14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License Received: 4 March 2021 | Accepted: 10 June 2021 DOI: 10.1111/ijsw.12505 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Constructing meaningful transitions in a vulnerable situation—­ The role of lifelong learning policies in European regions Xavier Rambla1 | Siyka Kovacheva2 1 Departament de Sociologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Abstract Spain This article draws on interviews with 164 young beneficiaries (of) and 128 profes- 2 Department of Sociology, University of sionals in charge of lifelong learning policies in eighteen regions located in nine Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria member states of the European Union in 2017. Drawing on the concept of ‘oppor- Correspondence tunity structures’, we analyse variations between regional institutional arrangements Xavier Rambla, Departament de and interactions between professionals and young adults. Our findings suggest that Sociologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus de Bellaterra-­ the crux of lifelong learning policies is the coordination between different policy Edifici B, 08193-­Cerdanyola del Vallès, areas so that they can respond to the multidimensional challenges that young adults Barcelona, Spain. face during their life transitions in diverse regional contexts. Email: xavier.rambla@uab.cat KEYWORDS Funding information The research project received funding education and training policy, life course research, lifelong learning, youth and young adults, youth from the European Union's Horizon 2020 transitions research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693167. I N T RO D U C T ION (Chevalier, 2016; Walther, 2017) as well as across diverse socio-­economic types of regions (Scandurra et al., 2020). In the European Union social and employment policies in- This baseline is extremely helpful to inquire further about creasingly revolve around the participation of people in regional variation of opportunity structures. We also draw lifelong learning. Twenty years ago, an early document de- on previous research on the predicaments of professional fined lifelong learning as “all learning activity undertaken discretion, managerialism and paternalism in the welfare throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills services state (Bonvin et al., 2018), but expand the scope of and competences within a personal, civic, social and/or analysis towards interactions between learners and educators, employment-­ related perspective” (European Commission, who are often the beneficiaries of (and the professionals in 2001, p. 9). Later on, the first principle of the European Pillar charge of) welfare services. Our analysis finds that regional of Social Rights booklet declared that “everyone has the right circumstances shape opportunity structures, and additionally, to quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learn- documents that many of the young beneficiaries of lifelong ing in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them learning policies endeavour to learn and plan for their life to participate fully in society and manage successfully tran- despite adversity. sitions in the labour market” (European Commission, 2017). The first section outlines our theoretical framework on op- We present an analysis of interviews with groups of young portunity structures. The next section argues that regional vari- adults exposed to social vulnerability that benefit from these ation does not only depend on socio-­economic circumstances policies, and the professionals that provide learning and guid- but also on the breadth of apprenticeship schemes and the insti- ance services to them. Our analysis acknowledges quantita- tutional capacity of local authorities. A further section attempts tive disparities across youth and life course transition regimes to make sense of the experience of young adults and educators, This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-­NonCommercial-­NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-­commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2021 The Authors. International Journal of Social Welfare published by Akademikerförbundet SSR (ASSR) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Int J Soc Welf. 2023;32:45–54.  wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ijsw | 45 |    14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 46 RAMBLA and KOVACHEVA since both parties muddle through the opportunities and the articulation between levels of government also make a differ- constraints of the official programmes. Finally, our discussion ence on structures at different geographical scales. of the room for meaningful transitions and some concluding But agency also makes a difference. On the one hand, remarks link these findings with the theory that inspired our young adults themselves elaborate and share their opinion on analysis, and briefly posit a takeaway for welfare studies. the strengths and the weaknesses of local lifelong learning pro- grammes. On the other hand, not only professionals are capable to deliver relevant individual guidance but also, in some regions, O PP O RTU N IT Y ST RU C T U R E S, LIFE the local professionals can recommend small targeted reforms CO U R S E R EGIME S A N D SOC IA L of policy designs that might foster young adults’ agency too. I N T E R AC T ION S The social interactions between young adults and profes- sionals are also embedded in the interface between opportunity An important strand of research on youth transitions has shed structures and agency. Nowadays, a powerful structural barrier light on the structures that impinge on the opportunities of has to do with the huge risks of social vulnerability that large young people (Furlong, 2009; Roberts, 2009). This concept sections of the youth endure. For instance, many children are draws on