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

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourdes Villardón-Gallego ◽  
Lirio Flores-Moncada ◽  
Lara Yáñez-Marquina ◽  
Roberto García-Montero

(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.

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-153
Author(s):  
Virgilio Abrahão Junior ◽  
Julia Alejandra Pezuk

Resumo Atualmente no Brasil é possível observar uma parcela da população jovens, principalmente nas classes sociais mais baixas, sujeitos a situações que acarretam maior susceptibilidade para se envolver com drogas, prostituição, crimes, gravidez e doenças sexualmente transmissíveis. Diversos fatores psicossociais são necessários para que os adolescentes passem pela adolescência sem a necessidade deste tipo de envolvimentos. A recreação e o lazer podem ser usados como instrumento para facilitar a inclusão social e ao mercado de trabalho de jovens marginalizados. O impacto emocional positivo do uso da recreação e do lazer favorece o bem-estar e auxilia na inclusão social de adolescentes, e possibilitam o uso dessas ferramentas para serem explorados em eventos e atividades recreativas. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo mostrar a importância do desenvolvimento de projetos sobre recreação e o lazer para a inclusão social de jovens. Para isso é relatada a experiência com o Programa Social realizado na cidade de Guarulhos/SP intitulado Programa Oportunidade ao Jovem, que busca a qualificação profissional dos jovens da cidade que se encontram em situação de risco e pobreza, e que estão em geral excluídos da sociedade. Mostramos aqui que a inclusão social por meio de programas sociais usando atividades recreativas facilita a inserção social de jovens marginalizados e devem ser consideradas nas políticas públicas. Pois ainda permitem que adolescentes em situação econômica precária tenham a possibilidade de exercer uma profissão na área de recreação ao término dos cursos dos programas, impactando significativamente na vida desses jovens.   Palavras-chave: Programa Social. Agente de Recreação. Políticas Públicas.   Abstract In Brazil it is possible to observe a portion of the young population, mainly in the lower social classes, who are subject to situations that cause greater susceptibility to get involved with drugs, prostitution, crimes, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Several psychosocial factors are necessary for adolescents to go through adolescence without the need for this type of involvement. Recreation can be used as an instrument to facilitate social inclusion and the labor market for marginalized youth. The positive emotional impact of recreation favors well-being and assists in the social inclusion of adolescents and enables the use of these tools to be explored in events and recreational activities. In this context, this paper aims to show the importance of developing projects on recreation for the social inclusion of young people. For this, the experience with the Social Program carried out in the city of Guarulhos / SP entitled Programa Oportunidade ao Jovem, which seeks the professional qualification of young people in the city who are at risk and poverty, and who are in general excluded from society, is reported. We show here that social inclusion through social programs using recreational activities facilitates the social insertion of marginalized youth and should be considered in public policies. Because they still allow adolescents in a precarious economic situation to have the possibility of exercising a profession in the area of recreation at the end of the program courses, significantly impacting the lives of these young people   Keywords: Social Program. Recreation Agent. Public Policy.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liudmila Kirpitchenko ◽  
Fethi Mansouri

This article explores migrant young people’s engagement, participation and involvement in socially meaningful activities, events and experiences. This type of social participation is approached in the social inclusion literature using the notions of social capital and active citizenship (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 1993; Putnam, 2000). A key objective, therefore, is to explore the attitudes, values and perceptions associated with social participation for young people. They include the meanings that social engagement has for migrant young people, along with drivers and inhibitions to active participation. The article focuses on both the motives for being actively engaged as well as perceived barriers to social engagement. It is based on a large study conducted among migrant young people of African, Arabic-speaking and Pacific Islander backgrounds in Melbourne and Brisbane, and presents both quantitative and qualitative (discursive) snapshots from the overall findings, based on interviews and focus groups. While many studies have centred on the management of migration and migrants, this article draws attention to the individuals’ active position in negotiating, interpreting and appropriating the conditions of social inclusion. Accounting for the multidimensional and multilayered nature of social inclusion, the paper highlights the heuristic role of social engagement in fostering the feelings of belonging and personal growth for migrant youth.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luz Myrian Rojas-Rojas ◽  
Néstor Arboleda-Toro ◽  
Leidy Johanna Pinzón-Jaime

This article presents the results of an unpublished research project whose objective was to characterize a population with visual, hearing, speech and motor disabilities. The research quantified potential users of the programs offered by the Faculty of Distance Education (FESAD) at the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia (UPTC). It had an exploratory-descriptive methodological design with random sampling. Surveys were applied to young high school students and adult bachelors by using Braille system and a digital sign language translator. For data analysis, a quantitative statistical method was implemented. The results showed that, from young bachelors, 53% were women, 51% adults were men; 57% of young people were between 18 and 21 years old, 47% of adults were between 22 and 30 years old, and 65% of adult bachelors did not work. From the preferred university careers to study, a 28% of young people preferred engineering; 21%, economic and administrative sciences; 15%, arts; and 13%, education sciences. 27% of adult bachelors preferred engineering; 18%, economic and administrative sciences; and 15%, education sciences. 85% of youth and 71% of adult bachelors were deaf. It is concluded that there is a vulnerable population with disabilities and with an obvious lack of opportunities to access higher education. FESAD has trained teachers in designing an integrated and inclusive curriculum for the development of labor skills. FESAD also has technical and technological resources to take care of this population. It is recommended to boost higher education policies for social inclusion in Colombia, and conduct new studies on causes and effects to design and implement programs that apply these policies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-165
Author(s):  
José González-Monteagudo ◽  
Alberto De la Portilla ◽  
Mario León-Sánchez

