The voices of young people about interrupting school failure and dropout: the role of schools, families and communities in atypical educational pathways

Abstract

While being concerned with which processes and factors contribute to building inclusive socio-educational practices, the project EDUPLACES (where I am currently developing my post-doctoral research) is also concerned with understanding the actors’ points of view about which processes and factors foster the interruption of the negative spiral of school failure and dropout, and promote the educational remobilisation of young people. To that extent, we developed a series of in-depth interviews with young people (ages 16-29; 3 males and 6 females), with previously irregular or unsuccessful educational pathways, in an attempt to gather their perceptions about what made a positive difference in their lives and eventually determined a successful educational outcome. Our goal is to simultaneously highlight the singularities (what is specific) and the regularities (what is common) in these atypical educational pathways, and to understand to what extent the inclusive socio-educational practices in which these young people participated a) constitute innovative responses for educational demands and needs, and b) contribute to empower and include marginalised populations. As we explore the young people’s perspectives, feelings, attitudes and decisions towards education and schooling, we explore the role that schools, families and communities play(ed) in their educational pathways: key people/relationships, experiences, spaces or organisations in positively transforming young people’s trajectories.