mainstream debates in sociology in order to observe growing in poverty, and many youths have to shift once again how structures both constrain and facilitate agency. Structures between unemployment, short-­ term training schemes and are social circumstances that have been constituted beyond the precarious jobs (EUROFOUND, 2014; EUROSTAT, 2017). range of action of subjects, while agency is a property of con- In fact, since official indicators take a static picture of these scious individuals who are capable to take action. The connec- processes, the resulting data conflate very heterogeneous sit- tions between family origins, education and the labour market uations and experiences into rough categories, such as those fashion variable structures depending on factors of inequality not in employment, education and training (Cuzzocrea, 2014; such as place, gender and ethnicity. In the midst of these cir- Furlong, 2006). However, our evidence also shows that these cumstances that do not depend on their will, young people youths neither present themselves as undefended victims nor find certain opportunities to construct their life trajectories. as reactive targets of a social programme, but quite often claim Our analysis of meaningful transitions in nine member that they are active subjects in search of any structural crack states of the European Union draws on both previous liter- that may help them to improve (Verlage et al., 2020). ature and new evidence to spell out the structures that shape At the same time, the official agenda puts increasing these transitions and the opportunities that emerge. We notice structural pressure on street-­level professionals so as to adopt some important differences between regional life course re- standard practices that allegedly reduce the number of the un- gimes and investigate social interactions between profession- employed and the beneficiaries of welfare (Caswell et al., 2010; als and young adults. Evans, 2018; Fuertes & Lindsay, 2016). However, their dis- Certainly, life course regimes depend on socio-­economic cretion is indispensable to cater to increasingly polarised and conditions (Cefalo et al., 2020; Scandurra et al., 2020). territorialised social and educational needs (Alexander, 2018). However, these regimes are complex mixes of policies, pro- Our evidence shows that these professionals are neither passive fessional practices and individual biographies that institution- recipients of these forces; on the contrary, most of them are alise variable sets of itineraries across the member states of aware of the complexity and multi-­dimensionality of youths’ the EU (Walther, 2017). In addition of societal diversity, the activities. In some places, they face poignant tensions between policies convey differing concepts of youth citizenship. For official goals and (often subterranean but influential) deroga- instance, while Scandinavian regimes underpin individual tory accounts of the problems of young people. notions of social welfare and encompassing skills formation, Young people live increasingly longer and more diverse Central European regimes articulate familiarised notions of transitions from youth to adult life (Furlong, 2013; Kogan welfare with encompassing skills formation, while Southern et al., 2011; Sanderson, 2020). Individual lives follow many European regimes endorse restrictive notions of both welfare circuitous paths that often transit back and forth between the and skills formation (Chevalier, 2016). conditions previously ascribed to adult life and other emerging Taking stock of Roberts’ (2009, p. 355) acknowledge- conditions. Additionally, many young people undertake educa- ment of place among the factors of youth transitions, we tion and training at the same time as employment, many young highlight the variation of regional life course regimes. This adults return to their parents’ residence after long periods living author argues that employers’ recruiting practices eventu- on their own, some middle-­aged persons enrol in education and ally shape national, regional and local structures of labour training, and unemployment is sometimes the waiting room of markets (Roberts, 2018). Ulterior research has confirmed retirement (Arundel & Lennartz, 2017; Schoon & Bynner, the importance of place for youth transitions (King et al.., 2020). However, amidst such diversification of biographies, 2018; Savage et al., 2018). Our point is that structural politi- despite many and multifarious risks of vulnerability, young cal arrangements such as the array of apprenticeships and the people form their character by making decisions on education | 14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License YOUTH TRANSITIONS THROUGH LIFELONG LEARNING     47 and training, employment, housing and relationships at varying The interviews were also helpful to investigate how these moments. These decisions configure life plans which depict subjects experimented social structures and availed of cer- different time horizons according to perceived opportunities tain structural circumstances to undertake action. (Brockmann, 2010; Leccardi, 2012; Nowotny, 1988). The literature on adult learning and education has doc- umented that agency is a crucial ingredient of learning at Sample of regions and policies varied points of the life course. Rather than an outcome of certain training or certain guidance, agency is an integral part The project estimated the averages of the sampled NUTS2 of the biographical learning process (Hallqvist et al., 2012). regions2 across a set of indicators. Table 1 summarises the Informal learning which occurs in everyday or crisis situations main classification in terms of access to education and the is valuable for young people in building their identities and labour market. creating a sense of autonomy. Life narratives often become The project selected 54 lifelong learning policies that were the