scholarly journals “At least I have a house to live in”: Māori and Pacific young people’s hopes and fears about the future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Hine Funaki
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Civic Society ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
The Future ◽  
Nuanced Understanding

<p>Young people are often represented as the leaders of the next generation and much attention is given to the need for them to become more active participants in shaping the nation’s future. Over the years, education policy makers, health officials, government representatives in the criminal justice and welfare systems have sought ways of involving New Zealand’s youth more closely in civic society as they grapple with a daunting range of problems, many of which are likely to significantly worsen in the coming years. Despite these efforts, the views of some of the most economically and politically marginalised indigenous and/or racialized young people continue to be elusive and as a result a less nuanced understanding is available about how young people think about their lives in times ahead.  This study explores the hopes and fears that marginalised urban Māori and Pacific youth hold about the future and how they establish a sometimes fragile sense of belonging in precarious and uncertain times. In this project, Māori and Pacific young people were invited to discuss their aspirations and anxieties about the future and how these ideas are influenced by their everyday local ‘places’ in the present. Two participant groups were involved in the project; one included Māori youth in an urban centre where there were few opportunities for unemployed young people while the other group included Pacific youth living in a city area where many families experience high levels of economic hardship. The research tracks their views about who they are now as young people growing up in a complex and increasingly divided society and who they might become in the years ahead. Taking a place-based approach, focus groups and walk-along interviews were conducted in two New Zealand cities. As the study progressed, the participants began to talk about the significance of hope, and lack of hope, in their everyday lives. Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire, it is argued that informed hope can be a powerful humanizing force in young people’s lives and the study suggests that when youth have a strong foundation of hope and belonging, they are often capable of becoming active agents of social change.</p>

scholarly journals “At least I have a house to live in”: Māori and Pacific young people’s hopes and fears about the future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Hine Funaki
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Civic Society ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
The Future ◽  
Nuanced Understanding

<p>Young people are often represented as the leaders of the next generation and much attention is given to the need for them to become more active participants in shaping the nation’s future. Over the years, education policy makers, health officials, government representatives in the criminal justice and welfare systems have sought ways of involving New Zealand’s youth more closely in civic society as they grapple with a daunting range of problems, many of which are likely to significantly worsen in the coming years. Despite these efforts, the views of some of the most economically and politically marginalised indigenous and/or racialized young people continue to be elusive and as a result a less nuanced understanding is available about how young people think about their lives in times ahead.  This study explores the hopes and fears that marginalised urban Māori and Pacific youth hold about the future and how they establish a sometimes fragile sense of belonging in precarious and uncertain times. In this project, Māori and Pacific young people were invited to discuss their aspirations and anxieties about the future and how these ideas are influenced by their everyday local ‘places’ in the present. Two participant groups were involved in the project; one included Māori youth in an urban centre where there were few opportunities for unemployed young people while the other group included Pacific youth living in a city area where many families experience high levels of economic hardship. The research tracks their views about who they are now as young people growing up in a complex and increasingly divided society and who they might become in the years ahead. Taking a place-based approach, focus groups and walk-along interviews were conducted in two New Zealand cities. As the study progressed, the participants began to talk about the significance of hope, and lack of hope, in their everyday lives. Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire, it is argued that informed hope can be a powerful humanizing force in young people’s lives and the study suggests that when youth have a strong foundation of hope and belonging, they are often capable of becoming active agents of social change.</p>

scholarly journals Learning to Leave and to Return: Mobility, Place, and Sense of Belonging amongst Young People Growing up in Border and Rural Regions of Mainland Portugal

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9432
Author(s):  
Sofia Marques da Silva ◽  
Ana Milheiro Silva ◽  
Pablo Cortés-González ◽  
Rūta Brazienė
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Mainland Portugal ◽  
12Th Grade ◽  
Decisions To Leave ◽  
Outward Migration

