Columnist

Have we made it harder for young people to succeed?

As a business owner, put yourself in a young person’s shoes for a moment.

You spend years preparing for exams that can make you feel your future depends on a handful of grades.

There’s less time for part-time jobs, hobbies and activities that help you develop skills, friendships and a sense of identity beyond the classroom.

You’re told university could open doors, but that comes with substantial costs.

Finding work is difficult when entry-level jobs ask for experience you haven’t got.

Moving out of your family home can feel like an impossible dream.

Who wouldn’t find this distressing?

Ahead of the Government-ordered review into mental health, ADHD and autism, Professor Peter Fonagy is right to challenge the idea that today’s young people are a generation of so-called snowflakes.

In more than 20 years working as a teacher, examiner and coach, I’ve seen young people persevere through considerable pressure.

Yet when they experience mental distress, we can be quick to question their resilience.

We also have a narrow idea of what resilience looks like.

We associate it with speaking up, standing your ground, thinking on your feet and appearing confident.

But a young person, who has kept going through years of pressure, may have demonstrated considerable resilience without displaying any of those behaviours.

For neurodivergent young people, the challenge is greater still.

They may spend years trying to meet expectations around sitting still, maintaining eye contact or communicating in a particular way, while their strengths go unrecognised.

Then they enter the workplace.

They’re expected to articulate strengths they’ve never been taught to recognise, demonstrate initiative and understand rules nobody has explained.

We ask young people to navigate all this, then expect them to move beyond their distress and simply get on with it.

Employers can help. Supporting resilience doesn’t mean removing challenges, but creating conditions in which people can meet them.

Be clear. Explain expectations, what good work looks like and which decisions employees can make independently.

See people. Help young employees recognise their strengths.

Offer different ways to contribute, rather than mistaking hesitance for a lack of confidence or capability.

These changes can support mental wellbeing, while also helping organisations recognise and retain talent they might otherwise lose.

We keep asking why young people aren’t ready for the workplace.

Perhaps we should also ask whether our workplaces are ready for young people.

Charlotte Noon is founder of professional coaching provider Quietly Brilliant People, a qualified teacher, examiner and ILM level five coach

Want your business, product or service to be seen regionally and nationally? Bdaily helps you get your story in front of the right audience, every day. Find out how Bdaily can help →

Join more than 55,000 subscribers by signing up to our daily bulletin each morning here.