Page 59 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

learning communities in supporting children and young people during lessons
and extra-curricular activities. The learning community approach was developed
by researchers at the Special Centre for Research in Theories and Practices for
Overcoming Inequalities (CREA) at the University of Barcelona.
Evaluations of similar initiatives in the US demonstrate similar, positive
results. They have been found to be a powerful tool for social cohesion,
community capacity building and social, cultural and even economic
development.
Despite promising results, the transferability aspect of the Learning
Community approach to larger cities has been questioned by many. They doubt
how dipping into the knowledge of the local community is to be achieved in
segregated urban areas where many parents have problems communicating in
the language used at school. Concerns would arise in many countries from the
inclusion of volunteers from the local community, without making full and time-
consuming background safety checks on volunteers.
Volunteers are, however, crucial to the successful operation of the learning
community, as they provide guidance and support for young people experiencing
difficulties with particular topics. Using volunteers from a variety of backgrounds
is another element of the learning communities’ success. University students and
local community members act as another positive role model for young people.
They are able to see what people from their community are doing and have
achieved, which in turn should raise their aspirations. Student volunteers can
also provide information and discuss university life with the young people, giving
them an idea of the opportunities available to them after school. This may ‘plant a
seed’ and raise aspirations of progressing to further education and university.

4.2.4. Additional teaching inputs
Supplementary tuition and teaching assistants can help to tackle individual
student problems before these are able to have a serious impact on their
educational achievement and increase the risk of dropping out. Supplementary
tutoring can take many forms. Some pupils receive tutoring individually and
others work in small groups. Attention is focused on building student strengths or
helping them improve their skills in areas that challenge them. Usually tutoring
entails working with students on a particular reading, writing or numeracy skill but
examples have also been found of tutoring projects directly linked to providing
career-specific guidance.
In recent years countries such as the Czech Republic, Greece, France,
Hungary and Sweden have released funds to finance such activity. In Greece the
provision of additional tutorials for children living in communities with a high

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