TY - JOUR
T1 - The right to a second chance
T2 - lessons learned from the experience of early school leavers who returned to education
AU - Martins, Filipe
AU - Carneiro, Alexandra
AU - Campos, Luísa
AU - Ribeiro, Luísa Mota
AU - Negrão, Mariana
AU - Baptista, Isabel
AU - Matos, Raquel
N1 - Funding Information:
RAQUEL MATOS. Raquel Matos is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Universidade Católi-ca Portuguesa, Faculty of Education and Psychology and a Senior Researcher of the Research Centre for Human Development (CEDH-UCP). She was awarded her PhD in Psychology in 2008 from University of Minho. In the last decades she has developed research projects on gender, crime and punishment and has published articles and book chapters about women in prison as well as about gender and migrations control. More recently she has been coordinating in Portugal several European projects on juvenile delinquency, being particularly interested in exploring young offenders’ life pathways and experiences in the justice system. Raquel Matos recently co-ordinated the Portuguese team of Project PROMISE – “Promoting Youth Involvement and Social Engagement – Opportunities and challenges for ‘conflicted’ young people across Europe”, funded by Horizon 2020.
Funding Information:
1. This paper results from a post-doctoral research that was carried out within the European research project PROM-ISE – Promoting Youth Involvement and Social Engagement – Opportunities and challenges for ‘conflicted’ young people across Europe (May 2016 to April 2019) which investigated how young people’s responses to conflict can provide opportunities for positive social engagement. This project was funded under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, Grant Agreement no. 693221. 2. According to the European Union, ESL refers to “those young people who leave education and training with only lower secondary education or less, and who are no longer in education and training” (COM, 2013, p. 8). 3. On August 6, 2019 SCE has finally been formally recognised by the Portuguese government through the Order No. 6954/2019 of the Secretary of State of Education. Until that date only two SCE projects existed in the country. 4. All participants’ names used in this paper are pseudonyms.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 SIPS. Licencia Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial (by-nc) Spain 3.0
PY - 2020/7/29
Y1 - 2020/7/29
N2 - Based on a holistic perspective of education that articulates school pedagogy and social pedagogy, the main goal of this paper is to identify effective ways to ensure the right to education to vulnerable and marginalised young people who have dropped out of school. The research leading to this paper was part of a European research project which investigated how young people's responses to conflict can provide opportunities for positive social engagement. This specific study explored early school leaving and school re-engagement from the point of view of a group of 20 Portuguese young early school leavers who later returned to school through Second Chance Education. Through a qualitative approach using individual in-depth interviews, participant observation and focus group, the study sought to offer a comprehensive reading of early school leaving and school re-engagement by addressing the diversity of motivations, experiences, factors and consequences associated with them, as well as the role that educational policies and school factors can play in it. The study's findings revealed that, for many socially and economically vulnerable youngsters, mainstream schools are places of individual failure and interpersonal conflict where they don't feel welcomed and from which they stop expecting positive outcomes. This favours a progressive disengagement from education that reinforces social marginalisation. However, the findings also showed that by engaging in second chance education projects, youngsters develop greater commitment to education and identify relevant positive changes in terms of personal and skills' development, behavioural adjustment and establishment of life goals. According to the participants' experiences, the holistic and individualised socio-pedagogical approach of such projects is particularly apt to respond to their needs. Community-based educational approaches, practical and participatory learning environments, and the emotional investment and support from teachers and staff are shown to be the most effective socio-educational features when trying to re-engage vulnerable young people in education.
AB - Based on a holistic perspective of education that articulates school pedagogy and social pedagogy, the main goal of this paper is to identify effective ways to ensure the right to education to vulnerable and marginalised young people who have dropped out of school. The research leading to this paper was part of a European research project which investigated how young people's responses to conflict can provide opportunities for positive social engagement. This specific study explored early school leaving and school re-engagement from the point of view of a group of 20 Portuguese young early school leavers who later returned to school through Second Chance Education. Through a qualitative approach using individual in-depth interviews, participant observation and focus group, the study sought to offer a comprehensive reading of early school leaving and school re-engagement by addressing the diversity of motivations, experiences, factors and consequences associated with them, as well as the role that educational policies and school factors can play in it. The study's findings revealed that, for many socially and economically vulnerable youngsters, mainstream schools are places of individual failure and interpersonal conflict where they don't feel welcomed and from which they stop expecting positive outcomes. This favours a progressive disengagement from education that reinforces social marginalisation. However, the findings also showed that by engaging in second chance education projects, youngsters develop greater commitment to education and identify relevant positive changes in terms of personal and skills' development, behavioural adjustment and establishment of life goals. According to the participants' experiences, the holistic and individualised socio-pedagogical approach of such projects is particularly apt to respond to their needs. Community-based educational approaches, practical and participatory learning environments, and the emotional investment and support from teachers and staff are shown to be the most effective socio-educational features when trying to re-engage vulnerable young people in education.
KW - Early school leaving
KW - School engagement
KW - Second chance education
KW - Support relationships
KW - Social inclusion
KW - Abandono escolar precoce
KW - Envolvimento escolar
KW - Educação de segunda oportunidade
KW - Relações de suporte
KW - Inclusão social
KW - Abandono escolar temprano
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099814438&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7179/PSRI_2020.36.09
DO - 10.7179/PSRI_2020.36.09
M3 - Article
SN - 1989-9742
SP - 139
EP - 152
JO - Pedagogia Social
JF - Pedagogia Social
IS - 36
ER -