Policy synthesis and integrative report on Policy Transfer and Comparative Frameworks

This report summarises the main findings from Work Package Four (WP4) of the STYLE project and reflects on the contribution of the findings to understanding the major barriers to and triggers of innovative policies for better youth labour market outcomes. The report also suggests some policy considerations with regards to policy learning.

The report is presented in two sections: the first offers findings from each of the four main tasks of WP4, before the second section considers the contribution of the research and presents some policy considerations. At the beginning of this second section (3.1), the authors consider the barriers to, and enablers for, policy innovation. Examples such as the Youth Contract in Wales demonstrate how regional or local level innovative practices offer ample scope for spreading innovation further.

A variety of examples examples across Europe are offered. Demonstrating how certain local innovations to improve the labour market transitions of young people have successfully spread across countries. The report notes how these local initiatives do, however, in order to yield sustainable results, need to run in a policy environment conducive to co-ordinated sharing and diffusion of knowledge between stakeholders and different levels of administration.

In sections 3.2 and 3.3, the report offers insights on the main foci of innovation regarding effective school-to-work (STW) transition strategies, and concludes with policy pointers that can serve as recommendations for successful policy learning and innovation in relation to effective school-to-work transitions in the EU.