Life of Young People in Rural Areas - Coursework Example

The United Kingdom has one of the largest percentages of rural areas - about four-fifths of the total geographical area. Official figures place the rural population at 9.5 million which translates roughly into one-fifth of the total population. But despite the advantages of living in the countryside, one in five households in the rural areas lives below the poverty line. The rural population suffers from certain issues such as the chronic lack of affordable housing, difficulty in accessing key services, and poor access to training and employment opportunities.

The rural population, especially young people, faces hard-ships accessing the basic facilities and services. This may be because of the rising cost of employment or administrative compulsions but the fact remains that more and more young people are migrating to the bigger towns or major cities in search of a better future. This is more so in the case of the young people who are about to make the transition from education to the practical field. Over the past few years, public policy has become more focused on achieving the social and economic participation of rural youth as they make the transition into adulthood to provide those more chances to become productive participants in society. Significant attention and resources have been devoted to engaging greater numbers of young people in post-16 education and training and raising their attainment

Young people are a priority group for the Countryside Agency in the UK. They make up a significant proportion of the rural population – 30% is aged under-25 and more than 18%, approximately 1.7 million, are under-15. The rural youth has a major stake in yielding the productivity of the natural, economic and social resources. However, to optimize the process they must be allowed to build their livelihoods on their terms. Also, the general tendency of treating youth as a “problem” rather than a resource and a source of needed solutions. A major barrier to developing such an understanding and developmental approach is the fact that rural development professionals often do not have a clear understanding of how young people in rural areas access and use the resources to achieve their livelihood strategies. As noted by Midgely and Bradshaw (2006), “The engagement and involvement of young people in rural communities are crucial for the social and economic sustainability, and success of those communities going forward into the future. However, large numbers of young people in rural areas feel that they have to ‘get out’ to ‘get on’: a natural response to the often limited education opportunities and poorly paid, low-skilled, and insecure employment options available. Meanwhile, it is often young people without resources (whether personal networks, educational and/or financial) who stay behind”.

The working parameters of this paper are based on the premise that the most appropriate source of information and the basis of data collection is the young people themselves. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data has been researched for the paper. Qualitative data has been gathered through the involvement of young people through focus groups, interviews, and group discussions/workshops. Quantitative data has been gathered from other studies and government reports on the subject.

This survey offers an analysis of the effects of current policies on young people in rural areas, and of the problems that have to be overcome if young people and rural communities are to have successful futures. A limitation of the report is that the quantitative data available is up to 2005. The reason for this drawback is that the last official studies were published in late 2006 and had data up to the previous year. However, it is felt that the available data has very little margin for error and is generally correct to support the findings of this report.