Second Chance School for Social Inclusion in South Italy: a case study

The contribution will report the results of the evaluation of a project of second opportunity school for NEET in the age from 16 to 18 years, who left the school before the graduation in three cities of south Italy: Napoli, Reggio Calabria and Messina. The project aimed to give these teenagers a different educational path to help them to overcome their scholastic failures and social scripts, building useful skills for their working and relational growth. The research, based on the Outcome Mapping approach, was oriented to evaluate the outcome of the project among the teenagers involved in terms of life and citizenship skills. The evaluation used mixed methods including: – evaluative rubrics computed from the educators and aimed to evaluate the evolution of participants’ skills during the project; – three focus group, one per city involved, with the teenagers and early adults who participated to the activities for two years; – a survey to all the participants at the end of the project; – Focus groups with educators. Further analysis will involve individual interviews to the participants after one year from the conclusion of the project, to see the long-term impact of the intervention. The main early finding of the research appears to be that forms of education alternative to vertical and theoretical teaching may succeed in the effort of make the teenagers feel supported instead of judged. The research shows in fact that many teenagers involved in the project had the opportunity to overcome their feeling of failure learnt at school and to appreciate the relevance of learning by doing and making mistakes, increasing their self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities. However the evaluation shows also some limits in the extents of these results among the participants and further research need to be done to see the long term impact and analyse the scalability of the model. The case study aims to offer a contribution in terms of possible suggestions to improve the formal education system in its attempt to prevent students’ educational and social exclusion, especially in difficult social contexts.