vehicle of learning insofar as subjects review their past implemented in these 18 regions. Four types of policies were experiences to elaborate future plans at the very moment of identified (reference deleted to keep the project anonymous). learning in a new context or undertaking some formal training First, a group of the chosen policies attempted to reduce early (Biesta & Tedder, 2007). Interestingly, this type of learning school leaving and cater to the needs of young people neither helps people to face routine, adapt to new circumstances, gen- not in employment, education and training, mostly targeting erate valuable knowledge and skills for certain purposes and to young people living in vulnerable situations. Second, other change their self-­identity (Jarvis, 2009, pp. 193–­194). policies delivered information and guidance and fostered en- trepreneurship skills. Third, another type were active labour market policies that directly put the beneficiaries in job search, ME T H O D O LO GY real workplace or simulated workshops in order to strengthen their employability skills. Forth, a small group of policies tran- Units of analysis scended the focus on employment by providing wide-­ranging counselling and support related to life planning and creativity. We draw on the analysis of the interviews with young adults living in conditions of social vulnerability and with the profes- sionals in charge of lifelong policies addressed to this target Interviews with young adults group that YOUNG_ADULLLT project conducted.1 The pro- ject took the different units of analysis into consideration. The The researchers approached some young adults that were final version of the article will include references to working beneficiaries of these policies. Each interviewee read an in- papers that fully describe all the methodological details. formation form and signed a consent form guaranteeing ano- YOUNG_ADULLLT drew on the previously presented nymity, confidentiality and data protection. research questions in order to compare a heterogeneous The interviews invited young adults to openly narrate some sample of regional opportunity structures. Thus, it articu- biographical experiences. They were allowed to elaborate on lated three units of analysis, namely: regions, policies and their account for as long as necessary. Afterwards, the interviewer individuals (Phillips & Schweisfurth, 2014). A sample of asked some questions to clarify certain points. At the end, other 18 regions and 54 policies provided evidence on the vari- questions asked for their family life, their educational trajectory, ation of structures across the European Union. In some their skills, their experience with lifelong learning policies, the regions, this sample also shed light on the agency of pro- timeline of their biography and their socio-­demographic profile. fessionals. Moreover, two other samples were instrumental The analysts coded the interviews according to the guide- to spell out the interactions between these two types of lines proposed by Corbin and Strauss (1990). They agreed on actors. Thus, the project interviewed 164 female and male a grid of codes, which they piloted with a small number of 19-­to 30-­year-­olds in the regions, and 128 professionals interviews. Then they reviewed the initial grid and decided (e.g., service and NGO managers, case workers, educators, how to generate further codes if necessary. In this article we counsellors) in charge of lifelong learning policies there. report on analyses that took the following codes into account: presentation of the interviewee's self, construction of her/ his 1 Although our article is not attached to a public set of data, the national and life story, elaboration of a life plan, and experience with the international (WP5) qualitative reports published as Working Papers in the selected lifelong learning policy. project website describe the fieldwork, the analysis and the findings in the nine participating member states. The national reports include short 2 biographical portraits of the young interviewees as well as extensive quotes For a long time, the EU has defined regions at different levels in order to from the interviews. The URL is https://www.young​-­adull​lt.eu/publi​catio​ monitor the effects of its policies. NUTS stands for Nomenclature des ns/worki​ng-­paper/​index.php. Unités Territoriales Statistiques in French. |    14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 48 RAMBLA and KOVACHEVA TABLE 1 Access to the labour market and education in the eighteen project regions Access to the labour market in 2014 Access to education in 2014 Above the average of the sample Below the average of the sample a Above the average of the sample Bremen and Darmstadt (Germany), Etelä-­ Catalonia (Spain), Liguria and Lombardia Suomi’ and Pohjois-­ja Itä-­SuomiWien (Italy) (Finland), North Eastern Scotland and South Western Scotland (UK), Oberösterreich (Austria), Yugozapaden (Bulgaria) Below the average of the sample Jadranska Hrvatska (Croatia) Alentejo and Norte, (Portugal), Andalusia (Spain), Yuhzen Tsentralen (Bulgaria) and Kontinentalna Hrvatska (Croatia) a Including Frankfurt. Interviews with professionals of education, training and professional prospects. However, many Southern European regions attempted to reform their A sample of professionals were also contacted. They ac- employment and lifelong learning policies in a similar vein. cepted to participate on the grounds of an information form According to the interviews, in Germany, Austria and and signed a consent form guaranteeing anonymity, confi- Finland many trainees were surprised to find that apprentice- dentiality and data protection. ship schemes relied on another style of teaching which al- The interview schedule briefly framed the theme so that lowed them to ask questions and find someone who listened. the professionals were aware of the main interests of the