Yearning to Learn and Labour: Understanding Education, Opportunity and Work for Working-Class Lads Growing up in the Shadow of Coal

This collaborative project empowers young working-class lads, especially those who are neurodivergent, in Barnsley's former coalfields to co-create education and employment resources aimed at improving: knowledge and access to opportunities based on their needs and aspirations; knowledge on support mechanisms and systems; practice around neurodivergence; and understanding of opportunities beyond what is known. By co-creating The Youth Hub with and for youth, an education and employment information leaflet for youth and their families, producing podcasts on neurodiverse affirming practices for schools, and hosting screenings of the lads' lived experiences to key stakeholders, the co-creation will create resources that begin to transform youth conditions, experiences, and futures.