Page 78 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

The reintegration approaches have been grouped into six categories:
(a) tracking measures to identify, support and monitor young people at-risk
(including a case study example from Denmark);
(b) short-term, specialised support to facilitate reintegration into formal
education (including a case example from France);
(c) holistic interventions for young people with complex support needs
(examples are provided from Ireland and Lithuania);
(d) online learning and support platforms facilitating reintegration (featuring a
case study from the UK);
(e) other second chance measures (including examples of traditional second
chance schools in Greece, all day schools in Germany and Greece and the
second chance opportunities offered by the Portuguese validation system);
(f) guidance and training measures to aid access to employment (including
case examples from Germany and Poland).

The review commences with tracking measures, which can be used to monitor
progress into further learning.

5.2.1. Tracking measures to identify and monitor young people at risk
Tracking and monitoring measures can be used to identify young people who
have dropped out of education and training and offer them targeted support.
There has been a sharp increase in the number of European countries investing
in these electronic monitoring systems, which allow authorities to monitor learner
outcomes and progression of young people from one education level to another.
The rationale for investing in such monitoring system is the information that it can
offer to authorities, guidance counsellors and other partners working with young
people about the participation of young people, at-risk groups in particular, in
learning.
The systems usually include information about the ‘learning location’ of each
young person in the age group and the geographical area the initiative covers.
The learning location can be a school, training provider, specialist programme or
an employer (through an apprenticeship). The system ‘warns’ authorities about
those who have dropped out so that relevant support workers can get in touch
with the young person as soon as she/he has dropped out rather than wait until
their problems have escalated further. In some cases the system also permits the
identification of those at risk of dropping out.
The discussion of the use of tracking measures is focused on an example
from Denmark. Other examples of these methods are also drawn from other
countries in later text. The Danish example shows how these tracking measures

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