How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future • • •
What are some of the issues facing the youth today? What action are government and community groups taking to adress current issues? What policies do the government have in place to support the development of youth?
T h e w a y y o u t h d e v e l o p i n t h e 2 1 s t c e n t u r y m a y h a v e i n f l u e n c e f o r f u t u r e g e n e r a t i o n s
Florence Bygraves, September 2015
How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves
How governments are planning for the development of youth in the future You may ponder are, the government benefiting young people and will these decisions present consequences up ahead? Susan Wauchop, retired from the ministry of Youth Development states that 'things are getting better for youth and have been on most measures over the last decade or 15 years'. While investigating into How governments are planning for the development of youth in the future, I hoped to discover an insight into issues, how they are being resolved and what influence they might present in the future of youth development. You may ask, what are some of the issues facing our youth today? What action are government and community groups taking to address current issues? What policies do the government have in place to support the development of youth? Motivated by curiosity the journey unfolds…
What are some of the issues facing our youth today? Mental Health:
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves We often think of young people as risk-‐takers. Being able to cope with the stresses of adolescence is a issue specific to young people. It may seem as if youth have fully developed into young adults, but research shows that a person's brain has not fully developed until the age of 25. Through teenage years young people's brains do not fire correctly, causing them to make poor choices (Radio NZ National). Some pressures that may influence youth and their mental health are peer pressure, pressure to succeed, family relationship pressure, pressure of social interactions, pressure of getting income, isolation pressures, being upto date with the latest trends and technology abuse and problems. (ilearn.careerforce-‐ Issues facing youth) Employment, Education and Financial Pressures: Susan Wauchop made a provocative point during my interveiw that reiceving income is a base for youth development in NZ, reiceving income is a base for youth development in NZ. It has been noticed that when youth don’t get the opportunity to receive income from even a half time job there is a feeling that no contribution is being made towards society, because of a lack of independence. 26% of youth in NZ are obtaining income from a part time job (Youth 2000 survey series 2012 Youth 12 prevalence tables) but unfortunately for under 16's neither is there a minimum wage. The job most common for youth in the 21st century now is in the retail business, though hospitality is also a common industry. Capital training is a group who works with 15-‐ 19 year old young people who have dropped out of school and try to earn them qualifications. Technology Queen Margaret Dean, comments that no jobs have come up in the workforce today that do not involve technology so we need to be able to need to embrace it and use it efficiently. Youth are very reliant and very social which requires using the media to socialise. The cons of new technology are not learning the skill of talking face to face and being antisocial. The pros are the advancement of technology that enables a further extent of things to be completed with specific machines. Technology prevents more positive end results in school because technology can cause depression and bad moods and in areas of general health and wellbeing. It has also recently been proved that young peoples school results have not altered since laptops have been introduced into various schooling programs. Youth Poverty Recently there has been a reduction of child poverty though Maori and Pacific children are enduring a larger proportion of the child poverty rates in NZ according to the child poverty monitor at the end of 2014. In a diagram publicly released by the Children’s Commissioner, data shows that 24% of child poverty is income poverty (though there has been a slight drop recently), 17% is material hardship and 10% is severe poverty. Child poverty causes medical conditions with consequences, social issues and behaviour and educationally. Child poverty has increased in the past 30 years a possible cause being an increase in the population (stuff.co.nz).
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves
What action are government and community groups taking to address current issues? Community Help
Capital Training Through a engaged conversation with a member of Capital Training, Sue Turnbull I furthered my understanding of the support reached by youth in society today. Capital training works with youth aged between 15 and 19 and provide courses that will get these young people qualifications. Sue Turnbull, works in capital training and makes a point that there is 3 types of behavior patterns she notices, there is a group who are bright but struggle with anxiety problems in large groups, a group who are capable but wag school and don’t bother and a third group who would love to get qualifications but just aren't able to do the work. At this point they work with roughly 35 young people in wellington, and provide qualifications in hospitality and retail (a combined qualification) at Level 2, employment skills at Level 1, computing and business administration at Level 2,3 as well as these qualifications in NCEA 1,2,3.