This professional support greatly strengthened the confi- project. Then, they were free to elaborate on their own un- dence and self-­esteem of the youth. Sound career guidance, derstanding of their challenges, their tasks and their results. improved placements and encouragement to persist in learn- Afterwards, if they had not addressed certain issues, the inter- ing made them feel recognized as learners with their abilities viewer reminded them to take these issues into consideration. as well as their special needs. At the end, a few questions asked about wicked problems In Bremen, policymakers and professionals had developed such as contradictions between jurisdictions or overlaps be- programmes to respond to industrial decline by overhauling tween policy areas. the regional system of vocational education and training. Corbin and Strauss (1990) were also helpful to code these Thus, the Job Centre designed the Jugend Stärken (Youth interviews. Since the questions followed a more rigid struc- Strengths) programme for delivering counselling services to ture, the grid of codes was much simpler and did not change the youth at risk of exclusion in a very diverse array of set- significantly after a pilot trial. Mostly, our analysis draws on tings. The programme expected that the beneficiaries built a their responses about the objectives of the policies, the target structured daily routine on their own so that they were able groups, the living conditions of the beneficiaries and their to complete an apprenticeship successfully. A young man ex- autonomy. pressed his satisfaction as follows: I learned far more than basic skills because we RE G IO NA L VA R IAT IO N OF really learned a lot and lots of processing meth- O PP O RTU N IT Y ST RU C T U R E S ods that can be transferred one to one to almost all crafts and trades and I think this brought me In 2017, the transitions, the employment and the participation very fast forward in the craft of goldsmith. of young people in education and training differed along the array of institutional itineraries in each region and the ca- In Litoral Alentejano (Portugal), a similar perception of the pacity of local policy arrangements. Our analysis shows how pedagogic advantages of work-­centred education and train- policymakers, professionals and the very young adults dealt ing through practical activities was common too. In the re- with varying opportunity structures as a consequence of these gion, professionals made the most out of a modular structure heterogeneous circumstances. that allowed for different teaching methods and personalised The array of institutional itineraries was remarkably strategies. However, the youth resented a very narrow scope of large in Central Europe, where wide-­ranging apprentice- courses. One of them replied to a question about his motivation ship schemes aim at putting all youth in a specific pathway to undertake a course on welding in a bold and poignant way: | 14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License YOUTH TRANSITIONS THROUGH LIFELONG LEARNING     49 Because it was the only one. Some young adult interviewees framed their involvement with lifelong learning as a second chance after their nega- Simultaneously, the capacity of local policy arrangements tive experiences with the school system. Thus, a boy who was significantly disparate, for instance, in Vienna (Austria), had arrived from Senegal at the very threshold of majority of Girona (Spain) and Osijek-­ Baranja (Croatia). While the age narrated his deep frustration because he was not allowed Federation and the municipality had deployed many lifelong to pursue further education. Instead, he started working, and learning programmes in the former, regional and local policies contacted the local job centre in a town located in the nearby hardly collaborated in the second case, and a few professionals of Girona. Since the professionals were quite supportive catered for the needs of many young people in the latter. there, he felt they had helped him to develop his soft skills Vienna is a global city with an extremely diverse social and eventually find a job. Another young man commuted to composition. The city stages really affluent neighbourhoods Girona by train for some guidance a few days a week. He and extremely deprived areas. Since many immigrants and expressed his satisfaction to find support in order to have ac- refugees have recently moved in, a substantial share of the quired the necessary qualification to work in a warehouse. population hardly earns a sufficient income and needs to He had felt very badly at school due to learning problems and learn basic skills. In reaction, the local authorities have not unsupportive teachers. But he was relieved when the same only deployed an encompassing apprenticeship scheme that teachers had addressed him to a lifelong learning programme aims at enrolling all the youth but have also contracted some that delivered guidance and teaching in a more personalised transitional programmes with non-­profits. These programmes way. simulate working conditions in special settings, thus opening In Osijek-­Baranja County (Croatia), only a few profes- opportunities to deal with emotional development and some sionals were in charge of small lifelong learning programmes mental health problems. Our professional interviewees nor- at the local level. Although they could neither meet the mally adhered to the official rationale of the programmes, needs of the potential beneficiaries nor counsel them appro- which clearly prioritised direct experience in working places. priately on their dilemmas on emigration, they stressed the potential of voluntary work for growing up, experiencing To teach them what is about to get totally lost personal feelings and showing how to learn. Despite weak with youth, what is work, why do they need institutional capacity, these initiatives were satisfactory