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A survey tasks young adults who graduated from virtual charters managed by a large education management organization to assess the degree to which virtual schools prepared them for postsecondary and career success. The same survey questions were also administered to a nationally representative group of American adults ages 18-29. Overall, comparison of survey responses reveals that virtual charter graduates report statistically significant advantages when it comes to career readiness and mixed responses with regard to college readiness. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the parental role in educational decisions of young adults in Poland. The country-context is vital due to the profound impact of the 1989 transition on educational aspirations and subsequent 'degree boom' in the younger cohorts. Using data from two qualitative studies, we adopt an intergenerational lens to examine how young men and women are affected by their mothers and fathers when making choices about their educational pathways. We propose a matrix of four types of educational aspirations framed by parents, pointing to the importance of resources (capitals/socialisational conditions) on the one hand, and the notion of socialisation influences linked to pragmatism and experimentation, on the other. Based on the analysis we discuss four ideal-types of Successors, Questers, Trailblazers and Hustlers. Accounting also for the gender dimension, we contribute to the broader debates on the reproduction of inequalities and unpack 'critical moments' in youth transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following remarks about the nature and significance of values and values education, generally and more specifically in China, England, Mexico and Spain, we explain the methods used to analyse official policies that apply to moral education, citizenship education and character education. We find similarity across the documents regarding five values-related themes: justice and the rule of law; harmony and tolerance; diversity and non-discrimination; international understanding; and equality. These themes emphasise understanding and knowing, with limited consideration of implementation and privileging of dominant values and contextually relevant considerations. We suggest that across countries there are attempts to develop personally responsible citizens and that further work is needed on how these documents are interpreted in practice by educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents and young adults are often active participants in their health care, but our understanding of health literacy needs in this population is limited. The significance of this gap in the literature is magnified for youth facing behavioral health challenges in addition to chronic health conditions. This preliminary report finds that over two-thirds (68.7%) of a sample of youth ages 10–21 with co-occurring behavioral health and physical health challenges in Bergen County, New Jersey have low (12.7%), or the possibility of low (46.0%), health literacy. Based on this preliminary report, pediatric practices and organizations providing integrated health care services to youth may consider implementing health literacy screening to identify youth and families with the greatest potential need for intervention. Providing health literacy education and support to not only parents but also youth will serve to help youth become more confident participants in their health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to practice engagement theory within the field of adult education, everyday workplace activities offer an opportunity for skill development among youth and young adults; yet, prior research highlights the prevalence of routine and low-skill work within entry-level jobs. Utilising data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), the objective of the following study is to demonstrate how workplace literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving activities differ among people aged 16 to 34 in Canada. Latent class analysis provides a typology of literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving activities at work and generates insight into how socio-demographic and employment factors are associated with each group. The findings highlight that employment cannot be uniformly characterised as low-skill. Rather, there are unique employment groups with differing literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving activity characteristics. Nevertheless, socio-demographic factors do matter for gaining access to employment that involves daily skill-based activities. While age, parental education, immigration background, and education level are significantly associated with the latent classes, economic and employment characteristics reduce the magnitude of these associations. Together, the results suggest that access to skill-based activities at work are more or less accessible for certain groups and connect to other aspects of early-career job quality and occupational segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior studies have shown that young adults with severe physical and multiple disabilities are less likely to complete upper secondary education. This study aimed to identify whether these students' type of multiple disability, gender, location and literacy skills were associated with completion of upper secondary education. The participants were 74 young adults with severe physical disabilities (aged 19–22, M age = 20.2, SD = 1.16), of whom 39 (52.70%) had multiple disabilities. The data was gathered via the healthcare professionals' instrument, Severely Disabled Youth's Life Situation and Functioning of Service Systems in Finland. The results of chi-squared tests of independence indicated that having severe physical disability (other than cerebral palsy) with intellectual disability, location, and literacy skills were associated with completion of upper secondary education. The binary logistic regression showed that urban location and moderate or good literacy skills predicted completion of upper secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triggered by rising higher education (HE) participation rates in recent years there is an intense debate in Germany regarding the future value of vocational education and training (VET). While VET in Germany has traditionally been a major contributor to the successful transition of young people fromschool to the labourmarket, this role is questioned by an increasing proportion of school leavers that enter HE instead of initial VET. This paper introduces this debate to the international readership by analysing the available data and by discussing some of the implications of the current changes. For instance, there are a number of studies that identify the