NYA Update: Comment -- Youth reaction to citizen service
Jon Boagey
Monday, June 13, 2011
With all the discussion and debate, bidding and partnering that has been going on over the National Citizen Service (NCS), I wondered when we'd begin to see what the programme looks like on the ground.
Suddenly there's been a flurry of activity and when we got a leaflet about the Leicester scheme at home last month I read it with particular interest. My daughter is NCS-age so we looked at it together.
Her immediate response was generally positive. It does look like an attractive proposition for an end of Year 11 student - especially the residential in week one and the community action programme. She thought it would look good on her CV and there's a bonus in being part of the first ever cohort.
From my point of view as a parent, it was good value too - 50 quid to keep your teenager busy all summer can't be bad.
But then there are practical questions and the major one was what happens if I've already booked a holiday or I've got things planned for the summer?
Many will have made arrangements already and because the leaflet makes it clear that full attendance is required on NCS, this is going to count quite a lot of young people out. Even a three or four-day trip to Reading, Leeds or Glastonbury would count you out.
Next year's cohort will need to know much earlier what's on offer with NCS and when, so they can decide what their summer looks like. And maybe NCS will need to accommodate some of those other rights of passage for 16-year-olds - going on holiday with friends, going to a music festival, getting a summer job.
Jon Boagey, director of operations, NYA, Contact: jonb@nya.org.uk
