Social Inclusion Of Young People Research Articles

MANAGING ASSISTANCE IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL INCLUSION ADDRESSED TO YOUNG PEOPLE FROM MIGRANT FAMILIES AT THE EUROPEAN UNION LEVEL

Youth migration can be considered in many aspects. More and more young people from third countries are moving to European countries on their own or with their parents, sometimes at a very young age or even in childhood. At the same time, more and more young Europeans are becoming mobile across the continent. In terms of public policy for youth, it should be noted that students and pupils from a migrant background often struggle with difficulties in adapting to new learning conditions. Social inclusion of all young people, including those with migrant backgrounds, is one of the priorities of EU public policies in the youth field. Nowadays, social inclusion is largely based on activities that do not allow for digital exclusion, because modern education is very closely related to modern technologies. The instruments for implementing public policy for youth involve various programs funded by the European Union. These programs play a very important role in the process of social inclusion of young people from migrant families. As a result of the research, using the method of institutional and legal analysis, it was concluded that the key recommendation is that all activities addressed to young people from migrant families should enable them to function well in youth communities.

Media education and educational commons for youth civic engagement. A case study from the Horizon 2020 project SMOOTH.

This study presents the preliminary findings of the first round of implementation of a case study included in the Horizon 2020 project SMOOTH. The project's main objective is to introduce and study the emergent paradigm of the educational commons as an alternative system of values and actions for promoting intercultural and intergenerational dialogue and establishing spaces of democratic citizenship that support the development of local communities. Our case study adopts this paradigm with insights derived from the field of media education. Hence, our research questions were as follows: (a) How do young people collectively experience and build the educational commons? (b) How do participants (youth and adults) in educational commons experience peer governance and how do they handle and resolve conflicts? (c) How does the co-creation of a photo-blog as a shared space of work help young people discover and develop a "civic intentionality" in the (digital) public sphere? (d) What are the effects of applying a commons' logic to address inequalities and achieve social inclusion of young people from vulnerable social groups? Fieldwork, framed in an ethnographic and action-research approach, was developed by examining the three dimensions of the notion of educational commons (commoners, commoning practices, and community). Although data collection and analysis are still in progress, our preliminary results allow us to draw some initial reflections on what worked well in the first round and what could hinder the achievement of the project's objectives. We also propose hypotheses for re-designing the second round to overcome the weaknesses that emerged during the first experimental phase and foster its strengths.

NextGenerationEU as a (more) youth-friendly Europe?

ABSTRACT In many countries across Europe, youth conditions and intergenerational inequalities have frequently remained at the margins of political interest and a residual topic in discourses on welfare and in social policies. Difficulties in transitions to adulthood and issues of social inclusion of youth have, for a long time, been conceived of as problems to be addressed largely by acting on families rather than through policy measures addressing young people directly. In this scenario, the NextGenerationEU plan promises and requires a change of approach, defining youth inclusion as a strategic priority, identifying young people as main actors in their lives and in society, and imagining a more youth-inclusive and equal future for Europe. Focusing on Italy and Poland – two countries distinguished by a relatively weak social inclusion of young people and a familiarized approach to youth policy – the article retraces the main traits of the condition of youth in the two national contexts and reflects on what ideas of youth and of youth futures emerge in the national implementation programmes of the NextGenerationEU.

Assessing the fidelity of delivery style of a mental skills training programme for young people experiencing homelessness

There is a need for positive youth development/strengths-based approaches to support the wellbeing and social inclusion of young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. My Strengths Training for Life™ (MST4Life™) uses a strengths-based approach with the aim to improve young people’s resilience, self-worth, wellbeing and engagement in education, employment, and training. This mixed methods study assessed the fidelity of delivery style of the MST4Life™ programme, the extent to which frontline service staff can delivery psychologically informed programmes to service users and identified barriers and enablers to delivering with fidelity to the intended style. Observations of programme delivery (two facilitators per session) took place across early, middle, and late phases of the programme across a pilot phase (n = 18) and main study (n = 45). Facilitators also completed self-reflection forms following each session. The mean observation score was 82.2 ± 15.7 %, and facilitator self-report mean adherence score was 89.3 ± 6.2 % which indicate that the programme was delivered with high fidelity. Quantitative data was also analysed using non-parametric statistical test (Mann-Whitney U Test). There was a significant difference between observation scores for deliverers with postgraduate psychology training compared to deliverers without postgraduate psychology training (p = .029). Qualitative data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Barriers and enablers included communication, frontline staff support, logistics, and participant behaviours. Overall, this study highlights that despite the challenges of delivering complex community programmes to young people experiencing homelessness, it was possible for frontline service staff to deliver MST4Life™ with high fidelity.