fields and types of VET that are in danger of being substituted by HE provision, assuming a competitive relationship between the two sectors. However, there is also growing interest in programmes that aim to combine vocational and academic learning in so-called 'dual study programmes', taking a complementary perspective of VET and HE. The analysis will lead to conclusions regarding the future shape of upper secondary and tertiary education in Germany and the links of different education sectors to the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses quarterly EU Labour Force Survey data for 30 countries over the period 2000 to 2016 to examine the relationship between changes in the composition of educational attainment and overeducation rates among new labour market entrants holding post-secondary and tertiary qualifications. We find that tertiary education expanded rapidly across our sample, while the proportion of young people with lower levels of education fell gradually throughout the period. Despite the significant increases in the percentage of young people educated to tertiary level, overeducation among new tertiary graduates fell. The descriptive evidence also suggests that some of the greatest declines in overeducation of young tertiary graduates occurred in the countries experiencing the most significant expansion in tertiary education. Overeducation rates among young graduates with upper-secondary and postsecondary (non-tertiary) education were lower in magnitude than overeducation of tertiary graduates and declined slightly over the period. Our GMM results confirm the negative relationship between educational expansion and overeducation for both tertiary and post-secondary graduates, and reveal a number of other factors potentially explaining cross-country variation in youth overeducation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article's aim is twofold: to outline the specificity of the embeddedness approach and to explore the embeddedness of graduates' education-job mismatch and the formation of lifelong learning policies. The study is based on both quantitative and qualitative data, obtained from the Bulgarian Universities Ranking System, and from interviews with experts and young adults engaged in a lifelong learning programme. The analysis uses multilevel modelling. It also relies on mapping lifelong learning policies in Bulgaria through a thematic content analysis. The article argues that the misbalances for highly educated people on the labour market mirror structural problems in the economy and the educational system. The argument is reflected in the historical and structural embeddedness of graduates' education-job mismatches and the lifelong learning policies applied to overcome this. The results show that the extent of vertical education-job mismatch depends on the different profiles of higher education institutions and professional fields; they also demonstrate different ways in which the embeddedness approach could help shed new light on, and critically assess, lifelong learning policies. The findings reveal a differentiation between national and local levels of lifelong learning policy towards graduates and that regional policies are actively embedded in local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that chronic unemployment has become the main context of youth policies in Spain and Brazil. Our point is that the current structural crisis of the capitalist system eventually provokes chronic unemployment. To be precise, both business and international organisations have endorsed structural adjustments and austerity policies that have destroyed productive forces through expropriation and exploitation in many countries, thus expanding chronic unemployment despite youth policies claiming otherwise. In Spain, two public policies try to circumvent the adverse situation of many youth, namely: the Quality of Education Act (LOMCE) and the Youth Guarantee Scheme. Brazil follows the same logic of these policies through initiatives such as the High School reform and Projovem program. However, in both countries the structural crisis threatens the future of young generations despite these fashionable policies exclusively targeted to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the interface between lifelong learning policies and the definition of social vulnerability of young adults in two regions located within the European Union. Girona comprises a constellation of small towns with important industry, service and hospitality sectors. Vienna is a global city where many key international operators are based and employ a large number of highly qualified professionals. The article explores to what extent the meta-governance and the 'causal narratives' of lifelong learning policies contribute towards shaping the prevailing images of youth vulnerability in these regions. In Girona, bureaucratic governance patterns lifelong learning policies, which strongly rely on the potential of career guidance to encourage the youth to undertake further education. Correspondingly, policy designs and professional discourses emphasise that the beneficiaries previously failed at school. In Vienna, authorities govern lifelong learning by means of both bureaucracy and complex networks of employers and non-profit organisations. The 'causal narrative' of the policies straightforwardly claims that all youth must have an experience with employment, whether in apprenticeships or in transitional workshops that emulate real jobs. There, policies portray beneficiaries according to their capacity to undertake and finish apprenticeships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issues confronting American young adults in their transition to adulthood. Also cited are a comparison of the experiences of young adults who attended college and those who attended the military, the 2015 book "The Prime of Life: The History of Modern Adulthood," by Steven Mintz, as well as the responsibility of higher education leaders to understand the experience of young adults' transition to adulthood.

