Project: EUL (Education Unlimited)

Reaching the hardest to reach: Employment Unlimited (EUL) has changed the lives of over 1300 young people not in employment, education or training.

The project provided a flexible pathway for young people to remove barriers to work and learning. It raised motivation, aspiration and key skill levels of disengaged young people (16–18 years old) who were not in employment education or training (NEET) in Bristol by offering ongoing one-to-one support and innovative activities designed to meet each young person's own needs.

Project feature

The City of Bristol College was the lead partner in the Employment Unlimited (EUL) project. The project finished at the end of 2009 having exceeded its targets. Co-financed by ESF (European Social Fund) and Learning and Skills Council, EUL was set up to inspire and nurture the hidden talents of the one in eight young people (16–18 years old) in Bristol who had turned their backs on education and employment. The vision was to create a ‘university for the dispossessed’ and the project helped over 1300 youngsters to achieve accreditation or get jobs or progress to further training.

It was recognised early on that EUL would need to be proactive to find, engage and remotivate the young NEET population and that these young people would need encouragement to participate. To do this the project employed community-based young people's advisers (YPA) to support and inspire young people. YPAs came from a variety of backgrounds, including teachers, housing and Connexions professionals as well as artists and performers from community organisations. They required the energy and ability to communicate with young people and the doggedness not to let them give up if barriers started to appear.

Upon receiving referrals from organisations like Connexions, the Youth Offending Team or Social Services, YPAs met young people to identify individual requirements and agree personalised training programmes. Training programmes were broken into activities of a manageable size to maintain interest, and clear goals were set to ensure a sense of achievement. As further encouragement the project offered travel expenses and subsistence in some cases.

EUL offered a flexible approach to training. Many courses were roll on, roll off, and as well as courses offered by the college, short projects were commissioned in response to learners’ needs including street art, film-making and construction taster courses. Such bespoke training was not cheap but was considered a worthwhile investment to change a young person’s life.

The college carefully selected a number of strategically located partner organisations across the city to ensure that the programme reached its target communities and offered a wide choice of training. Partners included recognised training providers as well as a boxing club, a martial arts centre and a music venue, which allowed the training to be offered in non-traditional, familiar community premises.

Looking back at the success of the project, Annie Rowley, EUL programme coordinator, believes there is still the passion and commitment to see the project continue, but without funding it is not possible to continue the direct engagement activities of the YPA. A lot will depend on the next round of ESF funding. Annie is rightly proud that the project not only exceeded it targets in terms of numbers but also succeeded in reaching young people who find themselves in the toughest of circumstances. She says: ‘The biggest challenge was to reach the young people who stood to benefit most from the programme and this is something I feel particularly proud of. We have seen young offenders, young mums and youngsters involved with drugs on the programme. Many have succeeded in turning their lives around and can now look forward to a brighter future.’

EUL won the prestigious 2009 Association of Colleges Beacon Award for widening participation.

Contact details

Annie Rowley, EUL Programme Coordinator
City of Bristol College
Helen Bloom Centre, PO Box 2887 Bristol , BS2 2BB
(0117) 312 2033
E-mail not available