Abstract
The starting point for this paper is that children and young people’s friendships have, significantly, been neglected as a communal resource. While the importance to teenag-ers of their friends and peers is widely recognized, their friendships are more often seen as a cause of risk behaviour than a resource with which risk could be prevented. Hence, the purpose of this theoretical paper is to challenge this predominant view by looking at teenagers’ spontaneous friendships as inclusionary potential. The paper deals with young teenagers’ friendships from the viewpoint of student welfare and preventive social work at school. It raises the question of how and with what teenag-ers’ wellbeing should be supported in their everyday living environments such as school. The paper introduces Finnish basic education as a site for the prevention of early youths’ marginalization, and studies how young people’s mutual relationships are commonly perceived at school. Drawing from the theories of recognition, it is then suggested that recognizing the meaning and practices of students’ friendship at school could advance their self-confidence, self-esteem and self-respect and hence, support better student wellbeing.
Highlights
In recent years, a growing awareness has arisen regarding the problems included in current ways of dealing with young people’s risk of marginalization and social exclusion
The starting point for this paper is that children and young people’s friendships have, significantly, been neglected as a communal resource
Korkiamäki ers, civil servants and politicians agree that investing in large-scale communal prevention of marginalization would benefit both individual and communal wellbeing, as well as both municipal and state finances [2]
Summary
A growing awareness has arisen regarding the problems included in current ways of dealing with young people’s risk of marginalization and social exclusion. Of which Finland is an example, this is inconsistent with the child welfare, youth work and student welfare legislation, which strongly stress promoting the well-being of all children and youth and preventing the emergence of disadvantageous factors [4] This tension between prevention and responding to crises is recognized internationally, and there is a demand for research that can provide advice on how prevention could be achieved as part of everyday institutional practices such as basic education [5]. As Gilligan [6] argues, positive experiences in immediate living environments may contribute to broader resilience against difficult circumstances and increase children and young people’s engagement with society This important communal feature is usually seen to constitute in the context of family, school or other intergenerational and institutional relations. As Judy Dunn [9] notes: if we do not interest ourselves in teenagers’ friendships, we are missing a huge part of what is important in their lives and focal to their wellbeing
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