For more than a century the state has prohibited children from obtaining full time employment and it has assumed increasing control over the conditions awaiting school leavers in the labour market. This book traces these developments from the introduction of compulsory schooling to the creating of the two year Youth Training Scheme. It draws on a wealth of empirical studies of young people at school and at work both to illustrate how raising the school leaving age to 16 failed to deliver what it promised, and to reveal how the Conservative government elected in 1979 redefined the relationship between education, training and work. Through a detailed critique of the development and politics of the Manpower Services Commission, the book shows how the power of the state has been used to manage and contain the political crisis of mass unemployment. It also reveals, however, that young people are unlikely to accept meekly the new social and economic status that the government has created for them. Many have little confidence in the cynical offers of Training Without Jobs.

In Massachusetts, a 12-year-old girl delivering newspapers is killed when a car strikes her bicycle. In Los Angeles, a 14-year-old boy repeatedly falls asleep in class, exhausted from his evening job. Although children and adolescents may benefit from working, there may also be negative social effects and sometimes danger in their jobs. Protecting Youth at Work looks at what is known about work done by children and adolescents and the effects of that work on their physical and emotional health and social functioning. The committee recommends specific initiatives for legislators, regulators, researchers, and employers. This book provides historical perspective on working children and adolescents in America and explores the framework of child labor laws that govern that work. The committee presents a wide range of data and analysis on the scope of youth employment, factors that put children and adolescents at risk in the workplace, and the positive and negative effects of employment, including data on educational attainment and lifestyle choices. Protecting Youth at Work also includes discussions of special issues for minority and disadvantaged youth, young workers in agriculture, and children who work in family-owned businesses.

Debates in Citizenship Education encourages student and practising teachers to engage with and reflect on key topics, concepts and debates that they will have to address throughout their career. It places the specialist field of citizenship education in the wider context and aims to enable teachers to reach their own informed judgements and argue their point of view with deeper theoretical knowledge and understanding.

On cover: Labour market and working environment. Proceedings of a Nordic Seminar, held in Helsinki, Finland, on 22-24 January 1996.

Internationally renowned experts assess the role of retail work in modern industrial economies in Retail Work. Chapters are arranged thematically to capture four aspects of retail work: the nature of work and the shop floor; work across the supply chain and the wider productive system; the skills used in retailing; and workers as a collectivity.

Young adulthood - ages approximately 18 to 26 - is a critical period of development with long-lasting implications for a person's economic security, health and well-being. Young adults are key contributors to the nation's workforce and military services and, since many are parents, to the healthy development of the next generation. Although 'millennials' have received attention in the popular media in recent years, young adults are too rarely treated as a distinct population in policy, programs, and research. Instead, they are often grouped with adolescents or, more often, with all adults. Currently, the nation is experiencing economic restructuring, widening inequality, a rapidly rising ratio of older adults, and an increasingly diverse population. The possible transformative effects of these features make focus on young adults especially important. A systematic approach to understanding and responding to the unique circumstances and needs of today's young adults can help to pave the way to a more productive and equitable tomorrow for young adults in particular and our society at large. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults describes what is meant by the term young adulthood, who young adults are, what they are doing, and what they need. This study recommends actions that nonprofit programs and federal, state, and local agencies can take to help young adults make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. According to this report, young adults should be considered as a separate group from adolescents and older adults. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults makes the case that increased efforts to improve high school and college graduate rates and education and workforce development systems that are more closely tied to high-demand economic sectors will help this age group achieve greater opportunity and success. The report also discusses the health status of young adults and makes recommendations to develop evidence-based practices for young adults for medical and behavioral health, including preventions. What happens during the young adult years has profound implications for the rest of the life course, and the stability and progress of society at large depends on how any cohort of young adults fares as a whole. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults will provide a roadmap to improving outcomes for this age group as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.

‘Transition’ has numerous everyday and conceptual meanings yet, while certain transitions are unsettling and difficult for some people, risk, challenge and even difficulty might also be important factors in successful transitions for others.