London has strong levels of participation in learning to 18. Young people benefit from highly successful colleges and schools, energetic youth enterprises, and experienced youth services. Yet youth unemployment remains a major concern for over 20% of 16-25 year olds. While many young people find the journey to work is straightforward, energising and liberating, for others it is a struggle along hazy pathways with difficult decisions and confusing information, and high walls to climb. To get the experience that employers need seems difficult without having experience already. The London Youth Employment Initiative EU Study Tour (YEI EU) wants to undertake a study visit by 20 sector leaders and practitioners to the Northwest Rhine urban conurbation in Germany to explore challenges and successes in enabling young people to enter and sustain employment, and to identify how education and business can work together to achieve this. In particular we wish to study education/business arrangements in Germany to help the London YEI employability strand to establish cluster based networks to provide effective innovative practice in schools/colleges and coordinating the engagement of businesses and increasing employer involvement in schools in London. Six leaders from German partners will also be involved in the programme. Through visits to German schools, technical colleges, employers and their associations and coordinating bodies of the Chambers of Commerce, the project will study ways to: • increase employer involvement in schools – including, governance, supporting the provision of employability skills, shaping the curriculum, helping assess vocational qualifications and participating in careers work • coordinate engagement with large employers and developing local links between education and small / medium-sized and micro businesses to identify and design work experience placements that deliver practical business benefits as well as opportunities for young people • mentor employers to increase the success and sustainability of opportunities • support employers to provide a more comprehensive offer of work opportunities, including work experience and apprenticeships (including 16-18 apprenticeships and boost the credibility of Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships or Traineeships and address the low uptake in London. German partners and hosts will benefit from the reflection on contrasting practice, and the potential for greater cross-national activity, and will each be represented at the London dissemination seminar, with the additional opportunity for visits to UK family intervention programmes and social investment activities.