Education, Skills building and Employability

Overview

The link between education and well-being is well recognized. An adolescent who has access to quality education is more likely to experience well-being and an adolescent who experiences well-being is more likely to excel in education and future employment. A strong body of evidence, drawing on high and low-income contexts, shows how education contributes in a number of different ways to adolescent well-being. Thus, adolescence (10-19 years) should be seen as a critical window of opportunity to invest in education, skills and competencies; with benefits for well-being now, into future adult life, and for the next generation. This paper presents the latest evidence informing policy and programming to ensure that adolescents have access to education (including post-school pathways for those who drop out early); that schools and other educational institutions are delivering well-being promoting interventions - both at a curriculum level and the broader way in which they operate as institutions; and to ensure that education is preparing adolescents with the relevant skills and competencies that facilitate future employability. We demonstrate that alongside attention to other interconnected domains of well-being (e.g. health, protection, connectedness, agency), investing in the education, skills and employability of adolescents is a sound investment in their well-being.