in- work and how does employment work. sofar as induced the beneficiaries to feel good with some activities. Thus, the manager of a small NGO made the fol- Some young interviewees reported on the capacity of both lowing comment: apprenticeships and transitional programmes to reach young people despite social vulnerability. For instance, two immigrant Young people that have taken part in volunteer- women from Romania and Serbia acknowledged how their ing have continued to be active in the commu- counsellors had helped them to go ahead despite their troubles nity and have also received a confirmation that with the language and their frustration not to save any money. they matter and that they are worthy. Many (…) One of them also mentioned some health problems due to over- have made contacts in the community and have work in informal jobs that she did in very precarious condi- therefore felt more included. tions. Finally, she had found a viable apprenticeship that had helped her to plan how to build a family, leaving those problems To wrap up, our qualitative evidence found out significant behind. regional variation in opportunity structures. Not only some In Girona (Catalonia, Spain), lifelong learning programmes programmes were opening new opportunities everywhere, mostly repaired negative experiences during school years and but also most youth welcomed these alternatives although conveyed a-­few-­months-­long vocational courses. In 2017, they were enduring harsh circumstances. Quantitative anal- some innovative programmes had strengthened an emphasis yses have already mapped out the diverging socio-­economic on comprehensive career guidance in order to instil self-­esteem indicators in European regions (Cefalo et al., 2020; Scandurra in their young beneficiaries so that they made more mature de- et al., 2020). Moreover, interviews with young adults and cisions when choosing either a job or a course. However, these lifelong learning professionals have also unveiled that the ac- programmes could hardly reach young people who either lived tual array of itineraries and the institutional capacity of local out of the metropolitan area or could not easily catch a train arrangements open some opportunities while closing other in the only regional railway line. In some localities, the local ones. In a variety of regions, these structures constrained the non-­profits that ran vocational courses had been reluctant to margin for professionals and young adults to act by them- adopt this emphasis on guidance, because they feared to lose selves, but also opened some opportunities, and sometimes potential students and thus to reduce their public funding. alleviated the most extreme pressures. |    14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 50 RAMBLA and KOVACHEVA S O C IA L IN TE R AC T IO N S we have to keep in mind that the interviewees retrieved both BE T W E E N YO U NG A D U LTS A N D their biography and the research focus of the interviews to PRO F E S S IO NA L S present themselves in these terms. In a similar wane, young mothers who were defined as Our research showed that young adults in vulnerable situ- a target group of a specific lifelong learning program in ations were an extremely heterogeneous group considering Frankfurt, Germany, considered that motherhood had a pos- their family backgrounds, educational trajectories, migration itive effect on their life trajectories by the determination to status and current life circumstances. The interviewees coped succeed that such a responsibility gave them. One participant with difficult life transitions between their parents’ home, in a training course who grew up in an environment charac- their school life and the job market. Many had suffered from terized by crime, drug abuse and violence, said that she had biographical disruptions because of health problems, family made a strong resolution to achieve stability in her trajectory conflicts, and violence at home and school. At the same time, for the sake of her child: instead of a desolate group of passive underachievers, they were active subjects struggling for their social integration. I still take detours, but I have initiated a lot by Bullying at school had provoked serious consequences for myself and have gone through a lot, but I have the learning career of many. For example, Maria, a young a small child sitting at home who calls me woman in her early twenties, involved in a preparatory train- ‘mother’. That is wonderful and I do not regret ing for vocational school in Kainuu, Finland, explained that anything. she was often treated brutally by her classmates when she did not understand something right away: “I somehow then Many felt that they were often stigmatized as a particular felt that I was like inferior to others. And … I was ashamed”. group that had deviated from the standard life course. While Most of them suffered without informing teachers or parents, participating in the Civic Service at the age of 28 in Genoa, a but even those who did found out that the intervention of man regretted that people like him were normally labelled as adults did not stop such practices effectively. These experi- “unemployed professionals” and “forever young”. In his view, ences often aggravated depression, learning disabilities and employers used those definitions as an excuse to allocate the other mental health problems. present-­day youth to the low-­paid precarious sector of the la- Since many interviewees came from families with limited bour market. socio-­economic resources, they felt under pressure to search When reflecting upon obstacles in their life trajectories, for income from work or training allowances. Some parents overwhelmingly, most interviewees accepted the discourse were the role models for the young in their vocational orien- of self-­responsibility for their choices at critical moments in tation, who wished to be either “technician