IMPROVING EMPLOYABILITY AND OUTCOMES THROUGH WORKPLACE LEARNING: CASE STUDIES OF YOUTH IN SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

Social enterprises are being utilised to assist marginalised group of people to move into employment. These enterprises enable participants to learn specific job skills as well as technical skills such as literacy and numeracy through experiential learning. The experience of working in a real life work environment also develops participants’ employability skills in areas such as teamwork, communication, work ethic, and attendance. Focus is also spent on the addressing the personal barriers to employment. BoysTown is one not-for-profit organisation that delivers social enterprises for marginalised young people. In an Australian Research Council linkage project where Griffith University and BoysTown collaborated, the focus was on exploring the personal development of young people, the progress in their vocational skills and their achievement of employment and education outcomes. Forty young people were interviewed at length when they commenced their social enterprise and when they exited. Constant comparison method was used to analyse the qualitative data and explore the main themes. The findings revealed improvements in personal, interpersonal and collective agency, aspirations, and decisions-making. In addition, the young people pinpointed the work of BoysTown Trainers in developing their skills and employability and the Youth Worker in addressing their non-vocational barriers. The combination of personal and technical skill development indicates that social enterprises are a valuable pathway for marginalised young people to achieve their education and employment outcomes.