Conference Agenda

Social inclusion and inclusive education are key priorities in the Europe 2020 strategy and among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the formulation of such goals, there is extensive evidence that various types of barriers are preventing young Europeans from being successfully integrating into society. Those successful at school come primarily from high socioeconomic backgrounds (Broer,Bai & Fonseca, 2019; Chung, 2015). This factor influences their success at school in terms of engagement, grades and their performance in upper secondary school (Alexander, Entwisle & Horsey 1997; Benner, Boyle & Sadler, 2016). From this perspective we argue that the educational system reproduces inequalities, and that many of those struggling have experienced a lack of social inclusion. Social inclusion through education is therefore vital to individual and society as a whole.

This symposium focuses on the project Erasmus+ KAIII “Co-created Education through Social Inclusion” (COSI. Ed). COSI.ed is an upscale of the proven good practice from the Erasmus+ project; Marginalisation and Co-created Education (MaCE). The COSI.ed project intends to develop a comprehensive model for social inclusion of pupils in the risk zone for social exclusion and dropout, as well as a political strategy that can be used throughout Europe. Central in the project are the four cornerstones: 1) context (background, schooling and cultural/national, 2) Co-creating (egalitarian perspective to learning, acknowledging competence in the expert as well as the learner), 3) indirect approach (how to communicate with children vulnerable positions to give them voice) (Moshuus & Eide; 2016) and 4) Equality Literacy (what support or hinder learning, for the expert to understand and to empower the learner to)(Stuart.et.al 2019)

The COSI.ed project is conducted in five different countries and educational contexts representing Southern (Portugal and Spain), Eastern (Poland) and Northern Europe (Norway and Denmark). The objective of the project is to prevent and reduce Early School Leaving from Education and training (ELET)and contribute to change of policy. The ambition is to portray an inclusive educational practice for theorists, researchers, educational authorities, and stakeholders to provide theoretical perspectives to practitioners to strengthen their educational work , provide more equal educational opportunities and preventing school dropouts. Following this project we have the Collaborate Competence Groups (CCG) where the pupils, students, politician, professor and teacher meet to analyses, advice and support the project nationally and internationally.

Co- creation in public sector refers to joint working between people or groups who have traditionally been separated into categories of user and producer (Durose, 2017). When young people and other stakeholders’ experiences and tacit knowledge is included in development and implementation of new practices they are experienced as more useful than practices developed and imposed in a ‘top down’ approach(Shamrowa&Cumings,2017).

COSI.ed builds on the understanding that educational staff, role models and the pupils co-create as part of a community of practice. Role models collaborate and share knowledge and experience with students to further develop our approach. By using the embedded methodology pupils learn about themselves, how to excel and the educational staff develop skills and understanding to socially include the pupils.

The collection of studies forms a novel opportunity to discuss strengths and weaknesses of upscaling a co-created model for achieving social inclusion in European countries with diverse contextual characteristics. The symposium contributes to further knowledge about models for social inclusion by focusing on social disadvantage pupils as well as the various teachers’ good practices. In two subsequent symposia we will present the COSI.ed project and the overall design in the first paper. Through the next five papers we will present challenges related to implementation of COSI.ed in the participating countries.

