Barriers and Restrictions for Adolescents and Young Mothers - Book Report/Review Example

"Literature Review of Articles on The Barriers Preventing Teenage Parents From Re-entering Education" Introduction Research data from various articles state that UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe. Various studies have been carried out to understand the constraints preventing teenage parents from re-entering education. To overcome these strains numerous organizations are taking care to encourage teenage parents for education, one such program is government policy to prevent young people dropping out of education or training before the age of 18. Research data suggest that around 16-18 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), but are the teenage mothers (Dench, 2007, B). This paper reviews articles on the barriers preventing teenage parents from re-entering education. It identifies the social, psychological, biological, and cognitive variables associated with teenage parents from re-entering education (Dench, 2007, A). The research data is collected through the internet search engine www.google.com and have used the references published after 2004. Different barriers are associated with the teenage parents, averting them from re-entering education. Various important issues are discussed in this article. The most important issue is of housing (Dench, 2007, A). More than 50% of the teenage mothers lived with parent(s) especially during the course of pregnancy, remaining 50% lived with their partner, or on their own in a private rented accommodation while some prefer living in council housing, supported housing or in temporary housing (Dench, 2007, A). These accommodations were often not suitable for teenage mothers and they seek out support for improving their condition as in most of the cases they were not even able to bear their house rents. Not only the rented houses were the problem but, there was always scarcity of social housing. The situation further worsens when these young mothers move from chaotic family home and end up making themselves homeless (Dench, 2007, A). Moreover, because of lack of maturity and also poverty there are more chances of split up with the partners and this also makes them homeless. The situation of housing is further created when the neighbors frustrate them. Eventually, housing was a high priority for young mothers, and it was often an area of concern (Dench, 2007, A). Next to housing is the issue of income of these young mothers. It comes from a mix of benefits and tax credits. It varies with the circumstances, for instance, if they were pregnant, where they were living, and whether they or their partner were working (Dench, 2007, A). Some of them receive Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit, and other sources of Income Support and, if they were not living at with their parent(s), Housing Benefit. Some of the mothers generate from a wage (their own, or in most cases, their partner's), or a mixture of wages and Working Families' Tax Credit. Some young mothers sort themselves, while others cannot. Sometimes young mothers lose their benefits if they split up with partners. Therefore, income and expenses are difficult to balance so they are refrained from continuing their education. On the other hand minority of the young mothers is careful in budgeting or is financially sound or living with their parents (Cater, 2006). Another important issue is relationship with the child's father, as in 50% of the young mothers started off well with their partners in the beginning and then they had strained relationship with their child's father and have to bear the struggle alone, due to split ups, keeping themselves from joining back the educational institutions. In a few cases babies have strengthen the relationships of the parents. The reason for these strained relations varies but in most cases problems of housing and money culminated into domestic violence, abuse and splits (Dench, 2007, A). Impact of having a baby is so much that pregnancy, followed by having a baby significantly affects the lives of young parents, predominantly mothers. In particular, it affects the social life and friendship groups of the majority of young women. However, their attitudes to being a parent (although to a lesser extent being pregnant) were extremely positive (Cater, 2006). Pregnancy at teens or rather parenting at teens vastly affects social life and friendship: majority of young parents experience a drastic change in their lives, for some young mothers, having a baby moved them away from their old friends (Dench, 2007, A). Almost 50% of the cases studied reveals that distancing from past friends was initiated by the young mother as they frame the impression that old friends were a bad influence and/or less responsible. These young mothers frequently felt that having a baby had reassured them and forced them to grow up, and as a result they no longer wanted to associate with past friends who may have been involved with drugs, alcohol etc (Dench, 2007, A). For many young parents, the loss of past friends was the result of a lack of time (and money) to go for outings and socialize, and hence the drifting. In some cases, moving quite large distances between towns/areas young women were unable to rely on previous social networks and would often know no one at all in the new area (Cater, 2006). There is a change in the attitudes of young mothers after realizing that they are pregnant or after becoming parent. Young mothers (with children) also face other hardships, such as sorting out benefits, housing, and the responsibility and effort involved in looking after a young child (Dench, 2007, A). Although, most of the young mothers say that it's a reward and positive experience and they are enjoying being mothers inspite of all obstacles and that they have a purpose in life and keep them abstain from continuing their education. This is likely to be because the impact of having a baby in 'making you grow up', which was mentioned by a number of young mothers, had not yet happened (Dench, 2007, A). Furthermore, they had more time to be involved with friends, as they did not yet have a baby to care for. In majority of the cases young mothers have experienced health problems while pregnant; others found especially once they began to 'show' that socializing could be difficult. They also often did not have the energy (Cater, 2006). It is evident that family background and upbringing matters a lot in supporting the teenage pregnancy followed by parenting. Chaotic family backgrounds are major troubles associated with the young women had encountered in their family backgrounds. Although some of the young women had been in care and that this had disrupted education (Hayhurst, 