Page 80 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

Both established and pilot tracking projects have been identified in a number
of countries, including Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland,
Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. This is an established
practice in countries such as Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden.
Tracking schemes have recently been piloted in countries such as the
Netherlands and Finland. The legal framework for establishing a Lithuanian pupil
register (Mokinių registras) was adopted on 8 February 2008 and, in Spain, the
new national Plan on the reduction of early school leavers (Plan para la
reducción del abandono escolar, 2008) contains financial provisions for regions
to establish tracking measures.
The responsibility for tracking measures can be allocated to a range of
organisations, including municipalities, regions, job centres and education or
training establishments. Legal responsibility tends to be allocated to national or
regional authorities, while responsibility for implementation generally lies with
organisations working directly with young people, such as education and training
or information and guidance providers.
In a number of countries, this responsibility has been formalised by law, as in
Denmark. In Sweden the responsibility also lies with the municipalities, who are
obliged to monitor young people until the age of 20. They must use measures
that help young people to access education or employment if they are inactive
during the period, stretching from the end of compulsory education (aged 16)
until the age of 20.
Responsibility for implementation is delegated to organisations ‘on the
ground’ in the Netherlands, where education institutions are legally obliged to
inform the municipality of any young person, aged up to 23, who has been absent
from school for more than one month and does not have basic educational
qualifications. The municipalities then have a responsibility to support the early
school leavers to return to education and obtain a basic qualification. The
information gathered in this new student registration system also allows the
authorities to access reliable and up-to-date information on the level of early
school leaving. This ensures that the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
is able to assess the effectiveness of new policies and practices. Information is
available for each region, municipality and district, and the data is linked to area-
specific socioeconomic data.
In Belgium, a truancy reduction plan has been introduced in Flanders in the
hope of reducing the number of early school leavers. Schools are obliged to
provide the Flemish Department of Education with the names of all students who
have enrolled, for the Department to monitor the enrolment of all students under
the age of 18.

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