Social images of youth as a challenge for mentoring work

Abstract

The article examines the image of youth participating in vocational education and training in Slovenia, and discusses the importance of that image in understanding the role of mentors in practical training. We begin by examining the image of youth as a group and then proceed to the image of vocational school students. The image of youth both as a group and as the subgroup of students in vocational education seems to split in several directions. On the one hand, young people are seen as the rescuers of problems of the so-called Western society, while on the other hand they are understood as the problem and viewed as disinterested, narcissistic and egoistic, an image further extended, in the case of students enrolled in vocational education, to describe them as incompetent, undisciplined, lacking manners, having low motivation and lacking responsibility. Students in vocational schools are significantly different from their peers when it comes to academic success and this difference can be interpreted as a consequence of the students’ environment. The present system of vocational education does not minimize the discussed difference, but instead actually reproduces and deepens it.

Subjective determinants of social activity of the student youth

“…On the one hand, students do not see the opportunity for manifestation of their social activity and therefore realize it through communication and the establishment of social contacts to achieve their self-realization goals [2], on the other hand they try to influence the world and people around them and express their individuality [3]. Foreign researchers emphasize the progressive potential of modern youths and see them as the carriers of social development capable of leading the society out of crisis (crisis of values, economy, and civilization in general) [4], focus on their desire to participate in social life, to search for the new social connections [5]. During the acquisition of professional education young people want to not only find their own place within the system of social relations but also to choose their professional future, thus striving for deep assimilation and practical application of knowledge and scientific and creative abilities for the benefit of society and themselves [6,7].…”