Young People and Social Policy in Europe


Book Description

This edited collection provides the first in-depth analysis of social policies and the risks faced by young people. The book explores the effects of both the economic crisis and austerity policies on the lives of young Europeans, examining both the precarity of youth transitions, and the function of welfare state policies.




Young People's Perceptions of Europe in a Time of Change


Book Description

The IEA's International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) investigates the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries in the second decade of the 21st century. ICCS 2016 is the second cycle of a study initiated in 2009. This report from ICCS focuses on data collected in the 15 countries that participated in the study's 2016 European regional questionnaire. It reveals lower secondary school students' views on European identity, their perceptions of freedom of movement and immigration, and their opinions of Europe and its future. It also, for the 12 European countries that participated in both ICCS 2009 and ICCS 2016, looks at changes across this time period, in young people's perceptions of immigration and European identity. Comparison with the complete international study will enable readers to review the extent to which region-specific perceptions are related to other factors, such as students' level of civic knowledge and social or educational contexts. Over the past 50 years, the IEA has conducted comparative research studies in a range of domains focusing on educational policies, practices, and outcomes in many countries around the world. The association conducted its first survey of civic education in 1971. The reliable comparative data collected by ICCS 2016 will allow education systems to evaluate the strengths of educational policies, both internationally and within a regional context, and to measure their progress toward achieving critical components of the United Nations' 2030 agenda for sustainable development.




Social Exclusion of Youth in Europe


Book Description

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.Policymakers throughout Europe are enacting policies to support youth labour market integration. However, many young people continue to face unemployment, job insecurity, and the subsequent consequences.Adopting a mixed-method and multilevel perspective, this book provides a comprehensive investigation into the multifaceted consequences of social exclusion. Drawing on rich pan-European comparative and quantitative data, and interviews with young people from across Europe, this text gives a platform to the unheard voices of young people.Contributors derive crucial new policy recommendations and offer fresh insights into areas including youth well-being, health, poverty, leaving the parental home, and qualifying for social security.




Healthy Europe: confidence and uncertainty for young people in contemporary Europe


Book Description

What is it like to be young in a Europe faced with conflict and austerity? Volume 3 of the series Perspectives on youth focuses on “healthy Europe”, not just in the narrow sense, but in the broader sense of what it is like to be young in a Europe faced with conflict and austerity, and what it feels like to be young as transitions become ever more challenging. The assumption when planning this issue was that health in this broader sense remains a controversial area within youth policy, where the points of departure of policy makers, on the one hand, and young people themselves on the other are often dramatically different; in fact, young people tend to interpret the dominating discourse as limiting, patronising, maybe even offensive. The question of health brings the old tensions between protection and participation as well as agency and structure to the forefront. Not all questions are addressed in detail but many are touched upon. It is, intentionally, an eclectic mix of contributions, to provide a diversity of argumentation and to promote reflection and debate. As has been the intention of Perspectives on youth throughout, we have sought to solicit and elicit the views of academics, policy makers and practitioners, presenting theoretical, empirical and hypothetical assertions and analysis. Perspectives on youth is published by the partnership between the European Union and the Council of Europe in the field of youth in co-operation with, and with support from, four countries: Belgium, Finland, France and Germany. Its purpose is to keep the dialogue on key problems of child and youth policies on a solid foundation in terms of content, expertise and politics. The series aims to act as a forum for information, discussion, reflection and dialogue on European developments and trends in the field of youth policy, youth research and youth work while promoting a policy and youth work practice that is based on knowledge and participatory principles. The editorial team of this volume is composed of 12 members representing the supporting countries, the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR), the co-ordinator of the youth policy reviews of the Council of Europe, the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership and the co‐ordinator of the editorial team.




Youth Participation in Europe


Book Description

In a period when social unrest and youth dissatisfaction has manifested itself through highly public protests, the question of youth participation in democratic societies is at the forefront. This book offers a fresh look at youth participation, examining official and unofficial constructions of participation by young people in a range of sociopolitical domains. It explores the motivations and rationales underlying official attempts to increase participation among young people and offers a critique of those various efforts' effectiveness. Based on original research data from a significant study, it provides a thorough analysis of an important sector of democratic societies.




Supporting Young People in Europe


Book Description




Political Engagement of the Young in Europe


Book Description

Although many scholars are convinced of the apparent civic disengagement of youth, others suggest that civic participation of young people is stable and increasingly expressed through non-institutionalized forms of practicing politics. This book makes a key contribution to this discussion by asking whether the "decline or shift" paradigm is sufficient in understanding political participation of the youth. It argues that we need to move beyond this framework and develop a renewed reflection on the meaning of "civic and political engagement". It asks crucial questions such as: How can the young be educated into assuming civic and political responsibility? Why and how do young people engage in social and political action? How do the principal mediating institutions (education, media and the family) contribute to new or different forms of youth civic engagement? This text contains contributions from acknowledged specialists such as Constance Flanagan, Mark Elchardus, Marc Hooghe and Bert Klandermans and will be of key interest to students and scholars of youth and young citizens, civic & political involvement, European politics, youth studies, sociology, political participation and electoral behaviour.




Backpack Ambassadors


Book Description

In Backpack Ambassadors, Richard Ivan Jobs tells the story of backpacking in Europe in its heyday, the decades after World War II, revealing that these footloose young people were doing more than just exploring for themselves. Rather, with each step, each border crossing, each friendship, they were quietly helping knit the continent together.




Transitions from Education to Work in Europe


Book Description

This text provides a comparative analysis of school-to-work transitions in EU member states. It shows how differences in both European education and training systems, as well as labour market institutions, generated significant variation in the experiences of young people in the 1990s.




Youth Policies and Unemployment in Europe


Book Description

In Youth Policies and Unemployment in Europe Paola Giannoni analyses the situation of the European youth regarding the changes in the job market dynamics and the strategies implemented by the EU for the social inclusion of young people.