TO BE YOUNG, ALIENATED AND UNEMPLOYED: SOCIAL IDENTITY, ATTITUDES AND WELL-BEING OF GEORGIA’S NEET YOUTH

Education and employment are essential factors for social inclusion of young people in society, so it is important to study young people who are neither in education or in employment (called NEETs) to determine how they deal with their social status and their mechanisms to integrate into society. This study examines how negatively or positively NEET young people perceive their social status, how NEET status affects young people's attitudes, social identity, or well-being, and whether young people try to escape from the status of NEET. The survey was conducted with 380 young people and in-depth interviews with 12 people. Research shows that the social status of NEET is neither desirable nor appreciated. NEETs are associated with diminished well-being mainly because of their lower life satisfaction. NEET youth scores lower than the general population in life satisfaction, although they have similar level of self-esteem. Research has shown that NEET youth use psychological mechanisms, such as identifying with a positively assessed group, to help young people maintain high self-esteem or use strategies to escape from the NEETs group, get a job, or continue their education. The following factors positively contribute to the desire to leave the NEET group: self-esteem is the most important motivator, followed by social identity, attitudes towards education and employment, and family economic status. The high NEET rate in Georgia suggests that NEETs youth should be a particular target group for interventions to enable their ‘activation’ to integrate into society. Keywords: attitudes towards education, attitudes towards employment, NEET youth, social identity, well-being

How to research educational inequalities arising from remote education during the COVID-19 pandemic? Research in countries of the Visegrad Group (V4)

Due to many restrictions in Central and Eastern Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic, the area of formal education of young people was dominated by remote (on-line) classes. Although, research has been conducted on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education and social inclusion of young people, their families and teachers, most of the studies only included urban youth with access to digital technologies and infrastructure. However, there are no studies of young people from rural areas, small towns, and less developed areas. The article presents the conclusion from analyses using the desk research technique of the existing documents and research results of the effect of the pandemic on teachers, students and their families from different groups and backgrounds from the area of Visegrad Region countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). The desk research was the initial stage for further research on peripheral regions of the countries. The further research methodology is also presented in the article.

Digital youth work: a systematic review with a proposal

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between three areas: (1) youth digital participation practices aimed at fostering digital citizenship; (2) the competencies (skills and knowledge) required for critical digital literacy; and (3) the role of digital media in social work education to foster social inclusion. The purpose of this examination is to develop the notion of digital youth work, specified as a proposal for critical digital literacy that guides young people toward digital participation with social impact. We conducted a systematic review of academic articles published from 2015 to 2019 to obtain an overview of these issues. The results were used to address the following aspects of digital youth work: the main scholar approaches on digital citizenship and how they relate to the dominant notions of youth; debates on youth digital participation and tensions arising from the use of digital media in social work education; and the characteristics of a critical digital literacy whose competencies are geared towards social inclusion of young people.

MOOC e NEET? Percorsi innovativi per l’inclusione sociale ed economica dei giovani vulnerabili

This paper shows the state of the art regarding the possibilities of intervention for the economic and social inclusion of young people Not engaged in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) in the countries of the European Union, in order to identify and compare good practices and didactic models aimed to contrast the social and economic vulnerabilities of young people. The systematic review, carried out on both generalist and more properly educational databases, has revealed the poor relationship between the two topics in literature, each one moreover only recently made the subject of articulated research. The field of study is therefore open and invites further reflection on its possible developments. Matching NEETs’ needs and business companies’ requirements, students’ motivation during the learning path, keeping balance between e-learning and face-to-face lectures, tutors’ involvement along the course, and relationships with stakeholders remain the main issues identified in the various papers reviewed.

Creating a tolerant attitude - a remedy for the social inclusion of young people with disabilities in academia

Inclusive education in academia has become a key concept worldwide. Inclusion in the academic environment does not start from scratch but is based on the principles and measures applied since the levels of previous stages of education (school, middle school, high school) with their specific adaptation.In order to optimize the possibilities of access in university education, inclusive education in the previous stages of schooling remains essential, which should be complemented with effective transition strategies.In order to achieve an effective socio-educational inclusion, it is essential to have coherence and concordance between the educational policy and the education system, on the one hand, and the practical ways of achieving it on the other hand.

