REvitalizing networks and New Emphasis in Transfer: preventing and facing early school leaving by sharing solutions and tools 1st Transnational Workshop Rome, 18 th -19 th March 2010 Once Against Abandon Experience The Portal on School abandon

Once Again-st was a dissemination and valorisation pilot project co- financed within the LDV Programme II phase ( ). It has been conceived as a follow up of the outcomes achieved by the implementation of the pilot project Again-st Abandon ( ), concerned with the identification of: social, cultural and economic factors that characterize young dropouts good practises implemented at local level in UK, IT, ES, LV.

IT – Ce.Ri.S Centre of Social Research (promoter) DE - Schulamt für die Stadt Köln GR - IEKEP PL - Danmar Computers RO - IES LV – ISEC UK – Oake Europe IT – Street Teachers Association IT - KORUS THE PARTNERSHIP

Direct beneficiaries Guidance and counselling operators and organisations Indirect beneficiaries and potential users Young drop-out (14-24 y.o.) Education and training Institutions (schools, vocational training centres, employment services, etc). The sector is the one of services aimed at supporting individuals in their personal and occupational development.

The KEY aspect characterizing the whole of analysis and outputs realised by both the projects was “Communication” as a practice/method implied in the relationship between: Young dropouts and Institutions (School) and viceversa Young dropouts and the community Young dropouts and the territorial/national services/systems (training, counselling, etc) and viceversa. PREMISES

So, communication has been analysed in both projects, since it means and implies: verbal and non verbal language and codes; social and relational behaviours; services (information towards the client, education, training); pedagogical and counselling practices (approach).

Main Project Goals 1. Integration and valorisation of the outcomes achieved by Against Abandon project, focused on the analysis of the communication practices adopted by operators working with young dropout, through: the study of the linguistic codes and communication behaviours adopted by young; the communication and relation practices, process and modalities adopted by operators tutoring and training young dropouts; the study of the unsuccessful communication practices and process adopted towards young (by Education and Training Institutions in particular).

2. Creation of a permanent virtual community (Portal on School Abandon), with the aim of making available on line a space where rationalize, disseminate, exchange and valorise the practices, solutions, materials and tools identified and validated by different local subjects through their own experience and work. 3. Promoting the enhancement of communication/relational efficacy and efficiency of counselling, guidance and training services addressed to young drop out.

Project background issues Both the projects are grounded on a few main assumptions: dropouts are young at risk of social and occupational exclusion because for the most they are “not visible” by the national/local systems (they really disappear) and are difficult to be found, that is, it is very difficult to trace their “moving” on the territory and to quantify them (in terms of percentage rates at national/local level);

if young drop-out, it means that the system is not able to be effective and efficacious in providing services that are addressed to them; many of the successful interventions and actions implemented around Europe (best practices), aimed at reintegrating these young in social, education and training systems are not always or necessarily directly supported by Institutions, but have been promoted and realised by other subjects that in general have a strong link with the territory.

So, the idea on which the project is based is that there actually exists all around Europe a wide range of different practices and processes that can differ from each others but that share a basic theoretical approach “Young Centred” from which arise: a complex whole of methodologies, techniques and information that can be useful to valorise and share; interventions and actions consistently structured, implying also specific tools.

so, the aim of the partnership work was: to promote the exchange of information and current experiences among subjects; to foster the transfer of good practices towards one context to the other.

Within this whole of practices, the project focuses on the communication and relation process implemented by subjects providing education, training and counselling services when dealing with young at risk of social- occupational exclusion, analysing in particular two main aspects:  the outreaching modality – when the organisation/institution make itself visible to the service target. In this case the aim is to highlight the mutual communication behaviour that operators and young establish when they meet inside the young context of reference; TARGET ORGANISATION

 the settings – implying the analysis of communication and relation behaviour that operators and young establish when they meet outside the young context of reference. In this case, the target “moves” towards the organisation. TARGET GOES TO ORGANISATION (e.g. to get informed and helped)

In general, the project focused on methodologies and processes adopted by operators and organisations referred, in particular, to the moment preceding the attendance by the young of an education or training reintegration pathway (that is the process implemented by operators to involve young in reintegrating themselves in the system, to ensure themselves the chance to enter the occupational market ).