Within the EU, answers and responses to detected issues and problems facing young people are regularly searched for within and through education and learning. The EU's Structured Dialogue on youth is one of the consultation-based policy processes where education is often suggested as a solution and a highly relevant field of action helping to improve youth's status and life. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, this paper examines discourse about education present in selected policy texts and statements of various stakeholders and individuals active within the EU's Structured Dialogue on youth. As an example, the first two phases of the fifth cycle of that dialogue are considered and examined, exploring perceptions of the dialogue and education and their role. The paper aims to explore the underlying political rationalities of education via which the field is governed and programmable realities created, while young people's specific role and conduct is suggested and framed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The educational experiences and outcomes of care experienced children and young people is of longstanding concern. The pervasive inequalities they face suggest that current policies have been unable to respond fully to the complex causes of the problem. This paper reflects on a qualitative study into the educational experiences and aspirations of children and young people who are looked after in Wales. The project worked with care experienced peer researchers and drew on visual, creative and participatory techniques to explore 67 children's and young people's experiences of education and, importantly, their opinions on what could be done to improve it. This multimodal approach allowed space for participants to think through their subjective, mundane, but important, experiences that operate alongside, and interact with, more structural challenges. A range of films, magazines, artwork, and music outputs were developed to ensure that the project recommendations could reach wide and diverse audiences. This paper argues the voices of children and young people need to be given a platform to inform policy and practice. For this to happen researchers need to be creative in their approaches to both fieldwork and dissemination; harnessing the power of the arts to make positive changes in the everyday lives of children and young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the role that schools have in determining whether school leavers participate in higher education or not. It examines the association between schools and university participation using a unique dataset of 3 cohorts of all young people leaving maintained schools in Wales. School “effects” are identified, even after controlling for individual-level factors, such as their prior attainment, socioeconomic circumstances, ethnicity, and special educational needs. Schools appear to have a particular “effect” on the likelihood that a young person enters an elite university. However, the findings suggest the concept of a school “effect” on higher education participation is not straightforward - schools appear to have different levels of effectiveness depending on the gender of the young people and the nature of their higher education participation. These findings are considered within the policy contexts of school effectiveness and widening access to higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fostering the skills necessary for self-directed learning is an important endeavour of vocational education and training in many contexts internationally. However, there is a distinct lack of studies that investigate the extent to which facilitation of self-directed learning is present within vocational education and training in different contexts. An exploratory thematic qualitative analysis of inspectors’ comments within general Further Education college Ofsted inspection reports was conducted to investigate the balance of control of the learning process between teacher and learner within vocational education and training of young adults in England. A clear difference between outstanding and inadequate provision is reported. Inadequate provision was overwhelmingly teacher-directed. Outstanding provision reflected a collaborative relationship between teacher and learner in directing the learning process, despite the Ofsted framework not explicitly identifying the need for learner involvement in directing the learning process. The present paper offers insight into the understanding of how an effective balance of control of learning between teacher and learner may be realised in vocational education and training settings and highlights the need to consider the modulating role of contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the complex emotional experiences of young male rural migrants in the city of Delhi, India. Based on multi-sited fieldwork, and drawing on a long-term study in Bihar, India, this paper contributes to emerging scholarship on the emotional geographies of migration that prioritise young people’s perspectives. I show that while young migrants are active agents in their own migration, they are also subject to specific vulnerabilities and exploitation. At the same time, they undertake challenging emotional labour in the city to create particular working identities that are both a source of pride and shame. I argue that an insertion of emotions in the analysis of migration helps disentangling this dissonance between migrants’ economic success and social rejection in the city. The article makes a case for the incorporation of emotions for a more comprehensive and nuanced analysis of young people’s migration in academic and policy discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate the role of personality and personal values in the curriculum choice. Four hundred students (200 males and 200 females) ranging in age between 18- and 25-years-old participated in the study. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - Revised (EPQ-R) and The Aspiration Index (AI) were used to measure the personality traits and personal values respectively. Regression analyses indicate that individuals scoring high on extraversion and having high intrinsic value orientation (Importance) are more likely to choose arts/humanities (A/H) academic discipline. While individuals with high scores on psychoticism, neuroticism and having extrinsic value orientation (Importance) tend to opt for business/technical (B/T) academic stream. Findings are explained in terms of the Self-determination theory and the changing choices leading to the possible shift in the value system. Gender differences in personality and values; and their impact on academic choice have also been studied. Extraversion plays the strongest role in the choice of A/H academic choice irrespective of gender. Females are guided by intrinsic values while choosing A/H streams while males are influenced by extrinsic values while opting for B/T streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prison education is seen in both criminal and education policies as a way of assimilating inmates ‘back into society’. In spite of the policy emphasis on education, the practices in prison education vary from prison to prison. The stated aim of prison education in EU and in Finnish national level policies is to teach inmates the skills and knowledge that they can use in life after release and thus reduce recidivism. In this paper, we analyse policies and practices related to education programmes in closed prisons in Finland with discourses of employability and therapisation of education. International and national policy