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Description
The project focuses on the development of personal, social, relational, emotional and community skills of young people, using non-formal education methodologies to enhance the learning that is part of the ‘hidden curriculum’. The main objective is to promote the improvement of the quality of teaching and consolidation of learning for personal and collective well-being, developing self-knowledge, self-confidence, resilience, empathy, and solidarity in the light of the principles of equal opportunities. The project brings to the youth community its practices and dynamics for the school community, in a process of education of social transformation that promotes critical, creative, integral educational processes, in the sense of enabling to be protagonists in the different spaces in which one participates and is a part.
Summary of project results
It''s known that some young people don''t actively participate as citizens, have low levels of solidarity and self-awareness, don''t like to get involved because they don''t find meaning in formal learning, and find it difficult to develop skills such as creativity, resilience, interpersonal relationships and teamwork.
Societies and populations all over the world are currently facing intense and unprecedented challenges that affect all essential aspects of populations, with serious psychosocial, economic and humanitarian changes. In particular, the pandemic crisis has had a transversal impact on all communities at an international level, causing very abrupt and rigorous changes in individual experiences, above all by imposing the need for social isolation, with serious effects at a personal, psychological, professional, social and family level (Duan & Zhu, 2020; Orben, Tomova & Blakemore, 2020). By 2030, it is estimated that more than 825 million children and young people will not acquire the basic secondary-level skills - such as transversal, digital and specific vocational skills - needed to support lifelong learning and employment (BMGF, 2020; OECD, 2020a).
We are facing a serious learning crisis, which presents itself as the greatest global challenge in preparing today''s young people for the current and future labour market. Missed schooling opportunities can result in very limited economic progress for certain individuals, directing them towards life trajectories that may be more difficult to change later on and with a negative impact on society as a whole, creating inequalities.
Territorially, and specifically in Portugal, in the parishes of Vilar de Murteda, Geraz do Lima (Santa Leocádia) and Moreira de Geraz do Lima, there was a higher dropout rate in 2011 (8.33%, 7.35% and 5%, respectively), according to the Social Diagnosis of Viana do Castelo). According to the same document, the highest retention rate is in secondary schools in rural parishes. In 2011, the level of education of the population living in the municipality was relatively low, with 18.34 per cent of the population not having completed any level of education, 24.61 per cent having completed the 1st Cycle of Basic Education and 14.78 per cent having completed the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education.
In short, these geographical, social and family factors are at the root of the needs identified above, contributing to the creation of inequalities. This project aims to prevent these inequalities by contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 10 ‘Reducing Inequalities’.
The SER project consisted of a series of initiatives carried out in 2 school clusters in a rural area of the municipality of Viana do Castelo with the aim of contributing to the development of young people''s personal, social, emotional and community skills through Non-Formal Education (NFE) methodologies. In each school cluster, 12 sessions were held reaching a total of 160 students, 1 training session wich reached a total of 67 teachers and two events were organised to present the results to a total of 140 participants from each school cluster. These events were attended by representatives of Viana do Castelo City Council, the parish councils, the Portuguese Institute for Sport and Youth, directors of other schools and the Bissaya Barreto Foundation, representing the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
The methodologies used to develop the project were: Non-Formal Education (NFE); Action Research; Experiential Learning, and participatory methodologies. Evaluation was implemented continuously as part of the activities. Different levels of evaluation were considered: activities (level of realisation, degree of satisfaction), results (number of beneficiaries), objectives (effectiveness) and impact (structural, lasting, indirect and direct effects). The tools used were mainly qualitative methods (together with quantitative methods) in an attempt to get a global view. The emphasis was on analysing the ‘process’ that produced the ‘effect’. Thus, the following evaluation tools were used throughout the project: mini-surveys - which allowed us to gauge the degree of satisfaction of the participants in the activities and the impact of the project (for example, the barometer); direct observation (observation script) - which allowed us to analyse the results of the project; SWOT analysis; objectives and effects tree; focus group.
A Methodological Guide about the sessions implemented was also produced so that the sessions could be replicated by teachers and other professionals. This Guide was shared with the management and teachers of the two school groups.
Through the evaluation methods implemented, we were able to conclude that the objectives were largely achieved. The empowerment sessions for young people were crucial to developing their skills of self-knowledge, self-confidence, resilience, empathy, solidarity and autonomy and co-responsibility.
The working methods, such as non-formal education, used at all times during the project made it possible to explore the participants'' capacity for work, cooperation, socialisation in citizenship processes and the spirit of overcoming. As a result of this empowerment, many of the young people who took part in the SER project sought to develop volunteering projects promoted by AJD and youth mobility in the summer of 2023. Many of the young people mentioned the importance of the empowerment sessions in improving peer relationships, as they had the opportunity to learn more about personality traits and personal journeys that allowed them to develop greater empathy. In this way, the empowerment sessions also led to a significant improvement in personal and collective wellbeing, which has repercussions on wellbeing in the classroom, improving comfort and ease, thus making them more predisposed to learning and contributing to an improvement in the quality of teaching, which was reflected in a higher participation rate.
The organisation believes that this project not only enabled change in young people, but also in the teachers who attended the empowerment sessions and witnessed the effects of the proposed intervention in the youth, as well as the teachers who took part in the training sessions, thus contributing to a greater openness of the school environment to community practices. This was evident when two more sessions on autonomy were organised in the following school year, to which no obstacles were raised (a process that didn''t prove so easy at the start of the project).
The subject of mental health, although not the direct topic of intervention, was often discussed in both the empowerment sessions for young people and the training sessions for teachers. The pandemic crisis has had an impact on people''s lives, regardless of age, by imposing social isolation, with serious personal, psychological, professional, social and family effects, which have been felt by both young people and teachers. The development of these basic skills has led to a greater awareness of the importance of caring for mental health through personal development and empowerment.