3.2 EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Unemployment levels within CTCs might be higher than those suggested from unemployment statistics, as quantitative research (Beatty, Fothergill and Gore, 2017) shows there are significant levels of hidden unemployment. Hidden unemployment relates to individuals “…who might have been expected to be in work in a genuinely fully employed economy” and subsequently includes a wider group for example people receiving incapacity-related benefits. The research found high levels of hidden unemployment clustered in British older industrial areas and coastal towns including Great Yarmouth, Clacton-on-Sea, Maidstone, and Hastings. The data is from 2016 and so does not include any impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic.

CTCs have been disproportionately impacted economically by the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions which has reinforced existing inequalities:

“Many seaside resorts had a large concentration of businesses and employees in sectors that were closed during the lockdown – a problem exacerbated by the seasonality of their local economy and the low local purchasing power. Social Investment Business (SIB) analysis of local transaction and unemployment data has found coastal areas to be disproportionately impacted by Covid-19” (Thomson, 2020).

3.2 EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Key Message: There are lower skills and education levels in CTCs across the education system. Lower educational attainment reduces aspirations and opportunities for CTCs. The lower levels are linked to poor infrastructure and challenges with recruiting and retaining teaching staff. Additionally, those young people who do enter Further Education (FE) or Higher Education (HE) are unlikely to return to their CTCs due to the lack of employment opportunities.

Skills and education levels are lower in CTCs than their inland neighbours, across the education and skills system from childhood to HE and FE. Low educational attainment is linked to worse health outcomes (Chief Medical Officer, 2021) which increases the need for this issue to be addressed.

“The future of seaside towns requires educational success. Sadly, their current performance, as measured in school results, is normally below the national average. Few have higher education institutions within their communities, and most suffer from a vicious circle that drives down aspiration” (House of Lords, 2019).

Lower educational attainment is connected to lower aspirations shaped by families and community expectations, the difficulties in accessing HE and FE from the coast due to poor infrastructure, and the lack of employment opportunities in CTCs. The problems of infrastructure also extend to younger children who often spend more time traveling to school than their non-coastal counterparts. The Coastal Communities Alliance note a number of reasons for the lower educational attainment in CTCs: “a transient workforce with a high percent turnover of pupils; lack of access to further education; lack of employment opportunities and investment in skills development and lack of adaptation to peak and low season patterns of employment”.

Additionally, CTCs struggle to recruit and retain teaching staff which negatively impacts the educational attainment within communities. This challenge is linked to the remoteness of coastal communities, poor infrastructure, lower wages and less opportunities for career progression. The national focus on improving education in urban areas has also negatively impacted coastal providers who have not received sufficiently attention and suffer from poor investment.

Notably, young people who do access HE and FE often leave the coast to do so and are unlikely to return due to poor employment opportunities, therefore cementing the skills and education inequalities within CTCs.