documents and ethnographic data and interviews with young people and teachers have been use as data sources. Our aim is to draw a picture of multiple and complex power relations that shape the young adults in prison as flexible subjects that are able to make the transition from prison ‘back’ to civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that educational attainments at the end of the compulsory schooling stage are powerful predictors for post-compulsory educational choices in England. In particular, the single academic success indicator of achieving the Government's gold standard in GCSE is able to predict virtually all the observed incidences of post-compulsory studies for academic qualifications. Notwithstanding, Two-Stage Least Squares estimation which exploits variations in school starting age induced by school entry rules suggests that the least-squares effect of achieving the gold standard in GCSEs on studying for academic qualifications is due to ability bias or reverse causation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores teachers’ decision making by examining the topics that 11 history teachers from 10 schools in England chose to teach and how they approached teaching these topics. Data were gathered from curriculum documents and semi-structured interviews in which teachers’ topic choices and approaches to history were explored. Most teachers adopted a disciplinary approach to history teaching but one focused on analytical structures rather than processes. Additionally the findings suggest a large degree of uniformity in the topics chosen despite the freedom provided within the policy documents for history teaching in England. Few teachers had given much consideration to approaches that demonstrate the ‘usability’ of history for young people. This suggests a need to engage teachers more fully in robust curriculum debates given their central role in enacting curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The media analysis is situated in the larger body of studies that explore the varied reasons why different policy actors advocate for international large-scale student assessments (ILSAs) and adds to the research on the fast advance of the global education industry. The analysis of The Economist, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal covers publications on ‘PISA’, ‘TIMSS’, and related search items over the period 1996-2016. The three media outlets vary in terms of ILSA reporting. The Economist and Financial Times tend to focus on PISA, whereas the Wall Street Journal pays greater attention to TIMSS than PISA. The content analysis of 59 articles yields interesting results about how the business-oriented readership of the three media outlets frames public education and why it sees education as a profitable business opportunity. The three most common narratives, reflecting the business logic, are the following: (i) public education is in crisis; (ii) there is no correlation between spending and education outcome; and (iii) school accountability, teacher performance, and decentralisation represent the most effective policies to improve the quality of education. Drawing on these three common narratives, the financial media outlets present a particular vision of how to improve education; a vision in which the private sector is supposed to play a major role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liberal Studies was initially introduced as a non-statutory subject in Hong Kong in 1992. It then confronted intense opposition and a bumpy implementation path before securing mandatory status in the new senior secondary curriculum introduced in 2009. Recently, this core subject has been under review. Whilst it is considered to promote students’ socio-political participation, the subject has also been accused of triggering antagonism towards the government. In view of these concerns, this article probes teachers’ perceptions of the recent development of Liberal Studies and examines the dynamic interplay between the curriculum review and the potential political controversies surrounding the subject in post-colonial Hong Kong. Reporting the results of a study comprising questionnaire-based surveys and follow-up semi-structured interviews, it reveals that whilst teachers are worried about the proposed reduction of socio-political topics in the curriculum, they approve of incorporating additional China-related content. Furthermore, the participating teachers praised Liberal Studies for its notable impact on raising students’ social consciousness, which has motivated them to learn about community affairs and fight for justice. Finally, the article also explores the study’s profound implications for the further development of Liberal Studies and citizenship education in Hong Kong and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to address the teaching and learning processes in schools from a Vygotskian perspective based on the notion of identity artefacts (IAs) which, for our purposes, consist of documents created by the learners about themselves, in which they try to capture all the things that make sense and are meaningful to them and which, subsequently, can be used by teachers to work on curricular and pedagogical content. We conceptualise the notion of the identity artefact from the broader notions of mediation and cultural artefacts. We also provide a critical analysis of some examples of IAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the research results from a study that was conducted on Spanish youths aged 25-29 years who are neither in employment nor education and training (NEET). Their characteristics were analysed as well as the differential aspects in relation to people who are in employment, education or training. A typology of NEETs was also established based on their availability for and attitude towards employment, and the similarities and differences between the diverse subgroups were analysed. A mixed methodology was used: a quantitative perspective, which enabled a statistical and regression analysis using data that were obtained through questionnaires, and a qualitative perspective based on a biographical interview, which made it possible to focus on perceptions and processes. The results enable us to identify the common characteristics of the NEET population as well as the perceptions and determining factors of the three typologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, the global education community has focused significant attention on the promotion of education in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, embodied in the growth of a new sub-field called Education in Emergencies. This article points out the surprising distinction of this new sub-field from the more established and closely related field of peace education. It examines United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) documents