a “It’s much different now than it was for us. We had, I wouldn’t say a easier time, but there was a lot of jobs around, so, you know, it was very easy for us, plus, we had our parents and they were quite involved with what we did. Some parents don’t bother at all now.”

c “Lady c exposed concerns about future jobs. She gave the example of how she is saving some money to give to her grandson who will be 18. the grandson is about to finish his studies to become a plumber and because she sees commitment and dedication in him she wants to help. She talks of how his father is not present and how many of his friend are already in prison.” 

c “My nephew, he is a big man, he is 33 now but when he was about 17/18 he went to college, we went to uni, I did everything, and now, what he wanted to do… He is working in the library (…)”

b “It really annoys me, because I know a lot of kids out there, who are really really trying.”

a “I had the choice between hair dressing and dress making, which I was interested in. I was gonna do hair dressing, but when I found out I had to do an apprenticeship for about three years, and the money was really really bad. I was thinking of my mum and dad, I couldn’t take that job because I couldn’t afford to pay them back, so I thought of the dress making which I was very happy with, and that’s what I did. And then I found a job. Back then it was easy, I mean, the wages weren’t marvellous, but you survived.”

k “When we spoke about the ethos it could even be beneficial, in terms of changing behaviours,(…) at some point we would like to be less exploitation, I guess at some point the next people who are going to be employers, are the people are these young people, so it might be helpful for them to hear what it used to be like, so these values around employment could be brought up.”

e “The kids out there, they need someone to talk to, there is a lot out there like that, that have a lot of questions to be answered, but they don’t know, they have no one to talk to, and no one ever listens to them”

“We have found that good engagement work is led by the reason for doing it, rather than the methods. And in most cases, the key to success is not the engagement vehicle itself, it’s actually the driver (the person and their style or tone of communication).””http://uscreatesblog.com/2012/02/23/why-and-how-do-you-engage-people/ (I found this post great to help me justify not having used the probes)

b “And the parents haven’t go the time, most of the time parents have got their issues, they have to work all day, she has three kids, she has to cook,  pay the rent and this and this, and the kid says ‘mum, can I have a word,’ ‘oh, in a minute’.”

c And its important, but she hasn’t got the time, so they need someone to listen to them (as she bangs here hand on the table)

k “And even someone who is not biased, cause, you know as a parent you have certain things that you would like your kids to do, and it can be hard to be objective and they just listen to the child, but if you were to speak to someone who is not related, that person might have something to different to say. Because it might not even be that they want to speak to someone who has had a specific job, it can just be, you know, anyone”

c “(..) because many of them, they have a lot in there, (points to the head) and they want to let it out, but they have no one to say, so they retaliating (she is referring to the kids who end up being problematic, or end up in gangs), because they don’t know what to do ‘no one is listening to me’, so the only way they can show, and to get notice, is for them to knock you down, or… and then they get the social worker(…)”

e “My son, he was made redundant 4 times. 4 ties, I mean he had very good jobs, he did his own business, that fell through after 3 or 4 years, then he bought a motorcycle, he became a courier (she laughs), and he did that for quite a while (…) he worked at syon for six years, they did all these gadgets (points out to the iphones). He had eight O levels and then he went to university. He first wanted to be a zoologist, but by the time he was to apply he realized he might not get a job as a zoologist, so he went back to college and he did two O levels, and then he went to university and did an electrical engineering.”