The objective of UNEXPRESSED TALENT is to reduce the phenomenon of social and educational exclusion of young people (14-24 y.o.) by means of their active participation in civil society and increased personal accountability. One of the main indicators of uneasiness, often resulting in school dropout, is linked to an insufficient level of social inclusion and a scarce participation in democratic life as well as a general lack of the so called soft-skills allowing young people to make the most proper decisions about their personal and professional life. We believe the objective of reducing social uneasiness of young people in difficulties could be reached through their inclusion in active citizenship (CSOs, etc.) with positive effects on their transversal skills and leading them to become more aware of their unexpressed talents. A period of inclusion in a non-formal organisation will result in a better level of integration both at educational and labour level. The project will identify the right target group of young people both with talent and in a situation of discomfort and include them in alternative paths of skills valorisation. Starting with a research phase, the project will provide an assessment tool targeted to teachers, families and final beneficiaries to identify their specific kind of uneasiness or exclusion risk. Once the target group will be identified according to specific indicators, (with the participation of their families and the schools ), young people will be linked to local non-formal education agencies (as CSOs, NGOs, voluntary associations, sport clubs, libraries, social promotion associations, cultural and artistic associations, disabled associations, health associations, migrants’ associations, etc.) in order to provide them with specific and personal pathways of inclusion and measure the effects of the actions taken. The inclusion should be carried not boosting their competences but creating the transversal skills they need (soft skills, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, critical thinking , empathy, life skills, ability to work in team, punctuality, respect, reliability, loyalty, self-confidence, listening, communication, self-entrepreneurship etc.) to better choose how to enhance the professional and social life. By connecting formal and non-formal education agencies, young people suffering of exclusion will have the opportunity to understand and finally express their “talents” within a structured territorial organisation. The main problems we have individuated for a base for this project are: 1. Lack of a structured analysis on formal and not formal education agencies: the persistent number of early school leavers and low-skilled young workers determines the need for a scientific-based analysis in order to understand the origins of young people uneasiness and to recognize the alerts of such risks; 2. De-motivation of young people: the high percentage of young NEET is often caused by a lack of coordinated strategies aimed at intercepting, motivating and giving them the confidence and hope in the future; 3. Unexpressed talent: young people in discomfort situation often hold hidden capabilities and a social capital which is not properly exploited by the formal education system or in the environment they live in. These problems naturally lead to the following specific objectives: 1. To conduct an analysis in formal and not formal education agencies to determine the phenomenon according to quantitative and qualitative indicators; 2. To motivate young people involving schools, municipalities, associations and project stakeholders to jointly face problems and target common solutions; 3. To connect formal and non-formal education agencies for the purpose of improving both systems. The partnership will act in the project putting in place the different backgrounds of the single PPs but always keeping in mind that the final aim of the project is to improve the social activation and inclusion of young people. Schematically, the activities to be deployed could be summarized as follows: WP1. Qualitative and quantitative research to determine the extent of the phenomenon and assessment instruments. WP2. Methods to identify dropout alerts and tools to individuate the most proper pathways to increase their awareness and improve their sense of responsibility. WP3. Participation in CSOs activities to enhance young people’s attitudes and reinforce their personal framework by providing soft skills; WP4. Creation of a model collecting experiences and providing sets of solutions and approaches to connect formal and non-formal education organisations; WP5. Dissemination and multiplier events. Scale up of results. Specific output will be: 1. Social Inclusion Assessment Tool; 2. Social Exclusion Alerts Toolkit; 3. Tool For Assessment Of Unexpressed Talent; 4. Tool For Evaluation And Upgrading Of The Mode; 5. Participation And Responsibility Model; 6. Policy Recommendations.
UNEXPRESSED TALENT (UT)contributes to reduce the phenomenon of social and educational exclusion of young people (14-24 y.o.) by means of their active participation in civil society and increased personal accountability. Literature points out that one of the main indicators of uneasiness, often resulting in school dropout, is linked to an insufficient level of social inclusion and a scarce participation in democratic life as well as a general lack of the so called soft skills allowing young people to make the most proper decisions about their personal and professional life. The main problems identified at the beginning of the project, are: 1. Lack of a structured analysis on formal and non-formal education organizations: a scientific-based analysis in order to understand the origins of young people uneasiness and to recognize the alerts of such risks; 2. De-motivation of young people: the high percentage of young NEET is often caused by a lack of coordinated strategies aimed at intercepting, motivating and giving them the confidence and hope in the future; 3. Unexpressed talent: young people in discomfort situation often possess capabilities and a social capital which are not properly exploited by the formal education system or in the environment they live in. Such reasoning has led the partners to identify 3 specific objectives: 1. To conduct an analysis in formal and not formal education agencies to determine the phenomenon according to quantitative and qualitative indicators; 2. To motivate young people involving schools, municipalities, associations and project stakeholders to jointly face problems and target common solutions; 3. To connect formal and non-formal education agencies for the purpose of improving both systems. In this regard, UT has tackled social uneasiness of young people in difficulty by developing a model of inclusion in active citizenship (CSOs, etc.) by fostering transversal skills and empowering youths by becoming more aware of their unexpressed talents. Such empowerment actions, matched with commitment in civil society dynamics helped better level of integration both at educational and, if relevant employment. Led by a European network specialized in training and inclusion of people at risk, TANDEM PLUS (FR), the partnership is made up by diverse but complementary partners, covering 7 different countries (BE, FR, ES, PT, IT, SI, HR) bringing together nine partners whose expertise ranges to different topics as: non-formal education, tools for vulnerable people, effective transversal skills assessment, scientific research on social issues, compared social analysis, development and test of tools with social impact, services to vulnerable groups as migrants and foreign students, social inclusion. Starting with a research phase, the project has provided inputs for development of different strategies for talent appreciation, and has developed a user-friendly assessment tool targeted to teachers, families and youngsters to identify their specific kind of uneasiness or exclusion risk. Following the preliminary research and alert tool, the partner developed a multidimensional model (output4): expressing talents. In the rationale of the project, this entails a 6-step comprehensive path, made up by a set of methods and tools that aim at creating links between formal and non-formal education stakeholders to support the empowerment of youth, especially for young people between 15 and 25 years of age, to foster autonomy and self-recognition of skills to make talents easily emerge and consequently build strategies to express and promote them with enhances awareness of the wider context in which they live and with the support of a more structured collaboration of territorial organisations. The model has been the result of codification and evaluation of tools such as “Unexpressed toolkit- IO 3” and “alert tools – IO 2” that has been tested first with educators and operators of formal and non-formal education during a Joint Staff training week in Madrid and then, after finalization, tested on about 200 youths in each of the 7 countries. The evaluation of the model and its tools (IO 5) has shown that the partners have increased their organizational skills and network at both local level (especially with schools and other local CSOs) and learned and benefited a lot by the transnational cooperation to improve staff skills and methods to be applied to their ordinary work with youth, which will have a positive impact on future work. The evaluation also highlights the overall positive impact on the youths involved in the pilot experimentation of the model, with achievement of the target numbers and increased awareness of talents. The final recommendations, which embed lessons from the experience, provide guidance for further actions for different stakeholders. The recommendations represent a roadmap for further work in the field.