‘Being there’: technology to reduce isolation for young people with significant illness

ABSTRACT Young people in physical isolation because of significant illness experience disconnection from social and educational contexts. A ground-breaking intervention in New Zealand aimed to foster social inclusion for young people who are hospital-or-home-bound due to cancer treatment. A formative assessment of five young people aged 13–18, their parents, and their teachers was undertaken to determine the efficacy of telepresence technology to connect young persons to a chosen educational environment. Results indicate that the use of this technology enabled young people to experience being there in familiar educational environments and provided early evidence of the effectiveness of this intervention in helping to disrupt isolation, increase connectedness, and lift participants’ moods. This paper highlights the implications for teachers, social workers, and counsellors.

Best Practices in the Development of Transversal Competences among Youths in Vulnerable Situations

(1) Background: The aim of Second Chance Schools (E2Cs) is to provide employment-focused training for young people who left compulsory education without any formal qualifications by encouraging them to pursue initial vocational training. Transversal Competences (TCs) are important for enabling the social inclusion of young people in vulnerable situations by promoting their entry into the labour market. However, TCs are not always systematically developed. The objective of this study is to analyse good practices in inculcating these skills in this group of young people. (2) Methods: In-depth case studies were conducted in six best-practice schools. The following methods were used in the studies: questionnaires to school; a checklist to analyse the teaching materials used: an interview with the people responsible for the programme; an interview with students; and a questionnaire to representatives from the business sector. (3) Results: The six E2Cs attached great importance to TCs, which were taught specifically through a student-centred, active, varied and collaborative methodology that was periodically reviewed and adapted to students’ needs. TCs were evaluated before, during, and after the process was completed. (4) Conclusions: The results identified specific key elements for promoting the development of TCs that could be transferred to other schools and, consequently, could have implications for education policies in this field.

Improving Social Inclusion for Young People Affected by Mental Illness in Uttarakhand, India.

Young people experiencing mental ill-health are often excluded from peer networks, family events, education, marriage and employment. We evaluated a community-based, peer-led intervention guided by the Nae Disha (new pathways) program, targeting young people affected by mental ill-health in Uttarakhand, India. A total of 11 groups involving 142 young people (30 male, 112 female) and 8 peer facilitators participated, most of whom were enrolled in a community mental health program. The impact of the intervention on participation, mental health, and social strengths and difficulties was measured at baseline and endline using validated instruments. The proportion experiencing significant social isolation reduced from 20.6 to 5.9% (p < 0.001), and those classified in the 'abnormal' range of the social difficulties measure halved from 42.6 to 21.3% (p < 0.001). These findings clearly demonstrate that perceptions of social inclusion and mental health of young people affected by mental illness can be significantly strengthened through participation in this low-resource intervention.

The Process of Social Inclusion of Young People through Work:

The Process of Social Inclusion of Young People through Work:

Социальная интеграция молодых людей с ограниченными возможностями

Социальная интеграция молодых людей с ограниченными возможностями

Worldviews education: cosmopolitan peacebuilding and preventing violent extremism

ABSTRACTSince the mid-2000s soft power approaches to counter and prevent violent extremism (C/PVE) have increasingly been implemented by civil society, state actors and UN agencies internationally. Education is a critical and previously undervalued component in PVE, as it has only recently begun to attract significant scholarly and policy attention. This article briefly reviews the emerging field of education and PVE, and argues that it could benefit from drawing on insights from research on education about diverse religious and non-religious worldviews and PVE in Australia. Our research indicates that these types of educational initiatives can assist with addressing religious vilification, discrimination and interreligious tensions, and also with building religious literacy and social inclusion of young people, thereby minimising risks of alienation and vulnerability to extremism. We also argue that a critical approach to education about religions can assist young people to identify religions’ ambivalent role in contributing to both cultures of violence – direct and structural – and cultures of peace. We present a case study on learning about diverse worldviews in Victoria, Australia in this article to illustrate our arguments and finally make a series of recommendations regarding religion, education and PVE, and cosmopolitan peacebuilding strategies more broadly.

