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life that have hitherto been taken for granted I am more extrovert, open to new things and adaptive
are challenged by other ways of seeing and now than before the exchange. Everyone should go
doing things, and this provokes a reflection and experience what it is like to live in another country.
process in which participants must adjust and I now appreciate my own country more, and my
rearrange their mental frameworks to try and
come to terms with this “new reality” that they attitude is more positive.”
have become part of. Mezirow (without actu- a student from finland quoted in erasmus impact study, 2014
ally having transnational mobility in mind) has
called this process “transformative learning”. to constructions, and many of the disadvantaged
accomplish this, both practically and mentally, young people are being continually reaffirmed
the participants must develop new insights, in their status by the (negative) expectations
skills and competences. the intensity of this arising from their surroundings. placing them
learning process is, of course, directly propor- in a new environment – risky as it might be –
tional to the length of the stay and the degree also gives them a possibility to act being free
of integration into the environment of the host of many of the constraints they experience
country. it is perfectly possible to come out of in their daily life: to experiment with those
a short-term stay with little or no learning, but aspects of their personality which are normally
properly planned and executed stays abroad suppressed and, to a certain extent, “reinvent
represent a rich potential for learning and themselves” without fearing the disapproval
personal development. yet learning through of their peers. the other aspect hinges on the
these “disorienting dilemmas” is not a painless motivational value of a stay abroad for persons
process, as it feeds, so to speak, on the exist- who are often very little mobile in their daily
ence of problems and barriers. instances of lives and for whom the thought of moving
premature return due to a failure to cope with even to a neighbouring town to pursue
these are known from all mobility schemes, opportunities for education or employment
even when dealing with mainstream youths represents an insurmountable barrier. for
who are not in the “disadvantaged” category. such people, the experience of a successfully
subjecting fragile young people with few accomplished stay in a foreign country may
resources to such an experience is not without provide an impetus to cross other borders,
risks and pitfalls, and it certainly requires a high which now suddenly appear less formidable in
degree of professionalism of the organisers. comparison with what they have achieved.

a 2004 cedefop study on the participation reacHing balance and a
of disadvantaged groups in mobility projects Holistic view
(Kristensen, 2004) focuses on the development taking the cue from the practical experience
of mobility projects as a pedagogical tool for gained so far, along with the theoretical frame-
this target group. it is a qualitative study which work, two messages concerning a successful
is based on data obtained from document involvement of disadvantaged groups in
analyses and interviews with organisers from mobility activities seem to appear.
8 different european placement schemes. in
the conclusions of the study, the following 1: Strike the right balance between the challenges
aspects of the learning potential of these of the experience and the resources of the target
experiences are highlighted as especially rele- group. at the very core of the use of mobility
vant for this target group. One of the aspects as a pedagogical tool lies the idea of employ-
is concerned with the use of the stay abroad ing “disorienting dilemmas” as a launching
as a “free space”, as an environment where the pad for the learning processes. if organisers
participants may be free of the expectations consistently try to eliminate all problems for
which surround them in their daily life. Many of the participants to give them as pleasant an
the disadvantages are to a large extent social experience as possible, they have misunder-

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