for insight into the changing global ideas that have facilitated the shift in focus from peace to conflict. Empirically, we draw on a quantitative content analysis of more than 450 UNESCO documents published between 1945 and 2015. We find that education for peace remains a constant, if evolving, concern in these texts, but that a powerful emphasis on individual rights has shifted the discursive focus away from inter-state relations and towards the educational needs of young people. In the documents, conflict is now theorised as a threat to education and peace is re-envisioned not just as the desirable outcome of education, but also as its pre-condition. We show how this ideational transformation has re-cast an expansive array of conflicts, natural disasters, and other emergencies as threats to education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on biographical interviews from a three-generation study in Norway, this article examines the place of the contemporary ‘gap year’ within life course transition trajectories and intergenerational relations embedded in wider patterns of social inequality. Under the heading of taking a gap year, young people onacademic transition trajectoriesare often granted a time out after upper secondary, during which they can recuperate from competitive school experiences and resolve uncertainties about which type of higher education to pursue. For those followingvocational transition trajectories, in contrast, a gap year appears irrelevant and out of the question. The timing of their educational decisions in the life course does not coincide with arrangements for a legitimate break. Whereas a gap year before university may be seen as understandable and even beneficial, a person taking a break before or during vocational education is more likely to be described as a ‘dropout’ or an ‘early school leaver’. Based on empirical analysis, the article discusses similarities and differences between contemporary gap years in Norway and what Erik Erikson described as the institutional moratorium. Young people’s access to the moratorium of a gap year appears to be a privilege unequally distributed in the population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article takes as its starting point David Raffe’s pioneering work on ‘home international’ comparisons across the UK, and compares and contrasts current and emerging English and Scottish developments and policy trajectories primarily as they relate to vocational education broadly defined, but also with some observations concerning schooling and higher education (HE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bildungis a complex educational concept that emerged in Germany in the mid eighteenth century. Especially in Germany and Scandinavia conceptions ofBildungbecame the general philosophical framework to guide both formal and informal education.Bildungconcerns the whole range of education from setting educational objectives in general towards its particular operation in different school subjects, among them science education. In more recent years, the concept ofBildunghas slowly begun to be used in the international science and environmental education literature. This paper presents a systematic analysis of the international literature concerning the use of the concept ofBildung, with a view on its meaning in and for science education. At least five versions based on or closely connected to the tradition ofBildungcan be identified: (a) Von Humboldt’s classicalBildung, (b) Anglo-American liberal education, (c) Scandinavianfolk-Bildung, (d) democratic education, and (e) critical-hermeneuticBildung. These different understandings ofBildungare discussed in relation to their historical roots, educational theory, critique, and their relation to philosophies of science education, such as different visions of scientific literacy. Based on critical-hermeneuticBildung, the paper theoretically develops views of critical-reflexiveBildungas an educational metatheory. It is connected to ideas of transformative learning, sustainability education and aVision IIIof scientific literacy. Finally, some implications of critical-reflexiveBildungfor teaching and learning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews university-level efforts to improve understanding of anthropogenic global climate change (AGCC) through curricula that enable student scientific inquiry. We examined 152 refereed publications and proceedings from academic conferences and selected 26 cases of inquiry learning that overcome specific challenges to AGCC teaching. This review identifies both the strengths and weaknesses of each of these case studies. It is the first to go beyond examining the impact of specific inquiry instructional approaches to offer a synthesis of cases. We find that inquiry teaching can succeed by concretising scientific processes, providing access to global data and evidence, imparting critical and higher order thinking about AGCC science/policy and contextualising learning with places and scientific facts. We recommend educational researchers and scientists collaborate to create and refine curricula that utilise geospatial technologies, climate models and communication technologies to bring students into contact with scientists, climate data and authentic AGCC research processes. Many available science education technologies and curricula also require further research to maximise trade-offs between implementation and training costs and their educational value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of the present paper is how successful young people from a migration background in Germany are in making the transition to initial vocational education and training (VET). Particular emphasis is placed on interactions with social origin and gender. The analyses are based on the 2011 BIBB Transitional Study, a representative survey of over 5000 young people living in Germany from the birth cohorts between 1987 and 1993. It is revealed that a migration background exerts a negative effect on the chances of progressing to company-based or fully qualifying training. For a successful transition to VET the school-leaving qualification achieved is very important and migrants often achieve only lower school-leaving qualifications. Interaction effects occur between migration background, social origin and gender. The transition chances of young migrants are, however, also worse when a multitude of relevant factors are controlled for. The results indicate that migrants in German society still have to contend with reservations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Mentoring is portrayed in the literature as benefiting young people, but ineffective or early termination of youth mentoring relationships can be detrimental. Researchers have not adequately explored issues surrounding the