Mini Review

The Improvement in the Expectations on the University and Higher Studies in Young People at Risk of Social Exclusion: The FIOCB Project

David Subero*

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Universitat de Girona, Spain

Submission: June 06, 2019; Published: June 20, 2019

*Corresponding author: David Subero, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Universitat de Girona, Plaça de Sant Domènec, 3, 17004 Girona, Spain

How to cite this article:David Subero. The Improvement in the Expectations on the University and Higher Studies in Young People at Risk of Social Exclusion: The FIOCB Project. Psychol Behav Sci Int J. 2019; 12(2): 555832. DOI: 10.19080/PBSIJ.2019.12.555832

Abstract

One of the great dilemmas of our schools and institutes today is to be attractive for our young people and adolescents. If we add phenomena such as cultural, functional, social, economic and gender diversity (to name a few), the complexity to raise important educational activities for the lives of our youngers increases. The FIOCB (Funds of Identity in an Open Center in Barcelona) project is one of the socio-educational programs carried out in Open Centers in Spain (Catalonia) that offer alternatives to make the school a nearer and more sensitive space for everyone. The project aimed to increase participant’s expectations of education in general, and school instruction in particular developing a positive discourse on the sense of education. The results show how the students have undergone a process of identity transformation as a result of their participation in this project. It is concluded that the educational continuities can improve the sense of school institution.

Introduction

The “blurring” of the sense of school learning [1,2]. The existence of discontinuities between the practices, relationships and experiences of young people, on the one hand, and those made possible by formal educational institutions, on the other. There is a lack of sense of the school due to the transformation of the basic parameters of learning: where and with whom, when, what, what and how [2].

Funds of Identity

To increase the expectations of adolescents in relation to higher education institutions, it is necessary to have an impact on activities that promote a new identity for adolescents and that incorporate practices that give value to higher education through knowledge and relevant references. that young people have geographic, social, cultural, institutional identity funds [3,4]. Learner identity as a strategy for changing university expectations [5]. The process of learning the identity of the learner is based on the experiences of participation in learning activities, both formal and informal educational experiences, which have influenced the person throughout time and situations.

Participants

A total of 7 young people belonging to the neighborhood of Ciudad Meridiana (Barcelona) participated in the study, of which 5 were women and 2 men, with a minimum age of 16 years and a maximum of 22 years, with an average of 18 years. The young people were chosen following the criteria: to be a young person from Ciudad Meridiana, to fill in the pre- and post-test questionnaire, to participate in the FIOCB program. The project was implemented during the months of October, November and December 2014 and consisted of 9 sessions lasting approximately 60 minutes each session.

Aims and Objectives

The objectives of the project and the approximate timetable for its development were explained in the first session. In the second session, the young people chose songs, with which they identified for some reason, and once chosen they talked about their interests, problems and tastes. The third session focused on the “spiral learning” activity. The participants identified significant experiences of learning throughout their lives within a timeline. In the fourth session, young people, based on an element of their interest identified in the previous sessions (the comic), drew several vignettes on the school and what they would like to change to improve their school learning. The fifth session discussed the meaning of school and education through 4 experiences or testimonies of students; they finally wrote their own experience. The sixth session was dedicated to prejudices about a social experiment in which people’s reaction to people of different cultural origins and different types of bicycle stolen is identified. The seventh session was related to the slogan “I study for ...” from which the experiences and objectives of the young people were identified. At the eighth session, and in the course of the previous sessions, two posters were made in which the young people represented the subject for their study, as well as the different activities carried out during the sessions. The aim of the posters was to show the reason or personal meaning that it has for each of the participants to go to school (Figure 1). Finally, in the ninth session, the project was collectively evaluated.

Tools and Methodology

We use pre and posttest questionnaires, in which an analysis of semantic content was carried out [6]. The answers obtained were grouped into three codes: negative category (I do not see myself following higher studies / going to university), neutral category (I do not know) and positive category (if I see myself doing higher studies / going to university). Added, we use an interview in focus group format, the data analysis procedure follows the qualitative approach known as “grounded theory” [4] in which codes and categories are elaborated from the analysis of the interview whose objective is to detect the positive and negative aspects of the project according to the opinion and experience of the participants.

Conclusion

The assessment made by the participants during the sessions of the program and in relation to the category “modification of expectations” makes explicit a discourse marked by the identity transition [5]. The results show that the activities of educational and professional sense facilitated the adoption of a new positive sense, by young people, in relation to higher education.

References

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   3. Esteban Guitart M, Moll L (2014) Funds of identity. A new concept based on the funds of knowledge approach. Culture & Psychology 20: 31-48.
   4. Glaser BG, Strauss A (1967) Discovery of Grounded Theory. Stratgies for Qualitative Research. Mill.
   5. Coll C, Falsafi L (2010) Learner identity. An educational and analytical tool. Revista de Educación 353: 21 233.
   6. Krippendorff K (1990) Metodología de análisis de contenido, Sociology Press, Valey, USA. In: Teoría y Práctica [Methodology and Content Analysis: Theory and Practice]. Barcelona, Spain.