The Greater Manchester Life Readiness Survey is carried out through schools every year, gauging things like expectations, hopes, wellbeing, education, careers and, lately, the pandemic.
During November and December last year, one in every five Year 10 pupils in the region (around 7,000) responded to the survey, and the results show a loss of hope and optimism, particularly amongst young girls.
For all pupils, 72% said they were 'hopeful and optimistic' about the future in 2020, 11% down from 2019, and 13% down from 2018.
For boys, the figure was 81% 'hopeful and optimistic', a 7% drop from 2019 and 8% from 2018. For girls, however, the drop was more marked, with 67% 'hopeful and optimistic', compared to 81% the previous year and 83% in 2018.
"It's confirming what most people would have expected" said Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, at the GM Leaders' press conference this afternoon, where he presented the findings "...Clearly this reflects a difficult twelve months for young people in Greater Manchester...
"44% of participants also said the pandemic had not adversely affected their lives, with 20% saying it had made their lives better but the overall figures reflect a loss of hope and optimism amongst a group of young people in the city region and I think it's important we focus on that" he added.
Other findings from the survey showed that 75% of participants found being back at school stressful, 70% were worried about being able to catch up and one quarter said they didn't have everything they needed to learn effectively from home.
"In the context of what has happened this week, I think it's important to understand how difficult it has been for young people in Greater Manchester when we've had a situation of school being open, then closed, people being sent home to isolate" said Burnham "The reduced face-to-face learning has had an impact on young people...as we were pointing out to the Government, a high level of unmet need when it comes to our young people's education during the lockdown period."
On the positive side, 56% of participants are 'looking forward to getting involved in positive social action over the next 12 months'... "A really fantastic thing to build on coming out of all this" said the GM Mayor.
To support young people, Greater Manchester launched GMACS (Greater Manchester Apprenticeships and Careers Service), a one-stop online resource for training, on the eve of the pandemic, and four in every ten young people who participated in the survey knew about it...
"It's so important now, as young people come through this that we are able to signpost them to a place where they can find real opportunity" said Burnham "It's really going to come into its own now, and we really want to promote it so more people are aware of it."
Meanwhile six in every ten pupils across Greater Manchester were also aware of Kooth, an online counselling and emotional wellbeing platform... "Support that young people are crying out for" said Burnham "The need for that kind of support is growing all the time, and we all have to become much more concerned about children's mental health and wellbeing. I think it's taken a hit in the last year...We are going to continue building up some of these services that we've put in place over the last year."
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