breakdown of youth mentoring relationships. Underpinned by a socio-ecological perspective, in this exploratory study we consider the various contexts within which these important relationships exist and identify early warning signs orred flagsthat a mentoring relationship is struggling. We interviewed mentees, mentors, and coordinators from four Western Australian youth mentoring programs about their experiences of mentoring relationships. Our findings suggest that red flags and repair strategies may be specific to particular programs, and that program coordinators play an important role in supporting relationships. Our research will help youth mentoring programs work toward early intervention strategies or appropriate and respectful termination of a relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines complexities and interdependencies of key family relationships which anchor young people’s educational biographies. It is well recognised that young people’s education pathways in late modernity are strongly dependent on their ability to draw on the range of resources available, and that socio-economic status and family resources play a central role in this process. Less is known about how such relationships anchor young people’s education biographies. Drawing on theories of social capital and belonging in dialogue with qualitative interviews, and situated in studies of rural youth and education, this article considers how young people themselves talk and make decisions about their education in relation to complex family connections. These connections, contestations and negotiations between young people and central family members highlight how the late modern economy impacts on young people’s intimate relationships, and sheds light on the ongoing work of youth to resolve such tensions around their schooling in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper I argue that in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008–2009 young people, certain populations of young people in particular, are being made to bear a heavy burden, carry significant responsibilities for re-imagining their lives as a enterprise – an enterprise in which an investment in education and training and work increasingly looks like a mortgaging of an uncertain future. In mortgaging their future, many young people are confounded by the possibility of repaying this debt, or of leveraging it into a life that was promised them if only they stayed in education and training, if only they got a job, if only they studied and worked hard, and had an eye to the future. The paper will explore some of the characteristics of the self as enterprise, the challenges and opportunities that shape the fields of possibilities from which this self emerges, and which require us to practise our freedom in particular, always limited, ways and to carry responsibilities for more and more aspects of our lives, in circumstances that mostly escape our differing, individual abilities and capacities to shape these circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in the education of young people to be ‘responsible global citizens’ has grown exponentially since the turn of the century, led by increasingly diverse networks of sectors, including government, community, business and philanthropy. These networks now have a significant influence on education policy and practice, indicative of wider changes in governance and processes of globalisation. Yet little of the academic literature on global citizenship education specifically examines the impact of these networks on the production of knowledge about young global citizens. This paper addresses this gap by analysing the discourses of global citizenship that underpin recent work by a youth organisation that works closely with a network of sectors in Australia. The paper finds that a particular kind of entrepreneurial global citizen is favoured, one that is simultaneously responsible for themselves, for the rights of others and for ensuring Australia's future economic prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper presents the findings of quantitative research that explores the value young people in post-compulsory education in England attach to three dimensions of learning. The dimensions of learning are the content dimension, the interaction dimension and the incentive dimension. Three hundred and thirty-one young people in four post-compulsory settings completed a purposefully designed questionnaire. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that the learners do value the dimensions of learning but they do not value them equally or consistently. The young people attach most value to the content dimension of learning. The results are considered in relation to the context of the assessment procedures of the English education system, young people’s self- belief and learner identity, and the remit of the post-compulsory sector. It is argued that the post-compulsory sector is an integral part of an ‘epistemic apprenticeship’. This apprenticeship can be shaped to ensure that young people are equipped as learners to surmount the challenges of twenty-first century living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with previous studies, where outdoor nature experience was shown to support adolescents’ environmental knowledge, our study monitored the influence of a hands-on environmental programme within a National Park on cognitive knowledge achievement. A sample of 4th and 5th graders (n = 289) completed a week-long outreach conservation programme with two follow-up options: the first group (n = 170) interacted with thematic posters, the second group (n = 128) also completed a thematic board game. In a quasi-experimental design, we analysed both versions with regard to achievement efforts and individual situational emotions. Altogether, programme participation added cognitive knowledge, while group one (poster and board game as follow-up option) outmatched group two (just the poster option). Measures of 'state' and 'situational' emotions regarding the programme and right after game participation revealed positive effects toward knowledge. Thus, we conclude, direct experiences with nature and additional hands-on follow-up activities may foster a student’s cognitive achievement in such programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including impacts of adult role toward's young children's scientific learning, pedagogical practices for young children's cultural heritage and use of information technology (ICT) in education.

