Regional lifelong learning policies and the social vulnerability of young adults in Girona and Vienna (original) (raw)

Lifelong learning policies and young adults: Considerations from two Italian case studies

International Journal of Lifelong Education, 2019

The article focuses on social vulnerability and how Lifelong Learning (LLL) policies tackle it. Two Italian case studies on local LLL measures within Italian Youth Guarantee (YG) scheme are discussed: Civic Service in Genoa and NEETwork Project in Milan. The aim is to investigate how such measures shape the life courses of young adults in vulnerable conditions. Examining whether their support of the school-work transitions meets the youths' needs, accounting for the different contexts and the individual resources and shortcomings. Similarities and differences between the two case studies are discussed, focusing on policies' governance and concept of vulnerability applied to young adults. A conceptualisation of the vulnerability as a process developing over the young adults' life course trajectories is presented. Conceiving it in a multidimensional way, discussing the interplay between the individual resources, and contextual factors in emerging 'vulnerable conditions' of young adults. Then, the article proposes possible interpretations of the ways in which young adults relate to and cope with LLL policies, according to the Merton's strain theory, outlining different strategies of adaptation in uncertain biographies. The risk to increase social exclusion and inequalities is discussed as an unintended effect of LLL policies.

Lifelong Learning, Young Adults and the Challenges of Disadvantage in Europe

Palgrave Studies in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

This chapter focuses on why two groups of disadvantaged young adults (the low-educated and those working in low- or medium-skilled occupations) participate—or do not—in job-related non-formal education and training. It suggests that, across occupational groups, job content is the core mechanism preventing young adults from participating. It also shows that institutional context is important: when unemployment rates are high, inequality in participation between occupational groups increases. During the post-2008 recession, investment in active labour market policies and similar measures reduced the ‘training gap’ between high-skilled and low-/medium-skilled occupations. When labour market conditions are more favourable, strong employment protection legislation appears to reduce inequalities in job-related non-formal education; during the economic crisis, however, it seems to have increased them.

Landscapes of Lifelong Learning Policies across Europe

Palgrave Studies in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

In this chapter, we explore the processes of subjectification in lifelong learning policymaking by providing a comparative analysis of three educational policies located in functional regions of Portugal, Germany, and Croatia. By doing so we seek to unveil how subjectification operates as power technology in lifelong learning policymaking and how it shapes the self-conduct of young adults in their life courses. In our analysis, we devote special attention to the production of vulnerable and dependent subjects. The chapter evolves in five steps. First, we start by introducing the rationale of our analysis debate. In the second step, we present the conceptual and theoretical terms and methods used in our study. Third, we undertake a separate analysis of each country’s case and describe initial patterns of subjectification. Fourth, we juxtapose and compare the cases and outline the most prominent features of subjectification, examining, above all, their common signs and local effects. ...

European Governance and Educational Policy. Youth Guarantee as a ‘Trail’ between Labour and Learning

2019

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Educationalisation of youth unemployment through lifelong learning policies in Europe

European Educational Research Journal

In the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, European authorities reinforced the economic objectives of European lifelong learning policy, promoting employability solutions to address youth unemployment, and increasing their political influence on the implementation of national lifelong learning reforms. This article investigates to what extent these supranational policy orientations have been translated into concrete national lifelong learning initiatives. Although European countries were not equally affected in terms of time and intensity by the rise in youth unemployment rates, the political responses from their governments shared a central focus on employability solutions to youth unemployment in lifelong learning policy reforms. Our comparative analysis shows how different lifelong learning policy initiatives managed to ‘educationalise’ a structural economic problem (i.e. youth unemployment) into an individual educational concern (i.e. lack of education and skills). We...

Negotiating "employability" in Europe: Insights from Spain, Croatia and Portugal

Landscapes of Lifelong Learning Policies across Europe, 2022

The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate on how different patterns of governance contribute to the contextualisation of lifelong learning policies in a specific social context. Taking opportunity structures as frames, different specific governance patterns in three different social contexts are analysed and explained. Three case studies of policies implemented in three European functional regions are described: Istria (Croatia), Malaga (Spain) and Vale do Ave (Portugal). Attention is given to lifelong learning policies that are oriented towards raising the levels of employability of young adults. The notion of employability has been put forward at the EU policy level through different strategies (e.g., Education and Training 2010 and 2020 programmes) and it informs the construction of policies on problems and the solutions to be provided. Conceptually, this chapter is based on Bartlett and Vavrus’ (Rethinking case studies research: A comparative approach. Routledge, 2017) proposal to use three axes (transversal, vertical and horizontal) to explore and compare cases. Thus, the authors explore different ways in which the “employability” and other relevant approaches are materialised in and adapted to historically situated contexts (transversal axis), by different actors involved at different levels of local/regional designs and implementation scales (vertical axis) of diverse LLL programmes implemented in three EU regions (horizontal axis).

The effectiveness of lifelong learning policies on youth employment

Lifelong Learning Policies for Young Adults in Europe, 2019

In a context of historical growth of youth unemployment rates due to the global financial crisis, most of the LLL policies adopted by national governments all over Europe have been dominated by the employability agenda. The problem with this agenda is that it assumes that the main causes of youth unemployment are to be found in the education and training system and in the inadequate level of skills of young people, without questioning the economic and labour market policies that led to the youth unemployment crisis. In this sense, LLL policies contribute to turn a structural economic problem into an individual one, usually of an educational nature (Biesta, 2006). These LLL policies construct their target groups as individuals with educational deficits or without the skills demanded by the labour market. Consequently, the policy solutions offered to these individuals are additional work relevant education and training opportunities, preferably delivered through work based learning modes of provision. Most of the LLL policies analysed in this research can be classified in two main groups: apprenticeships and employability training courses. While apprenticeships aim at providing work-based learning to gain industry and/or firm relevant skills, employability courses aim at activating unemployed youth and prepare them for the demands of the world of work. In both cases, there is a strong focus on meeting the skills demanded by employers, which vary across regions due to their different labour market and socioeconomic configurations. Education and training institutions, as well as most LLL policies, are designed and promoted at the national level. Nevertheless, their enactment and implementation takes place at the regional and/or local level. Given the heterogeneity of socioeconomic contexts within countries, the effectiveness of these national policies are likely to be moderated by the regional labour markets and the employment opportunities available to young adults in each context. The aim of this chapter is to analyse and discuss to what extent the effectiveness of national LLL policies on youth employment varies across regions displaying different regional labour market demands and employment opportunities for young adults in vulnerable situations.