This article examines how mobility is incorporated into the lives of young people growing up in rural border regions of continental Portugal. It also explores how municipalities are dealing with the contemporary imperative of mobility and its consequences. Young people from these regions are affected by decisions to leave to continue studying in higher education, or to find a job. Combined, these lead to an outward migration trend and thus loss of human capital. This paper is based on a multi-method research project carried out in the border regions and involves young people and other stakeholders from 38 municipalities. The data were selected from a questionnaire completed by young people (9th–12th grade; n = 3968), 38 semi-structured interviews with local policymakers, 50 biographical interviews, and 5 focus groups with young people. Results indicate that although most young people aspire to further education and do not fear leaving their region, they nonetheless tend to integrate the necessity to be mobile into their biographies. Hence, they do not associate it with displacement or as being tantamount to abandoning their region, and to which some of them want to return. We consider that in parallel with learning to leave local sentiments, policies, and actions are emerging towards coalescing a trend of learning to stay and returning. We propose an interpretation of this tendency as indicative of new understandings around these peripheral territories and which are shaped by young people’s experience of reconciling a sense of belonging to place and any associated mobilities.

scholarly journals The Spiritual Dimension of Education – Addressing Issues of Identity and Belonging

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian de Souza
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Spiritual Dimension ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Prejudicial Attitudes

Abstract In a shrinking world where events across the globe become relevant for the lives of masses of people regardless of the distances that divide them, some serious issues have arisen which have particular significance for education policies and practice. Too many children are growing up against a backdrop of polarised views and attitudes which is a cause for concern in many countries where societies are characterized by racial, cultural and religious diversity. This article explores some critical concepts that are pertinent to contemporary Australia and uses research findings and content analysis to problematize the issue. It argues that there is clear evidence that the health and wellbeing of children and young people is being affected by exposure to prejudicial attitudes which can be linked to the diversity that has become a sustaining feature of many contemporary societies and it has had serious consequences for their identity and sense of belonging. It proposes that one way of addressing these issues is through education that addresses the relational dimension of students’ lives which is expressed through their connectedness to all others, that is, their spiritual natures. Finally, it identifies some features of such an educational system.

scholarly journals Sense of belonging to Latvia in Latvian- and Russian-speaking residents of Latvia

Psihologija ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandrs Kolesovs
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Young People ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Personal Goals ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Future

This study examined the sense of belonging to Latvia in Latvian-speaking and Russianspeaking residents of Latvia. The structural model involved opportunities for the fulfillment of personal goals and views of the situation in Latvia and the community as predictors of the sense of belonging at both levels of ecological systems. The Russianspeaking subsample consisted of 202 students ranging in age from 18 to 36 (65% females). The Latvian-speaking subsample involved 438 students ranging in age from 18 to 37 (67% females). The Sense of Belonging in Social Context Questionnaire and the Future of Country Questionnaire were applied. Belonging to community predicted belonging to Latvia in both groups of residents. However, the Russian-speaking minority group demonstrated more signs of local belonging and pragmatic ties with Latvia. Providing opportunities for fulfilment of personal goals and facilitating involvement of young people in processes at the country level are challenges for policies, aimed at integration and limiting emigration of young people.

‘[Cyber]bullying is too strong a word…’: Parental accounts of their children's experiences of online conflict and relational aggression

2021 ◽  
pp. 1329878X2110485
Author(s):  
Catherine Page Jeffery
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
Young People ◽  
Relational Aggression ◽  
Normal Child ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Cyber Bullying ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Nuanced Understanding

The problem of cyberbullying has been the subject of considerable media attention in Australia and has been framed as a crisis threatening the wellbeing of Australian youth, provoking a comprehensive policy and legislative response to the problem. Definitions of cyberbullying, however, remain contested and there is a lack of nuance in public debates about cyberbullying. This article draws on interviews and focus groups with forty Australian parents to determine parents’ anxieties, perspectives, and experiences in relation to cyberbullying, a perspective that has remained relatively under explored. This study found that while online conflict, exclusion and relational aggression appear common amongst young people, parents in this study eschewed the term cyberbullying, instead characterising negative online peer interactions as part of ‘normal’ child development. This paper demonstrates that a more nuanced understanding of negative online behaviours is needed. The findings have particular relevance to policy makers and organisations tasked with addressing cyberbullying.

scholarly journals Working with LGBTQIA+ youth in the child welfare system: Perspectives from youth and professionals

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Young People ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Young Person ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Supportive Environments ◽  
Meaningful Connections

