LockdownLowdown: phase 3
Commissioned by the Scottish Government, we partnered with YouthLink Scotland and Young Scot, to deliver LockdownLowdown. This research followed on from two other LockdownLowdown reports completed during earlier stages of the pandemic in Scotland. For LockdownLowdown 3 over 2500 young people from across Scotland were surveyed on their thoughts of future job prospects, education, youth work, and more between March 31st and June 1st 2021.
The report shows a positive outlook from young people on employment, with 67% of young people feeling positive about their current employment situation. However, on future prospects, only two-fifths of Scottish students are confident about securing future employment.
On secondary education, more young people disagreed than agreed that they felt prepared for assessments, with 44% selecting Strongly disagree or disagree, with only around a fifth (22%) selected Strongly agree or agree. And on whether they felt confident that the teacher assessment of grades would be delivered fairly this academic year, more respondents agreed than disagreed, with 38% selecting Strongly agree or agree. However, there was still around a fifth (22%) of young people who strongly disagree or disagree.
Speaking on the launch of the report, SYP’s Chair, Josh Kennedy encouraged all decision-makers in Scotland to read the findings of this report and gain more understanding of young people’s feelings as lockdown restrictions ease. Josh said:
“Meaningfully engaging with the views of young people is the only way to ensure that decisions are made with their views and needs at the centre. The latest Lockdown Lowdown report makes it very easy for decision-makers to find out what young people think about restrictions easing.
“Young people have had an incredibly challenging time over the last year and a half. I would encourage every decision-maker in Scotland to look at the views presented in this report and consider them when making decisions about how Scotland comes out of the Pandemic.”