11 partners from five countries are working to develop a European policy that will show a way to include young people in vulnerable positions so that they can find their place in society through school or work. To manage this COSI.ed project will upscale the MaCE-model (developed within the previous project) of socially including young people to excel at school and work. Through the partnership in COSI.ed we will work on upscaling the model, within various national contexts, from local to regional, national and European policy level. The project builds on the MaCE-model, with the four cornerstones of Context, Co-creation, Indirect Approach and Equality Literacy, which is the base of our work with the young people at risk of social exclusion (Bunting & Moshuus 2017; Gravesen, Stuart, Bunting, Mikkelsen, Frostholm & Mikkelsen 2021, Stuart et. Al. 2019; Moshuus&Eide 2014). At this stage of the work, we have tried out the model in the different contexts; rural, urban, in the south, the east and the north of Europe, in countries with a large part of the population with low socio-economic outcome and in a country with a high completion rate. In each context, the chosen group of beneficiaries are young people at risk of dropping out of education or training, who work within the project with trained and selected role models. We have as well co-created with the local partner’s role models, the students, the professionals and the university professors within Collaborate Competence Groups (CCG), who have followed the project locally and internationally as International CCG. Halfway through the project we are tracking down the evidence of the project's efficiency. We are also developing further inclusive and egalitarian methodology to be applicable in the different contexts through the development of effective tools, guidelines and scientific evidence. This paper will give an overview of the COSI.ed project, present the experiences across the national partners, and in that way also create a backdrop for the other presentations in the symposium.

Bunting M., & Moshuus, G.H., (2017) - Young peoples’ own stories of dropping out in Norway: An indirect qualitative approach, Acta Didactica, Vol.11, Nr. 2, Art. 5. Gravesen, D. T., Stuart, K., Bunting, M., Mikkelsen, S., & Hornbæk Frostholm, P. (2021). Combating Marginalisation by Co-Creating Education. Emerald; Moshuus, G. H., & Eide, K. (2016). The Indirect Approach: How to Discover Context When Studying Marginal Youth. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406916656193 Stuart, K., Bunting, M., Boyd, P., Cammack, P., Hornbæk Frostholm, P., Thore Graveson, D., Moshuus, G. Walker, S. (2021). Developing an Equalities Literacy for Practitioners Working with Children, Young People and Families through Action Research. Educational Action Research, 28(3), 362-382

The European strategic framework for education and training 2030 aims to reduce Early Leaving from Education and Training (ELET) to 9% (Council of the European Union, 2021). Spain is one of the countries in the European Union with one of the highest ELET standing at 13.3% in 2021, compared to the EU average of 9.7% (Eurostat, 2022). In this scenario, research pointed to the strategic role of vocational education and training (VET) in the prevention of ELET (Cedefop 2020; Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2019) and the need for improvement and development of this training, which is still characterised by low participation and high drop-out rates with over half of students estimated to drop out of this training without the corresponding qualification (Martínez-Morales & Marhuenda-Fluixà, 2020; Salvà-Mut et al., 2020). Against this background, we consider implementing the COSI.ed,project in Initial and Continuing VET be vital. The project promotes a rethinking of the teaching and learning processes by situating students, who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out, at the centre, based on their own experiences and knowledge, with the aim of promoting the development of skills and competencies to contribute to the further development of their sense of self-efficacy (Gravesen et al., 2021). In this paper, we present the preliminary results of the COSI.ed project implementation in the regional context of the Balearic Islands. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 young people who started their training in the 2021-22 academic year in two VET centres: Sociedad Cooperativa Jovent and Naüm Proyecto Socioeducativo. At the same time, 6 interviews were carried out with the trainers (role models) to gather their first impressions on the implementation of the project. The results point to an improvement in the learning and learning processes of the students as well as their engagement with special emphasis on the relationship with teachers. Related to the trainers, although they highlight the benefits of the project, their voices denote certain resistance to change. This is why, in the project’s second phase, emphasis should be placed on improving their involvement.

Cedefop (2020). Vocational Education and Training in Europe, 1995-2035: Scenarios for European Vocational Education and Training in the 21st Century. No 114.Publications Office of the European Union. Cedefop reference series. http://data.europa. eu/doi/10.2801/794471 Council of the European Union (2021). Council Resolution (2021/C 66/01) on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030). Official Journal of the European Union, 26-11-2021. EUROSTAT (2022). Database. Early leavers from education and training by sex and labour status. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=edat_lfse_14&lang=en Gravesen, D. T., Stuart, K., Bunting, M., Mikkelsen, S. H., and Frostholm, P. H. (Eds.). (2021). Combatting marginalisation by co-creating education: methods, theories and practices from the perspectives of young people. Emerald Group Publishing. Marhuenda-Fluixá, F. (Ed.) (2019). The School-Based Vocational Education and Training System in Spain: Achievements and Controversies. Vol. 32. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-981- 13-8475-2. Martínez-Morales, I. & Marhuenda-Fluixà, F. (2020). Vocational Education and training in Spain: steady improvement and increasing value. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 72(2), 209-227. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2020.1729840 Salvà-Mut, F., Ruiz-Pérez, M., Psifidou, I., & Oliver-Trobat, M. F. (2020). Formación profesional de grado medio y abandono temprano de la educación y la formación en España: una aproximación territorial. Bordón. Revista de Pedagogía, 72(4), 95-116