Written through a constant exchange between LGBTQIA+ young people, researchers, professionals and foster families, this book offers a valuable tool to improve the practice with LGBTQIA+ youth at a personal, organizational, and policy levels. This book shows the powerful influence of relationships and networks for the LGBTQIA+ young person growing up in child protection and welfare systems. LGBTQIA+ youth need meaningful connections with individuals within their communities in order to be able to heal, learn, and be authentically themselves. Child welfare professionals have a crucial role in creating these connections and cultivating supportive environments, free of additional trauma, where LGBTQIA+ young people can feel valued and loved.

scholarly journals How Well Can the Migration Component of Regional Population Change be Predicted? A Machine Learning Approach Applied to German Municipalities

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannes Weber
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
International Migration ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Migration Rates ◽  
Net Migration ◽  
The Future

For several decades, demographic forecasts had predicted that the majority of Germany’s cities and rural areas would experience population decline in the early 21st century. Instead, recent trends show a growing population size in three out of every four German districts. As a result, there are currently severe shortages of housing and childcare in regions that were projected to decline but have instead grown in recent years. Other regions, by contrast, continue to lose young people in particular. Most of these differences between regions stem from within-country as well as international migration. An important question for both regional demographic research as well as local policy-makers is thus how well net migration rates in cities and rural districts can be predicted several years into the future. In this study, we develop models that predict migration (both within-country as well as international migration) at the level of municipalities for two demographic groups, namely young people aged 18 to 24 years, and families (people aged 30 to 49 years and underage children). We collect data on economic, demographic and other characteristics such as distances to large cities or universities for around 3,000 German municipalities (Gemeinden). The model is trained on a subset of these data from the period 2005-2009 and predicts net migration rates among young people on an unseen test dataset in the future (i.e. for the period 2011-2015). The results show that the model can predict future net migration by young people aged 18 to 24 years reasonably well (R² > 0.5), although there were quite significant changes during the period under study, for example refugee immigration to Germany. Family migration, on the other hand, cannot be predicted equally well (R² = 0.25). Some important lessons emerge concerning the predictability of regional and international migration and the usefulness of demographic forecasts for local policy-makers.

Hill farming - An opinion on the future

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
G.W. Sheath
Keyword(s):  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Hill Farming

This paper is not a formal review of hill farming literature. Rather, it is my view on the critical challenges and changes that we need to deal with if mixed livestock farming on hill lands is to be successful over the next 20 years. It is my hope that industry leaders, policy makers and agribusiness managers will give consideration to these views. Some people say that it is not smart to look into the rear-vision mirror, but I do not agree. Having a better understanding of the consequences of past events can help guide future decisions and changes.

Can Bitcoin be the Future of Digital Payments?

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 489-500
Author(s):  
Andrea Valente ◽  
◽  
David Atkinson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Price Volatility ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Digital Payments ◽  
Robust Regulation ◽  
Stakeholder Acceptance

This study aimed to investigate the conditions in which Bitcoin has developed as a leading cryptocurrency and, according to Nakamoto (2008), could become an instrument for everyday payments around the world. In comparison to other digital payment solutions, Bitcoin is based on a peer-to-peer electronic cash system using “the blockchain”. This innovative technology allows for decentralised storage and movement of currency in a fully anonymous way, introducing advantageous methods for encrypted security and faster transactions (Hagiu & Beach, 2014). Scepticism regards Bitcoin’s foundation, energy consumption and price volatility, however, did not take long to arise (Holthaus, 2017). Ten years from its white paper release, Bitcoin is further supported by the same drivers which could sustain its growth as the future of digital payments (Russo, 2018). In order to investigate the key drivers and feasibility of acceptance, a London based survey was used to understand the desirability of Bitcoin as a day-to-day tool for digital payments. Additionally, this research analysed Bitcoin’s stakeholders and forecast drivers of sustainability for its application to become the future of the payment industry. A space which relies on policies that involve multiple layers of society, governments, regulators and tech-firms, all on a global scale. The findings confirmed how the increasing lack of trust of political and financial institutions, coupled with the increasing cases of data-breaches by tech-firms, encouraged over 70% of respondents to consider more decentralised and anonymous methods for their day-to-day actions; like payments. Policy makers need to cope with societies increasingly separating politically but gathering together digitally (LBS, 2017). For Bitcoin to truly establish itself as a global digital payment solution, key stakeholder acceptance must converge alongside the introduction of more robust regulation.

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