This article focuses on the school-to-work transitions of Spanish youth. Herein, we study the pathways followed during a 10-year period by young people who dropped out of school without achieving any qualifications and who did not achieve any at a later date. This is a population aged 26–28 years old with an educational level of ISCED 0–1. The study adopts a plurimethodological approach that includes an initial qualitative phase whose main instrument was the biographical interview and a second phase with a quantitative focus in which data were collected using a questionnaire. The results show the effect of dropping out of education without qualifications on the pathways of the youths as well as their greater vulnerability in the current period of economic crisis, which results in a high percentage of the population that has no employment, education or training. This effect is even greater among women. This study highlights the difficulties associated to returning to education, the reproduction of educational exclusion in the population that did not obtain the diploma corresponding to compulsory secondary education, and a lack of public policies to support this specific population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning difficulties have been found to dilute the possibilities that young adults have in their educational careers. However, during the last few decades, education has become increasingly important for employment and overall life satisfaction. In the present study, we were interested in the effects of mathematical and reading difficulties and socioemotional and behavioural problems (measured at age 16) on three educational situations at age 21: delayed graduation from upper secondary education, short educational trajectory and not being engaged in education, employment or training (NEET). The participants (N = 597; 304 females, 293 males) were one age cohort of ninth graders in general education classes, who were followed for five years after completion of compulsory education. This time frame included two different transition phases: first, from comprehensive education to upper secondary education, and second, from upper secondary education to further studies or to working life. Structural equation modelling was used as analysis method. The findings show that mathematical and reading difficulties as well as socioemotional and behavioural problems had significant long-term effects on the participants’ educational careers. New in part was that these learning difficulties seemed to have somewhat divergent emphases on the three investigated life situations: (1) mathematical difficulties, more strongly than reading difficulties, caused the students to attain lower levels of education, (2) mathematical difficulties and socioemotional problems predicted a student ending up in the NEET group and (3) reading difficulties and behavioural problems predicted delayed graduation from upper secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is common for organizations such as the International Labour Organization and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to acknowledge that the links between education and work are far from smooth, creating a ‘crisis’ for youth. This includes increasing rates of unemployment, under-employment and precarious work. In Australia, the federal government response to this crisis for youth has been to suggest the end to an ‘Age of Entitlement’ for youth, cutting education, health and social security provisions and proposing the deregulation of the higher education system. This approach, which fails to acknowledge the profound changes to youth and young adulthood that have occurred over the last 20 years, will exacerbate hardship for young people. This article draws on the concept of a ‘new adulthood’ to analyse the changing nature of school to work transitions, and the impact of these conditions on young adults. Evidence from a two-decade longitudinal research study with two generations of Australians indicates that youth are already immersed in an ‘unspoken’ crisis that has its base in the increasingly complex and tenuous nexus between education and work, creating scarring effects that will mark a generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the main ideas of L.I. Novikova's research school “Systems Approach to Character Education (Russian Vospitaniye - Editor) and Socialization in Children and Young Adults,” which is the leading research school in the sphere of education. It also shows how these ideas were developed in the activities of five generations of members of this school. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We must prepare young adolescents for a bright future by examining all of our educational practices in terms of their current and future relevance. The education we provide our students must prepare them to address enormously complex issues involving demographics and international relations, environmental and human health, and the development and application of technology. This We Believe's (NMSA, 2010) essential attributes of successful schooling can light the way to a bright future. We have clustered the 16 attributes around Four C's: constructivism, collaboration, caring, and comprehensive education. A fifth "C" that weaves through all of the others is critical thinking. The authors and their young adolescent students offer examples of these principles in action, some which may seem "old school" and some "futuristic." However, all can empower our young adolescents to thrive today as well as in a bright future of their making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What young people have to say about schooling can be most revealing, particularly when they expose and challenge the injustices and logic of school policies and practices. This paper captures voices from secondary school students from a school in Victoria, Australia, as part of a research project called Becoming Educated. The paper explores a particular geography of youth around the notion of ‘shape shifter’ as it relates to young people's education in two ways: first, in understanding the changing roles and identities of students as observers of, and participants in, education policies and practices; and second, as a way of interpreting the intent of those who ‘shape’ new ideas and policies to create a kind of ‘temporary alteration of outside appearances for the purpose of deception’ [Merchant, B. 1995. “Current Educational Reform: ‘Shape-shifting’ or Genuine Improvements in the Quality of Teaching and Learning?”Educational Theory45 (2, Spring): 251–268]. The latter has a particularly significant impact on the former, and this paradox is not one that goes unnoticed by young people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Across Europe and the Nordic countries, it is widely agreed that the high proportion of 15–30-year olds not in employment, education or training is a challenge, which needs to be tackled by focusing on education. The political and institutional focus is on individual training readiness, individual qualification processes, individual building of confidence in oneself and so forth, culminating in an overall