The Portal on school abandon The Portal has been published within the Public Area of the Project website (English version only – structured as a Virtual Pedagogical Resources Centre, that is, an open source channel and tool, where all users enter to upload and download on line, materials.  Pre-selection of the materials to upload/download was not foreseen: the portal was to be intended as a space addressed to operators to exchange information, experiences, good practices, tools, etc. On line has been published a “Demo” (English) aimed at providing users with all information necessary to correctly use the system to publish contributions of different kinds (upload and download functions).

The Portal has been articulated in 7 macro-sections: 1. Products – operative documents and tools addressed to operators to support guidance, counselling, tutoring, training actions (questionnaires, grids, protocols, methodological and analytical texts, handbooks and guides related to good practices experimented and validated). 2. Projects – case studies realised in different countries. For each case study a detailed description were foreseen (year, target, aims, activities, outcomes). 3. Didactic material – training coursewares realised by different users and answering to specific target groups needs. 4. Researches – sectorial analysis and surveys realised in different countries.

5. Observatory – presentation of statistical data on dropouts referred to different countries and legislative texts referred to the school leaving phenomenon in the different countries. 6. Bibliography – Index of different texts and documents concerning the school leaving phenomenon and short abstract of their contents. 7. Contacts – links and addresses of different typologies of organisations with specific competences.

Procedure to use the Portal FTP area (upload and download) The procedure to be followed to upload materials in the Portal is very easy: Step 1  Enter the project website and choose the language you prefer (IT or EN); Step 2  From the upper menu of the home page click on “Portal on school abandon” section

You are in the Portal home page. Step 3  to upload a file in the Portal, click on the “File Transfer” section provided in the upper menu of the page. The system will ask you to load a username and password to access the FTP area. Step 4  if it is the first time you access the FTP area, you will have to register yourself in the System. So, click on “register” and fill in the registration form with the data requested and provide a personal username and password, then click on “submit”. The system will visualise a message that the registration has been successful, now you can go back to the file transfer section and start the upload procedure.

PORTAL HOME PAGE

Step 5  to access to the FTP area insert your personal username and password. Step 6  to upload the file, the system will visualize a form, asking to provide: a Title of the document you want to upload a short description in english of the document contents Step 7  in the same form you have to select the document to be uploaded from your PC and then select the area of the Portal where you want to upload it (projects, products, didactic material, etc.). Step 8  click on “submit” to send the file to the system, if you have to modify something click on “reset” button. Now your document will be available on line in the section of the Portal you have selected, ready to be downloaded. If you wish to upload a document already available in the Portal, just go to the section where the document has been uploaded, click on the document and down load it.

Among all services provided in the Portal, has been activated a Forum, addressed to to all Portal users and surfers and conceived as a sort of Help desk. The aim of the Forum, in fact, is the online exchange of information, experiences, solutions and practices through direct and open discussions. Also in this case a live demo has been published on line.

PORTAL HOME PAGE

Also for the Forum area, the procedure to be followed is very easy. 1.Forum access: To enter you have to load the same Username and Password used for the FTP area or, in case you still have to register, you have to fill in the registration form, providing all information requested. Once you have loaded your Username and Password you can click on the Forum section of the upper menu of the page to suggest a discussion or to reply to a post created.

2. To suggest a new discussion theme: Click on “New” to create a new topic and insert a short text on the topic you want to discuss about. To send your discussion topic to the system, please click on “save”. 3. To reply to a discussion already available on the Forum: Read the text of all open/close discussion topics and select the one you want to join. Now you are inside the discussion chosen and you can read all contributions sent by forum users. If you want to reply to the discussion topic selected, click on “reply”, insert your message and send it to the system.