What genuinely helps young people in challenging circumstances stay in education and build a positive future? How can we more effectively support those at risk of early leaving of education and training? The European project SCIREARLY explored these questions using a participatory approach: listening to young people who, despite coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, have managed to forge positive educational paths. Based on these experiences, the project then co-created concrete recommendations for more effective school policies and practices.
Two important resources are now available, compiling the results of two key project activities: interviews with young people and significant figures, and co-creation workshops with local stakeholders. Both documents offer invaluable tools for those working in education, educational policy, and research.
Interviews: giving voice to journeys of resilience
The first activity involved 51 young people aged between 16 and 30 across eight European countries, including Italy, each with stories of educational success built in difficult contexts: poverty, migration, ethnic discrimination, family instability, or experiences of foster care or institutionalisation. Participants recounted their life and educational journeys, highlighting critical moments, enabling factors, and obstacles overcome. Each interview was complemented by a conversation with a ‘significant person’ – a teacher, parent, or mentor – identified by the young people themselves as fundamental to their success. These individuals were also interviewed, offering a complementary perspective.
These narratives reveal a rich and complex picture, demonstrating how educational success is never solely an individual matter. Trusting relationships, emotional support, access to institutional resources, inclusive school environments, and the valuing of cultural diversity are among the most recurrent transformative factors. The result is a detailed mapping of the conditions, relationships, and strategies that enable educational resilience. The Report Transformative Drivers in Successful Academic Journeys provides an in-depth analysis of these elements, useful for inspiring more equitable and effective school policies and practices.
Co-creation: from stories to recommendations
Building on the interview findings, SCIREARLY organised participatory workshops to engage with young people, teachers, educators, parents, researchers, and social workers. The objectives of these meetings were to:
- validate and deepen the emerging data
- gather concrete suggestions and recommendations for improving educational policies and practices at local and European levels.
The workshops generated operational proposals that contributed to the drafting of the Recommendations for policymakers, school leaders, teachers and counsellors. The 3 sets of recommendations emphasise the importance of creating relational, flexible, culturally inclusive school environments that prioritise mental health, whilst valuing even non-traditional success pathways.
Why read and share these documents?
The Report and the Recommendations are not merely research outputs; they are tools designed for those who work daily in educational settings, for anyone wishing to better understand how to prevent early school leaving and promote educational inclusion. They offer genuine insights, based on lived stories and co-analysed with those working in the sector every day. Reading them, discussing them, and putting them into practice is a way to collectively build a fairer school system, capable of recognising and valuing the talents of everyone, even in the most challenging circumstances.
If you work in education, social work, or policy, we invite you to download them, read them, and use them as a basis for reflections, proposals, and interventions.
About the project
SCIREARLY – Policies and Practices based on Scientific Research for Reducing Underachievement and Early School Leaving in Europe is a project funded by the Horizon Europe program, Call Inclusiveness in times of change, Research and Innovation Action.
Partners
- UNIVERSIDAD DE LA IGLESIA DE DEUSTO (Spain, Coordinator)
- KENTRO MERIMNAS OIKOGENEIAS KAI PAIDIOU (Greece)
- MINISTERIO DA EDUCACAO E CIENCIA (Portugal)
- DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY (Ireland)
- RED BARNET (Denmark)
- UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO (Portugal)
- UNIVERSITA TA MALTA (Malta)
- EUROPEAN PARENTS ASSOCIATION (Belgium)
- HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO (Finland)
- UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE (United Kingdom)
- CESIE ETS (Italy)
For further information
Read more about SCIREARLY, follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, X (Twitter) e Instagram, and visit the web site https://scirearly.eu/.
Contact Alessia Valenti: alessia.valenti@cesie.org.
