Year 10 Lack of stable or secure accommodation 18% in supported or unstable accommodation 42% in public housing

7. Decision-Making

8. Aspirations

9. Agency

10. Employment and Education Outcomes 73% obtained positive employment or education outcomes 41% gained full-time employment 20% engaged with education 12% gained part-time employment Of the participants who obtained an outcome: 89% remained in their outcome for at least 13 weeks 80% remained in their outcome for at least 26 weeks

11. Predicting Outcomes Factors used in predictive analysis Personal agency Interpersonal and collective agency Relational agency Valuing job, life and financial aspirations Believing that aspirations can be achieved Decision-making competence Help-seeking when making decisions Participants more likely to achieve full-time outcomes Young people with decision-making competence and who believe they will achieve their aspirations

12. What the young people say… “It’s good, they change lives, they turned me around… Because before I came here I was starting to fall down the wrong path but when I came here I changed. I’m a better person now.”