The article begins with an introduction to the Spanish context, focusing on migration, diversity, and the specific profile and needs of immigrant minors arriving alone in Spain, which raises the new professional roles of social educators working in intercultural diversity contexts. The second section of the article deals with educators' training of immigrant minors and young people, a relatively neglected and under-served field. Sections three and four are dedicated to present two training experiences we have carried out, on a four-month online course for under-age educators and a short-term face-to-face course on the same topic


The book offers a new outlook on social, cultural and educational work with young people. It is the perspective of social pedagogy: a theoretical and practical perspective that has been developing in continental Europe over the last 150 years. Social pedagogy poses a way of acting that places young people at the center of socio-educational work, putting their decisions and actions into value. It aims to accompany them in their life process of personal construction within the framework of the community in which they live. The book is organized into three large blocks of chapters. The introduction aims to prepare readers for the social pedagogy approach to work with young people. It briefly outlines its current situation in the world and, relate it to the main professions in which it is embodied in different socio-cultural contexts: social pedagogy, social education, and social work. The first block presents the framework and socio-pedagogical, theoretical, and practical parameters in which work with young people takes place in Europe and Latin America. The second block of chapters deals with youth policies and the training and professionalization of educators and those who work with young people. The last block focuses on some socio-educational practices with young people that include youth justice, social inclusion process, youth participation in digital life or transition to adult life. The book is based on a wide perspective of young people from cultural diversity. All the contributions of this book are based on research and practical experiences.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiran Thabrew ◽  
Christa Fouché ◽  
Laura Ann Chubb ◽  
Stacey Yates ◽  
Harshali Kumar ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Hospitalized children and young people can feel disconnected from their peers and families, which can in turn predispose them to psychological problems including anxiety and depression. Immersive Reality Experiences (IRE) technology, recently developed by the New Zealand Patience Project Charitable Trust may help to overcome these issues. IRE technology uses immersive 360-degree live-streaming and a virtual reality (VR) headset to enable hospitalized children and young people to connect with cameras located in either their school or home environment. OBJECTIVE This trial was undertaken to 1) quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of IRE technology in reducing social isolation and improving social connectedness and wellbeing using validated outcome measures and 2) expand qualitative findings from a previous smaller ‘proof of concept’ trial to ascertain the views of hospitalized New Zealand children and young people, their caregivers and teachers regarding IRE technology. METHODS An open trial of IRE technology was conducted between December 2019 and December 2020 and included 19 New Zealand children and young people aged 13-18, who had been hospitalized at Starship Hospital, a specialist pediatric hospital in Auckland, for at least 2-weeks. All participants completed the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS), an abbreviated version of the Social Connectedness Scale (SCS) and the Social Inclusion Scale (SIS) and at baseline. Ten participants used IRE technology as often as they wished over a 6-week period and completed post-intervention measures. Semi-structured interviews with a subset of participants, caregivers and teachers were conducted immediately post-intervention. RESULTS Participants reported improvements in social inclusion (mean change 3.9, SD 2.8, p 0.057), social connectedness (mean change 14.2, SD 10.0, p 0.002) and well-being (mean change 5.7, SD 4.0, p 0.003). Key themes from interviews with participants, caregivers and teachers were: the importance of support for using IRE technology, connecting vs connectedness, choice and connection, and the value of setting it up and getting it right. A number of recommendations for improving connectedness via IRE and related technology were also provided. CONCLUSIONS IRE technology can improve the social inclusion, social connectedness and well-being of hospitalized New Zealand children and young people. With some technological modifications and simplified implementation, IRE technology could become part of standard care and support hospitalized children and young people in New Zealand and elsewhere to sustain family and peer cohesion, experience fewer psychological problems and more easily return to normal life following completion of treatment. CLINICALTRIAL This study has been registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Network Registry: ACTRN12619000252112p


2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 1251-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefina Sala Roca ◽  
Mercè Jariot García ◽  
Andreu Villalba Biarnés ◽  
Montserrat Rodríguez

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 628-647
Author(s):  
Juhar Yasin Abamosa ◽  
Line Torbjørnsen Hilt ◽  
Kariane Westrheim

In numerous countries, the widening participation of underrepresented groups in higher education has become an official part of education policies. However, inequalities continue in some areas, including refugees’ participation. Norway hosts many refugees, but little is known about the social inclusion of refugees into higher education in the country. In this paper, three documents representing Norwegian higher education and integration policies are analysed using an integrated analytical framework constructed from social inclusion and its three main dimensions (access, participation and empowerment) and from a critical discourse analysis. The analysis is conducted to address how social inclusion into higher education is conceptualized, which major discourses underpin the conceptualization and what implications these have for the social inclusion of refugees into higher education in Norway. The article argues that social inclusion is conceptualized from an access dimension signifying the dominance of neoliberal principles in the policy documents. On the contrary, social justice discourses are marginalized and human potential principles are absent from the documents signalling the disempowerment of refugees in relation to higher education. Future policies should incorporate conscious and clear strategies informed by social justice and empowerment principles to ensure the social inclusion of refugees into higher education.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosie R. Meade

This article analyses the changing rationalities and techniques through which the Irish state seeks to govern community development; specifically, how the displacement of its flagship Community Development Programme by the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme has been justified and operationalised. Adopting a governmentality perspective, it explains how community development came to be constructed as an anti-poverty strategy and why it should also be understood as a ‘technology of government’. This article argues that the changing governmentalities shaping Irish community development are reflected in a re-problematisation and re-signification of community development’s purposes, rationalities and sources of legitimacy. Under the cover of austerity’s manufactured public spending crisis and new forms of expertise, preoccupations with effectiveness, efficiency and international best practice have intensified, thus demonstrating ongoing incursions by neoliberal ideas and practices in Irish Social Policy.


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