2005). They may be back living with her mother, but it seems that the only reason she was not thrown out was because she had a baby. After the focus group, one of the support workers reported that most of the young women had some contact with the care system at some point in their lives and that this had shaped their reactions. In most of the cases, members of this group were generally disengaged, although a couple had made, or were making, arrangements to study at college and seem particularly sorted out and organized, although engaging with education or employment, came from a background of an alcoholic mother and absent father in addition to the toddler (Hayhurst, 2005). Family background and also cultural influences and a lack of aspirations directly influence young mothers as they face abuse and domestic violence. Therefore they are keener for providing good child care and education were not the priority for them as they came from a community where joblessness was high, and women, in particular, were not expected to engage in the labor market (Hayhurst, 2005). Most young mothers belonging to this category are determined to train and obtain a good job. It was trust issues over leaving their child that was a major barrier to them entering learning (Dench, 2007, B). It is the feeling of every woman to be a good mother. This desire makes young mothers feel far too pressured to remain in or return to learning before they were ready. There was a strong desire amongst many of the young mothers to care for their child full time, especially during the first few years. Attending formal learning is a step too far for a number of young mothers, and this can set them up for failure if other aspects of their lives are not sorted out. Housing, relationship issues and finances are all more immediate priorities than longer-term labor -market participation (Dench, 2007, B). Previous education experience also matters a lot as in a few cases, young women had not enjoyed school, and while some had attended and achieved qualifications, others had effectively dropped out before they reached statutory school-leaving age. Many of the reasons for disliking school created a barrier to them moving on to further learning (Hayhurst, 2005). Further, those with few or no qualifications did not always have the levels needed to progress without retaking. Some needed to improve their basic skills. It is manifested that, failure, or relative lack of success at school, perhaps flanking being bullied or not fitting in, had undermined the confidence of a number of young mothers. This is due to lack of interest in learning. This put them off attending any learning provision and fear of being bullied again was an underlying emotion putting them off learning (Hayhurst, 2005). Lack of clear goals for future is the major issue in front of majority of young mothers indicating that they would like to return to learning in the future, there were varying levels of awareness about the steps needed to achieve their future goals. Some appeared to be confused or uncertain about their future course of action (Dench, 2007, B). On the other hand, some were clearer about the direction they wanted to take, but were unsure where to go for appropriate advice and guidance about the options open to them, and what kinds of support were available, especially for childcare (Dench, 2007, B). Of all the issues which may serve as barriers in rejoining education after becoming parents in teens the important one is eligibility for funding and financial constraints. Many young mothers indicated that they wanted to delay going back into education until their babies were older, perhaps old enough to go to nursery or play group (Cater, 2006). This was an issue that many support workers were constantly coming up against as a barrier to learning, and they had to work with this. Some young mothers were already too old to be eligible for Care to Learn funding and had not found out about it until it was too late. Some support workers also raised the issue of the difficulties faced by young mothers, particularly those now over the age of 20, in accessing financial support for returning to study. According to one Teenage Pregnancy Co-ordinator, there was a pattern of young mothers in her area wanting to get back into learning at an older age (ie early 20s) but there was no specific funding targeted at the needs of this older age group (Dench, 2007, B). The shame and guilt moreover the comments from the society especially from neighbors keep them in social isolation. The isolation of a number of young mothers was discussed earlier in this report, and this could impact on their ability to engage in learning (Dench, 2007, A). Most of the young mothers did not know how to find out about learning opportunities available to them, or did not have aspirations in this direction because of their perception that there were no opportunities open to them (Hayhurst, 2005). It is therefore, evident that supportive families can make studying much easier for a young mother either by helping them financially, taking some of the pressures of looking after a child off the mother (giving the young woman space to complete course work or just have time for herself), and just generally providing emotional and other personal support (Dench, 2007, A). Conclusion: the article has explored varied experiences, barriers and constraints of the teenage and young mothers. Many young mothers felt motivated by a desire to gain further qualifications and obtain employment. If the barriers like: cultural factors, a lack of clear goals for the future, lack of awareness about where to go for advice or guidance on learning opportunities, being too old for Care to Learn, lack of knowledge about the availability of other forms of financial support preferring to stay at home with their child; financial constraints, social isolation and lack of family support; and learner support issues. Proper education and guidance is required by these teenage parents to re-enter into the education and make their lives a success. References: 1. Cater S, Coleman L (2006) 'Planned' teenage pregnancy: Views and experiences of young people from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, Joseph Rowntree Foundation/Policy Press. 2. (A) Dench, S., Bellis, A., Tuochy, S., 2007, Young Mothers Not in Learning A quantitative study of barriers and attitudes, Report 439, Institute of Employment Studies http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs/report.phpid=439 3. (B) Dench S, Bellis A, (2007) Learning for Young Mothers. A qualitative study of flexible provision, IES Report 441. 4. Hayhurst, C., 2005, Childcare programs Help Teen Parents Stay in School. http://www.teenwire.com/infocus/2005/if-20051111p393-childcare.php Read More