Page 87 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

Lithuania and Ireland are not the only countries using the youth school
approach. Similar interventions have been also established in countries such as
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy and Slovenia. In Italy, Learning
recovery and development workshops (LARSA) have been established for young
people who could not cope with mainstream education and the Project learning
for young adults (PLYA) is a similar initiative in Slovenia. The latter aims to help
young people to rejoin their peers, develop working and learning habits, and
motivate them for learning. Production schools (produktionsskoler) and youth
workshops (nuorten työpajat) are examples of other well established national
second chance measures for disengaged young people in Denmark and Finland,
respectively. Similar approaches can also be found in Austria (Project Gaaden),
Belgium (Time Out projects) and Iceland (Fjölsmiðjan production centre for
school leavers and Personal profile and support project).

5.2.4. Online learning and support platforms
A particularly innovative approach to supporting the hardest-to-reach early school
leavers has been developed in the UK, using a virtual online community as a
learning platform. NotSchool.net began as a university research project and is
now a national project which has supported over 5 000 pupils in the UK and has
since been introduced in Ireland, New Zealand and Sweden.
The project does not have the explicit aim of helping young people return to
mainstream education, but aims to revive an enthusiasm for learning for young
people who have dropped out of school; in doing so, it helps construct a pathway
to further education and/or employment. Access to the project is only available as
a last resort; all forms of alternative education must have failed or be considered
unsuitable for the young person before they can be referred to the project. For
this reason the target group consists of young people who are hardest to reach
and often experiencing multiple disadvantages.
The NotSchool.net project represents an excellent example of good practice
for young people who are unable to cope with traditional schooling; as learning is
presented in a different format their willingness to participate is maintained.
Evaluations have shown that the approach has helped 96 % of participants
acquire recognised qualifications or credits towards qualifications. Allowing young
people to choose the subjects they want from a wide range of varied topics also
shows them that it is not like school. Accreditation of their coursework is initially
carried out without participants being aware, to aid their re-engagement.
Additionally, having a mentor working with a small group of learners enables a
greater focus on their needs, helping to ensure they remain involved in the

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