Different Drum project is designed to offer students professional mentoring support by addressing the needs identified by the PISA 2018 study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The study illustrates the need for a more personalised approach towards education, especially for those students who are vulnerable due to their environment. The research shows that there is a large disparity when comparing the academic performance of those students coming from advantageous background with those coming from a disadvantaged background. The research also highlights the difference in the way the students perceive education. A worrying statistic was that the index of self-efficacy, the extent to which students believe in their own ability to perform especially facing adversity resulted in a very low score in Maltese students when compared to Estonia and Ireland. The central element of this project will be to give support to students who are attending the second year of their middle school education. The support will be given by professional youth workers which focus on a preventive methodology to reduce the risk that these students will leave school at an early age which might result in an increased risk of poverty. The profile of students that will be targeted is: - Coming from a disadvantaged background - Not receiving any additional support from current structures - 2nd year of middle school - Between the age of 12-13 The selection of the participants will be done through the schools, with collaboration from the administration. The main aim of this project is to support 48 students (16 each in Malta, Estonia and Ireland) who are considered vulnerable young people attending the second year of their middle school experience. These young people will be supported by; - The provision of a mentorship programme and mentors who are professional youth workers, - The youth workers will assist the young people in the transition from middle to senior school, - The mentoring will be done over a period of 2 years, - Mentoring will be done in and after school to provide a more holistic approach which supports the students. Mentoring will also continue in the summer, - Mentors to work with the family and community of the students, - Mentorship to be evaluated, measured and improved throughout this project. The mentorship programme is at the centre of our project and indeed it is the longest intellectual output envisaged taking place over 29 months. This is important as the commitment needs to be long-term to ensure results. Additionally, since this project focuses on a holistic approach it needs to continue to run in the summer recess as well. Indeed, two short-term exchanges of groups of pupils will be carried out; one in Malta in August 2021 and one in Estonia in August 2022. This will enable the youth workers with their mentoring programme once the scholastic year is over and will equip the young people with important soft-skills needed to further their studies and provide better employment opportunities. The project also covers three other important intellectual outputs which feed into the mentorship programme, collate its outcomes and assess its impact. Different Drum will also have three transnational meetings which will be carried out in Malta, Estonia and Ireland respectively. This will give the possibility to the partners to share tasks and responsibilities with the coordinator as well as give us the opportunity to see first-hand how the situation in different countries is and, where relevant, how the programme is being run. The project envisages also a multiplier event in each country to present the outcomes of the project and disseminate with all those interested its results. Other dissemination strategies are also in place to help further promote the project and its deliverables such as the use of social media, web pages of the partners, publications on newsletters, the SALTO-Youth and the Erasmus+ project results platform. The results that we will be sharing and are envisaged as part of this project are various. Undoubtedly, this project will positively impact the 48 mentees that will be part of it. They will be receiving one-to-one attention from professional youth workers that will be accompanying them in their academic life as well as after school hours. The service is long-term and focuses on the holistic needs of the vulnerable young people. This will enable our project to reach young people who are at risk and not currently supported, motivate students who are detached from the education system, decrease level of absenteeism and disruptive behaviour in school and provides a shift from a reactive to a proactive approach. This will ultimately benefit the participating organisations as well through their capacity-building as well as to continue their strive towards the recognition of youth work as a profession that is fundamental for the well-being of the young people.
1. The students targeted by this project were those who fell outside the student support services. The students attended Middle School; 12-13 year old and who would then transition to secondary schools, which for the most vulnerable can be a traumatic experience. Another criterion was that the students who were mentored throughout this project were not receiving additional support from the schools' structures. 2. This project gave additional support to students who are the ghosts of the education system. This is the category of students were not in a position or do not feel comfortable receiving additional support like LSAs, social workers or guidance. This puts them in a very vulnerable position since they will rely on their own self-resilience to cope with the reality of their lives. 3. During this project, we worked with 48 students during school and after school hours. One of the main goals was to increase the overall competencies of the students through better academic performance and engagement in after-school activities. The professional youth workers through the mentorship approach conducted a needs analysis in order to be able to encourage, support and empower the students they were working with.
Different Drum project was designed to offer students professional mentoring support by addressing the needs identified by the PISA 2018 study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The study illustrates the need for a more personalised approach towards education, especially for those students who are vulnerable due to their environment. The research shows that there is a large disparity when comparing the academic performance of those students coming from advantageous backgrounds with those coming from a disadvantaged backgrounds. The research also highlights the difference in the way the students perceive education. A worrying statistic was that the index of self-efficacy, the extent to which students believe in their own ability to perform especially facing adversity resulted in a very low score in Maltese students when compared to Estonia and Ireland. The central element of this project was to give support to students who were attending the second year of their middle school education. The support was given by professional youth workers which focused on a preventive methodology to reduce the risk that these students will leave school at an early age which might result in an increased risk of poverty. The profile of students targeted by this project were the ones that are: - Coming from a disadvantaged background - Not receiving any additional support from current structures - 2nd year of middle school - Between the age of 12-13 The main aim of this project was to reach those young people who are vulnerable and at risk of marginalization, which contribute to the rate of early school leaving. This has been done by offering to students professional mentoring support.