The first step in caring for the Other is to conduct a careful analysis of the adolescent’s needs. This WP adopts a psycho-pedagogical perspective to focus on the development of adolescent migrants’ identities and outline their individual, social and educational needs as part of the adaptation process.
GENERAL AIM
The general objective is to formulate an educational and didactic model focused on the potential of foreign adolescents, highlighting their resources rather than their shortcomings. In practice, educational care involves identifying adolescents’ needs and expectations. Analyzing the emotional experiences of children thus helps to define the specific set of social skills that are fundamental to their identity development. Along these lines, life-course planning is translated into respect for the unique value of each person with particular concern for his or her social skills.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How do migrant reception center workers perceive foreign youth and their adaptation processes, and how effectively do they understand their needs and make use of Individualized Education Plans (IEP)?
How do unaccompanied minors structure their sense of identity and how well is identity able to “dialogue” with a sense of self-efficacy, social support and the acculturation process?
What are the dreams, hopes and needs of the foreign minors who arrive in Italy?
ACTIONS
Adopting a multi-method approach, the WP involves conducting interviews with unaccompanied foreign minors and interviews with social workers/educators aimed at exploring their degree of awareness about the process of managing foreign adolescents. Finally, self-report questionnaires will be administered to adolescents to create a model of psychological functioning through sophisticated statistical analysis (e.g. Equation Structural Model) in order to explain the process of psycho-social adaptation by highlighting the factors that are supportive of development.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
This project is thus intended to provide a systematic and careful analysis of the evolutionary needs of unaccompanied foreign adolescents in relation to fundamental aspects of life (school, school-work relations, social relations).
Furthermore, we hope to formulate a development model capable of explaining how self-efficacy, acculturation, ethnic identity and social support may represent key factors in the adaptation process of foreign adolescents.
Research area WP4 Incoming Migrants and Minors is coordinated by Kore University of Enna
Research Areas
WP1
Civic and Social
engagement
To understand how curricular and extra-curricular activities promote the social-civic engagement of students of all levels through educational and research pathways.
WP2
Educational
Alliances
Educational frailty and antisocial, aggressive and violent behavior among adolescents. A participatory research-action carried out with educators and teachers in Naples and Irpinia.
WP3
Inclusion of
young people
Social and economic exclusion of young people. Pilot study to assess the potential of MOOCs to support young people neither studying nor working (NEET) with training and labor market integration.
WP4
Incoming
migrants
and minors
A psychoeducational analysis of the adaptation process using a multi-method approach.
© Re-serves
"REsearch at the SERVice of Educational FragilitieS", is a Project of Significant National Interest (PRIN) financed by the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) and approved under the SH (Social Sciences and Humanities) category, SH3 (Environment, Space and Population) sector through Convention No. 2017XPN3W9. The project is scheduled to last 3 years (2019-2022).
For more information, write to: re-serves@ateneo.univr.it