Promoting social inclusion for young people affected by psycho-social disability in India – a realist evaluation of a pilot intervention

ABSTRACTIndia has 600 million young people, more than any other country in the world. Mental illness is the leading burden of disease for young people, and those affected experience restrictions in social participation that compromise recovery. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a peer-led, community-based, participatory group intervention on social inclusion and mental health among 142 young people affected by psycho-social disability (PSD) in Dehradun district, Uttarakhand. Qualitative data were obtained via in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions. A realist evaluation identified contextual factors, mechanisms and outcomes to develop the programme theory. Group participants described intermediate outcomes including establishment of new peer friendship networks, increased community participation, greater self-efficacy (for young women particularly), and improved public image (for young men) that are likely to have contributed to the primary outcomes of greater (self-perceived) social inclusion and improved mental health (as assessed quantitatively). Mechanisms were identified that explain the link between intervention and outcomes. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of a brief intervention to improve mental health and social inclusion for young people with PSD and are potentially relevant to programme implementers and policy-makers working with young people and promoting social inclusion, in other low- and middle-income settings.

The social inclusion of young people with serious mental illness: A narrative review of the literature and suggested future directions.

Social inclusion involves objective participatory (e.g. education/employment) and subjective (e.g. sense of belonging/acceptance) elements across multiple domains. It has been associated with enhanced physical and mental wellbeing yet is a novel construct in the empirical literature (i.e. measures have not been sufficiently developed). Young people with serious mental illness are reported to be socially excluded. It is unclear whether this is reflected in the social inclusion/exclusion literature. The aim of this narrative review is to determine whether such literature permits a comprehensive (i.e. multi-dimensional, objective and subjective) understanding of social inclusion among young people with serious mental illness. Searches to identify studies related to the social inclusion and/or exclusion of young people with serious mental illness were conducted on 16 February 2016, 24 August 2016, 16 February 2017, 24 August 2017 and 16 February 2018 in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, SCOPUS, Open Grey, Web of Science, Google and Google Scholar. There is a paucity of research in the explicit social inclusion literature involving young people either with or without serious mental illness as participants. Literatures exist in related independent areas of research (e.g. employment, social networks), but such studies employ heterogeneous methodologies. Multi-dimensional measures of social inclusion incorporating objective and subjective indicators must be developed for young people with and without serious mental illness. This will enable the generation of normative and clinical data. Existing evidence for the social exclusion of young people with serious mental illness comes from objective indicators in isolated domains (e.g. unemployment). Subjective indicators continue to be under-researched. The above-described measures must be employed to further understanding of the apparent discrepancies between young people with serious mental illness and those without serious mental illness. This will elucidate the relationships between objective and subjective elements of social inclusion and the relationships between these elements and the psychological distress that young people with serious mental illness often experience. This has implications for intervention.

Social inclusion for whom and towards what end? A critical discourse analysis of youth and sport policies in Turkey

ABSTRACTThis article examines the social inclusion policy strategies of the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sport (MYS). Using a critical discourse analysis, based on Norman Fairclough’s work (2012), the aim is to analyse the discourses used within policy-related documents regarding social inclusion, youth, and sport. In order to achieve this objective, we analysed 15 key documents, including annual activity reports, national youth and sport policy documents, and strategic plans produced by the Ministry. Findings revealed that the dominant discourses about young people seem to be embedded within neoliberal and neoconservative ideologies in which depoliticised notions of ‘employment/apprenticeship’ and ‘the family’ are put forward as solutions for the social inclusion of young people. However, such a discourse risks further sustaining the social exclusion of youth, denying their full citizenship.

Changes and challenges in the transition to adulthood: views and experiences of young people with learning disabilities and their families

The transition to adulthood poses one of the most complex challenges for young people with intellectual disabilities. In order to conduct a wide-reaching and in-depth study of this process, we need to know the views of these young people themselves and their families. This article presents research designed to collect the experiences and perceptions of young people with disabilities and their families regarding perceived problems and support in their transition to adulthood in Spain. A qualitative case study method was used to achieve this. Data were collected in three stages on the following topics: educational pathway (primary and secondary school), social support networks and free time, and construction of a personal plan for the future (labour market inclusion and independent living). Various different instruments were used, including interviews, focus groups and visual methods. As for the results, the young people who participated in the study experienced difficulties with both successfully completing secondary education and continuing their education. The families in our study were not very satisfied with the guidance received from professionals upon finishing secondary school. They also complained about the lack of training options available to young people with disabilities. The participants expressed certain fears regarding social inclusion and labour market integration. They are aware that they will need help, and have doubts about whether they will receive the necessary support to progress with their plans for labour market integration and independent living. As a result of the study, we propose several recommendations to improve opportunities for the social inclusion of young people with disabilities in their transition to adulthood.

Is a Favela a Window of New Opportunities?

Agencia de Redes is a Brazilian project that aims to promote citizenship awareness and social inclusion of young people living in favelas in the city of Rio de Janeiro. By developing and deploying ...