It's our turn – young people ‘tilting’ the neoliberal turn

Abstract

Freire taught us that education and politics are inseparable, and occasionally indistinguishable, in the social weft of the human adventure (Torres, 2009, p. 3). And what can be more important for us than helping those called 'at risk' overcome their powerlessness? (Greene, 1995, p. 128

How Can We Meet the Needs of Young People in Vulnerable 'NEET' Situations? A Realist Research Protocol to Evaluate the Delivery and Implementation of (Re)Engagement Initiatives in Northern Sweden

“…Beyond the potential bene ts of our project, and of '(re)engagement' initiatives more generally to make a substantive and sustainable difference in the lives of young people in vulnerable 'NEET' situations, the broader context in which research and practice play out needs to be recognised. In this regard, we share the view of many scholars who before us have problematised the development of efforts aimed at reengaging young people by depicting how they tend to be a result of social inequalities, an individualisation of risks, and a broken welfare system that fails to account for everyone by deeming some groups un t to ' t in' [15,64]. More speci cally, while the initiatives at the centre of our project may be a way to interact with marginalised young people in a more humane and less instrumental manner, they should not be seen as places from which these youth can escape alienation [65]; neither do they address the problems in labour markets and education systems today, thus generally letting 'the mainstream off the hook' [15 p. 493].…”

“…To create real and sustained change for young people whose educational trajectories, social circumstances, and economic conditions are particularly challenging [12], moving beyond standardised solutions characterised by a premature and largely instrumental focus on getting them to study or work will be essential [13]. In particular, meeting the needs of 'NEETs' who face substantial life barriers due, for example, to long-term unemployment, chronic or mental illness, disability, alienation, or discouragement [14] may require more exible, holistic, and indeed humane approaches [15]. To contribute insights about the workings of such efforts, this protocol presents a project that will evaluate and provide directions for strengthening the delivery and implementation of multi-component '(re)engagement' initiatives, introduced in northern Sweden to the (potential) bene t of young people in vulnerable 'NEET' situations [16].…”

Transit and Transition: Student Identity and the Contested Landscape of Higher Education

“…Threadgold & Nilan, 2009;Fraser et al, 2017;, Habib & Ward, 2019. Authors highlight key problematics such as how some young people might construct counternarratives to social expectations which has been noted in studies of youth Smyth, Robinson, & McInerney, 2013;Stahl, 2017). We also see how young people must learn to appraise or contest the ways in which they are identified as minorities in educational landscapes.…”

Social Citizenship Aspirations: An Alternative Line of Analysis of the Social Reproduction of Youth Inequality

“…A key policy strategy for enhancing socially disadvantaged students’ participation in higher education is raising the aspirations of such students (Kenway & Hickey-Moody, 2011), seeing the capacity to aspire and work hard as the primary resource through which to overcome disadvantage (Mendick, 2018). Several researchers, employing a ‘governmentality’ framework, have argued that such government policies operate with a normative construction of the successful, self-governing, entrepreneurial subject able to negotiate the economic and cultural demands of neoliberal societies (Farrugia et al, 2015; Smyth et al, 2014). This normative centre allows policy regimes to identify and govern populations that deviate from this pathway.…”