Enhancing agency and empowering young people: The transformative impact of social and emotional learning programmes

Background: Over thirteen million people in the UK are currently living in poverty, and nearly four million are children (Department for Work and Pensions, 2022). The Youth Futures Foundation (2021) argue that many young people do not have access to support or appropriate information to find employment or apply to further or higher education. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefit for youth programmes in adopting social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies in young people. It seeks to understand the role of SEL competencies in promoting the Capabilities Approach (CA) to empowering young people experiencing disadvantage through the prism of the work of youth charity the Jon Egging Trust (JET), which has been employing the SEL approach for the past decade. Participants and Setting: The research adopts a structured methodology focusing on understanding the SEL needs of young people in addition to parents, stakeholders and teachers. It investigated the benefits of JET youth programmes delivered across England and Wales in partnerships with other reputable organisations. Methods: Thematic analysis was used to analyse data collected from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 66 individual JET participants. This analysis led to the development of two themes: ‘improving young people’s confidence and aspiration’ and ‘preparing young people for the future’. Results: Empowering young people through the development of SEL competencies contributes to enhancing their capabilities, which is essential in preparing young people for transition from education to work. Adopting this type of approach requires innovation and flexibility to ensure challenges (for example, COVID-19) do not derail progress and, instead, contribute to the development of safe environments and secure relationships. Conclusions: Organisations who create a safe space and offer long-term SEL support, give young people the confidence to interact, access opportunities outside of the classroom and put forward their views and set aspirations for their future. This promotes capability approach, which illustrates the importance of providing young people with opportunities for repeated active involvement in activities (or interventions) in creating active citizens who understand/recognise their aspirations and worth.