Internationally, as well as in a Danish context, a relatively high level of education in the population has increasingly become a prerequisite for both individual and national success and stability on the (inter)national labor market and in global competition (Thomsen & Andrade 2016). Thus, the importance of young people having equal opportunities for entering and staying and finishing education has become goal for education policies (European Commission, 2017). However, empirical studies indicate that when it comes to educational equity, making education accessible for all students will not ensure equal educational outcomes, there are still various barriers preventing young people to succeed in education. Educational mobility in Europe as well as in Denmark is thus still relatively low and the dropout rate relatively high, especially for socio-economically challenged pupils and students (Karlson & Landersø, 2021). Implementing an upscaled MaCE-model focusing on the good practices from the former Erasmus+ project Marginalisation and co-creation in new partner schools, is the core objective of COSI.ed project. This in trying to prevent dropout and support students in reentering or completing education, making the schools more inclusive and relational oriented. The model focuses on a rethinking of teaching with a strong focus on student engagement, student-teacher relations and using an indirect approach inspired pedagogy (Gravesen et al., 2021). But how is it to be a young person in a marginalized position in education – and (therefore) in society? How does it feel as a young person not being able to live up to societal norms for education and adult life course? Which experiences does young people situated on the margins of education have with the school system, teachers, social workers, municipalities etc.? Using the indirect interviewing method, and ethnographic inspired fieldwork in the Danish COSI.ed partner school for young people in vulnerable positions, this PhD-project examines this, asking how students in vulnerable positions experience and understand their own life conditions and opportunities/barriers in the context of their educational trajectories (Frostholm & Walker, 2021; Moshuus & Eide, 2016). And furtherly asking how it is to be met and approached differently in the COSi.ed partner school in Denmark. In using the indirect approach, closely connected to the ethnographic interview (Spradley, 1979) and lifeworld-oriented interviewing methods (Brinkmann, 2020) I seek in-depth understandings in trying to let the young people guide the conversation as much as possible. In this presentation, I will present the preliminary findings of the project.

Brinkmann, S. (2020). Unstructured and semistructured interviewing. In P. L. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research: Second Edition (2 ed., pp. 424-456). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190847388.013.22 European Commission, (2017). Communication from the commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on a renewed EU agenda for higher education. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52017DC0247 Frostholm, P., & Walker, S. (2021). The Indirect Approach – The Basics, the Craft and the Ethics (pp. 61–75). https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-448-620211006 Gravesen, D. T., Stuart, K., Bunting, M., Mikkelsen, S. H., and Frostholm, P. H. (Eds.). (2021). Combatting marginalisation by co-creating education: methods, theories and practices from the perspectives of young people. Emerald Group Publishing. Karlson, K. B., & Landersø, R. (2021). The Making and Unmaking of Opportunity: Educational Mobility in 20th Century-Denmark. København: The ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit Moshuus, G. H., & Eide, K. (2016). The Indirect Approach: How to Discover Context When Studying Marginal Youth. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 15(1), 160940691665619. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406916656193 Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Wadsworth Group/Thomson Learning. Thomsen, J-P., & Andrade, S. B. (2016, dec 22). Uddannelsesmobilitet i Danmark. SFI - Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Velfærd. SFI Tema Nr. 03:2016