In the final episode of The Northern Agenda's Our Kids In The North podcast, Rob Parsons and Annie Gouk look at the choices facing young people in our region when they reach 16.

That’s the age when they no longer have to stay in school but they do have to stay in some form of education or training until the age of 18, so that opens up options like starting an apprenticeship, taking a vocational course like a T Level or pursuing further education with A Levels with a view to going to university.

The aim of all that is to end up with a good job, or at least putting yourself on the path towards getting one. And that’s why their success is something political leaders in the North are taking a keen interest in as they know the young people coming out of schools today will be the ones who in years to come will be helping to grow our region’s economy.

We hear from the further education college in Hartlepool whose principal describes it as “overlooked, undervalued, underfunded, yet marvellous” - how is it helping young people to better futures in the face of funding cuts and widespread poverty?

Students in the buzzing centre of Manchester talk to Rob about how young people in the city are struggling with bad landlords and poor mental health.

The Vice-Chancellor at the University of York talks about the broken funding system for higher education - and how he hopes to use technology to reach students across the world.

And Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham describes how we have "an education system built for the third who are going to university and not the two thirds who are not" - and what he's doing to change that.

The Northern Agenda: Our Kids in the North is a Reach Studio production, presented by Rob Parsons with contributions from Annie Gouk. The podcast is produced by Daniel J. McLaughlin.

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