individual perspective. Purpose:The study argues for a shift in focus away from an individual perspective on young people on the margins of education and towards a relational perspective that takes the social environment and the education system into account. Sample: Respondents were 20 young people aged 17–24 who were participating in a specific project in a provincial town in Denmark, the aim of which was to encourage the youths to re-enter education. Design and methods: Qualitative data were collected through: (1) 40 semi-structured qualitative interviews with 11 young people on the margins of the education system, and (2) observations of 11 respondents’ participation in educational activity. The analysis was based on relational and social constructionist theories. Findings:The analysis of data from this small-scale study provides evidence to suggest that a shift in the current focus on the individual young person on the margins of education is needed. The concept of ‘educational trust’ is introduced as a supplement to the individual concept of self-confidence in order to capture the socially constructed aspects of the young adult’s participation in education. Conclusions: We identify three overall components of educational trust: (1) social security and recognition, (2) flexibility in structures and (3) progression in skills. The concept of educational trust, it is suggested, creates a shift in focus from the individual young person to the role and function of the education system in aiming to reach the target of more young people completing education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The UK, like most countries across Europe and other advanced economies, has experienced an alarming rise in the levels of young people (aged between 16 and 24 years) who are detached from both the labour market and the education and training system. In the UK, there are nearly a million 16–24-year-olds who are recorded as being not in education, employment or training (NEET). For governments throughout Europe, the need to address high levels of youth unemployment and social disengagement has become an urgent priority. As a result, policy-makers are faced with the challenge of developing effective interventions to prevent these levels being sustained over the longer term, with potential scarring effects on successive generations, and concomitant economic and social impacts. Purpose: This paper will inform the development of policy and practice targeted at NEET prevention and reintegration of those young people who have become NEET, with suggestions for areas to be addressed and methods and mechanisms which might be incorporated into programme implementation. The paper highlights gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the size, characteristics and geographical distribution of young people in the NEET group in England, and questions the continued relevance of the term ‘NEET’ to capture youth disengagement. Sources of evidence: After drawing on Europe-wide data to present a picture of the scale of youth unemployment throughout the continent, official UK data are used to drill down to specific issues which are the focus of the piece, in particular, the regional disparities in the size of the group whose destination is ‘unknown’. This is discussed in the context of a range of literature relating to the emergence of the term ‘NEET’ and the characteristics of the NEET group. A review of current policy intervention in England to tackle the NEET ‘problem’ is also presented. Main argument: This paper will suggest that the implementation of effective policy interventions to address the ‘NEET’ issue is highly problematic, due to three overriding concerns. These are: (a) a lack of clarity in the definition of this group in England; (b) inadequacies in determining with any precision how many under-18s there are in this group, or where they are located, leading to large numbers whose post-education destination is ‘unknown’; and (c) misguided stereotyping of NEET young people’s behaviour, attitudes and aspirations. These problems have partly been exacerbated by budget cuts and changes to guidance and support services, as well as inadequacies in mapping and tracking systems. Conclusions: The paper concludes with recommendations that policy development must, in the first instance, be underpinned by robust and reliable data about the size and composition of the group, derived from impartial, independent mapping and tracking services. Furthermore, policies designed to reduce the NEET population should include measures which tackle NEET prevention, re-engagement strategies for the hardest to reach groups and active labour market policies for the young unemployed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper represents a contribution to ongoing debates in theJournal of Youth Studiesconcerning young adults, in particular, those that address young adult citizenship and ‘voice’ and which take into account the generational political, economic and cultural processes that both frame and shape their citizenship construction. The potential impact of the enactment of citizenship on the daily lives of young adults is at focus as we address the ways in which they express the attainment and desire foreducational citizenshipin their current lives, with particular emphasis onparticipationand theconstruction of knowledge. Educational citizenship of rights and knowledge is seen as a political and cultural right and as an opportunity. Young Portuguese adults were consulted in their final school year in semi-disadvantaged schools and regions. Consultation was supported on focus group discussion and individual in-depth interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article revisits debates about inclusive education from the perspective of theKeeping Connectedproject, a qualitative longitudinal research project focusing on young people with health-related disrupted experiences of schooling. Drawing on findings from this project, three main arguments are advanced and illustrated in relation to inclusive education. First, voice and subjectivity are not identical for these young people, and inclusive education should be concerned with both. Second, a generic orientation to difference and heterogeneity is an insufficient approach to inclusive education; the specificities of how marginalisation and lack of opportunity is produced for this particular group need attention. Third, schooling is a social institution working and producing effects as a process over time, and this has implications for inclusive education perspectives. The article argues that Osberg and Biesta's proposed framework for inclusive curriculum does not avoid the conundrum it identifies in other inclusive education frameworks, and under-theorises the social, curriculum and subjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]