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves Children's Commissioners Wellington The Children's Commissioner work mostly behind the scenes while also obtaining many view points -‐ from young people, the government and other community groups about what needs to be done. Awhina Buchanan quotes that their role is to "make sure that their rights (people aged from 0-‐17) are being upheld"– Legal rights, child safety, health rights, education rights and media rights. The Children’s Commissioner (Dr. Russell Wills) is passionate about helping children in poverty and a priority is making the poverty rates and issues publicly known. The Children’s Commissioner operates under the children’s commissioner act 2003. A recent project conducted by the C.C. is the School Voices project where they wanted more opinions from young people and will/have surveyed children and youth in schools. They work mostly with children with disadvantages in some form and want all young people to have equal opportunities. Awhina works with the minsters youth advisory panel and what more can be done for their care. She also mostly finds ways for the C.C. to engage with young people in the community. (Awhina Buchanan, A senior advisor and Anna Santos, Principal Advisor Media and Communications) Government
MYD's goal is 'Young people participating confidently in their communities'. MYD (the MYD is Nikki Kaye) work mostly behind the scenes and generate possible ideas to improve the lives of youth (aged 12-‐24) in New Zealand. An example of their work is the Look Up Mental Health event to be held in October. MYD has three main roles: • 'To encourage and support a youth development approach • To support and facilitate youth involvement and input into decision-‐making processes • As a funder of youth development services' http://www.myd.govt.nz/resources-‐and-‐reports/publications/index.html
What policies do the government have in place to support the devlopment of youth in NZ? •
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LEGALLY A YOUNG PERSON
CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
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Below ten are not held responsible for their actions 10+ •
VOTING AGE
18+
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves
MAJORITY AGE
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This is the age when youth are considered adults and are not in the control of their parents 20+
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DRIVING AGE 16+
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ABLE TO BE HOME ALONE 14+
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LEAVING HOME Until 17 youth are able to be sent back in to the care of their parents if they are at risk 16+ without parents consent
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LEAVING SCHOOL 16+
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FREE MEDICAL CARE 13-‐
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GET MARRIED OR ENTER A CIVIL UNION WITH / OUT PARENTS CONSENT 16+ / 18+
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ABLE TO BUY FIREWORKS, ALCHOHOL, CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO 18+
WORK FULL TIME 16+ (youthpolicy.org) Voting: Personally voting is a possibility to be considered for a younger age because that would give more young people an opportunity to feel as if they were making a contribution and possibly making a difference in their community. On Wednesday September the 9th there was an article called ‘Let us kids vote on the flag to’ written by 8yr old Masie Short in the Dominion Post. She stated the following point to persuade her audience, children will live longer and need to be pleased with the flag (also it wont cost anymore money or trouble to let them vote). In the results from my survey of 18 Yr 13’s I noticed that just under half the amount of students would have liked to have been able to vote earlier and 7 out of 8 at the age of 16. Only 2 students won’t personally, vote in the next election and the most popular promise to be made by a government party that would persuade them to vote for a certain party was for the environment then for educational and employment reasons and the third reason, poverty. •
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves
Statistics Youth 2000 survey series 2012 Youth 12 prevalence tables Health: Excellent: 24% Very good: 42% Good: 25% Fair: 7% Poor: 2% Long term… Health problem/condition: 20% Disability: 9% Underweight: 3% Healthy weight: 60% Overweight: 24% Obese: 13% Employment: Paid employment in the past 12 months: 48% Regular part time job: 26% Occasional work during school term: 15% School holiday job: 19% No pay in family business: 19% Was injured at work in last 12 months: 10% Culture and Ethnicity European: 47% Maori: 20% Pacific Island: 14% Asian: 12% Other: 6% School: Feelings to school… Likes School a lot: 29% Likes school a bit: 61% Doesn’t like school: 10% Engagement in school… Feel part of school: 87% Very important for students to attend school: 95% Students who have wagged school in past 12 months: 23% What student enjoys most… Hanging out with friends: 93% School work: 32% Sports: 55% Cultural activities: 10% 8
How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves Other arts: 33% Being away from home: 17% Some other reason: 15.5% Don’t really enjoy school at all: 2% Expectations and Achievements… School expects students to do well: 91% Important for students to be proud of schoolwork: 95% Minimum of 1 hour doing work per day: 40% Wants to complete school: 87% Family and school A family member has gone to parent meeting: 60% Family member helped out at school: 20% Family member has asked about homework: 84% Family member has helped with homework: 62% Family member has gone to school event: 44% Overall, I have come to a realisation that the government may not be doing or investing enough time and money into supporting the development of N.Z. youth, however things are improving. The issues facing youth in this century range from health, to finance, to technology and are each presenting consequences being addressed in their own way. Analysing my data from both Capital Training and The Children's Commissioner I've come to a conclusion that they are both worthwhile groups in a pool of possibly unacknowledged community help. Also, due to my survey results the government should take 2 years off the voting age, this would allow a further extent of young people to have the right to a say and a feeling of inclusion. While the NZ government has the capability and resources to raise the best society of youth globally still the tax is dropping through and the guidance remains inadequate. The Minister Of Youth Development should at this point, personally, obtain more public opinion, which will advance the quality of choice made by the government.
Bibliography:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/63722141/Child-poverty-declines-but-inequality-still-high http://www.extension.umn.edu/youth/research/keys-to-quality-youth-development/ http://search.carrot2.org/stable/search?source=web&view=foamtree&skin=fancycompact&query=youth+nz&results=100&algorithm=lingo&EToolsDocumentSource.country=ALL& EToolsDocumentSource.language=ALL&EToolsDocumentSource.customerId=&EToolsDocument Source.safeSearch=false http://anyquestions.co.nz http://www.stats.govt.nz/searchresults.aspx?q=youth%20health http://www.myd.govt.nz/resources-and-reports/publications/index.html
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How Governments Are Planning For The Development Of Youth In The Future Florence Bygraves http://www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/new-zealand/ https://www.govt.nz/ Susan Wauchop, 187 Brooklyn road Wellington. Worked in the ministry of youth development NZ. 3:00 Sunday 16th August. Anne Taylor, a YR11 dean interviewed for info on the impact of technology on Yr11's. 10:40 Monday 24th August. Sue Turnbull, works in the capital training for youth. 1:50 Tuesday 25th August. Awhina Buchanan and Anna Santos Childrens Commissioner Wellington 2pm Friday 4th September. The University Of Auckland (2013). Youth' 12 Prevalence Tables: The Health and wellbeing of New Zealand secondary school students in 2012. Auckland New Zealand, The university Of Auckland. The Dominion Post Wednesday, September 9, 2015 Opinion Page. 'Let Us Kids Vote On The Flag Too' by Masie Short Brooklyn 8yrs
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