like my dad” or their life. Even more so, they considered that exit from the “plumber like my grandpa”. However, quite often a change vulnerable situation was in their own hands thanks to a great in the family situation had narrowed their opportunities and diversity of coping strategies. Several young people were exposed them to social vulnerability, for instant because of a considering emigration, mainly form Southern and Eastern parent's illness, death or drug addiction, traumatic divorce, European countries. A few were inclined to withdraw into migration, and sometimes abuse by a parent or sibling. These themselves while waiting for an improvement of the labour experiences made young people lose self-­ esteem, eroded market situation. While recognising their difficulties in- their interest in studying, and eventually led them to dropping cluding physical or mental special needs, some of the young out of the formal school system. people presented themselves as fighters ready to defend Our analysis throws light into the diverse construals of their right to social integration. Thus, a young woman from vulnerability. In their biographical narratives young people Frankfurt with a history of mental illness and experience of did not define themselves as vulnerable although various violence in her family and in school, insisted to be recognised forms of adversity had disrupted their life paths. More often as a “full” citizen with the rights to learn, to work and be part they spoke about a troubled phase, that is, in the words of a of the ‘normal’ society. 23-­year-­old man employed by a social enterprise in Aberdeen, Many of our 164 young interviewees felt that lifelong the UK: “a very dark period of dealing with a lot of mental learning empowered them by improving their ability to plan and physical stuff'”. Furthermore, a significant group were for their life trajectories and construct a positive relation- eager to show that they were already in a process of overcom- ship with their biographical time. In general, all aimed at ing the pitfalls in their transitions or at least capable to do so achieving independence, which they described in varying in the near future. Another young man in a training course of- shapes and details. Their visions of the future reminded of fered by the public employment agency in Vienna claimed: “I their exposure to vulnerability as well as of their capac- just needed time for myself … and yes, now I am in this phase, ity to take control of at least some aspects of their youth where I slowly begin to build up everything anew”. Certainly, transitions. | 14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License YOUTH TRANSITIONS THROUGH LIFELONG LEARNING     51 Our qualitative analysis mostly distinguished three groups. than looking at other facets of education and training that might The first group had overcome previous biographical ruptures foster empowerment and autonomy, most of them compared by elaborating their own life projects. Not only illness and training with either a wake-­up call or real life. In Vale do Ave family violence but also family breakdown and early school (Portugal), a professional highlighted the changes of the labour leaving had disrupted their trajectory. Many hoped that voca- market: tional training would lead them back to the right path towards their initial life projects. Although this group was visible ev- Only a fifth of the labour force that was necessary erywhere, in Austria, Finland, Germany and Scotland it was 10 years ago is needed today. very noticeable that they praised the help of apprenticeships. In Scotland, a young man expressed this satisfaction with his Similarly, in Vienna (Austria) another professional argued apprenticeship: that the priority of programme was “to place people concretely in employment”. In the next 5 years I will obviously finish my apprenticeship but once I finish my 4th year But to place people concretely in employment, I would like to stay with this company if they yes (…) It’s really close to reality, because it al- keep me on for another year for a bit more expe- most is (…) a brutal way of showing young adults rience and then my goal is to go away and work quite plainly. offshore or in a different bit. Some professionals showed an increasing interest in per- The second group had indeterminate life projects or rather sonalised counselling and guidance on the grounds that it si- general plans with undefined timing. Many of these youngsters multaneously dealt with educational choice and professional aspired to reproduce a standard life course insofar as they em- vocation. A number of programmes were either piloting or phasized dreams of a house with a garden, a number of children implementing broad guidance schemes that provided individ- and a stable job. A young woman from Finland illustrated this ual support for substantial periods of time. According to our point by describing how she saw herself in ten years: research findings, this type of guidance normally assumed that young people would overcome personal and socio-­economic At least I think that I would have a job and a hus- adversity by finding a job in the short term. band and perhaps also a child. And an own home. Other programmes attempted to help young adults to Just kind of basic dreams, but I also dream about cope with social vulnerability by stimulating volunteering. moving abroad at some point, to work abroad. In Genoa (Italy) and Osijek-­Baranja (Croatia) local authori- ties encouraged many youths to develop their transversal and The third category included overwhelmed young adults, social skills by becoming volunteers. However, in the same who did not feel capable to face serious social constraints. For way as counselling was biased toward job-­search in the short them, lifelong learning was an opportunity to avoid making term, these programmes often conceived of volunteering as a plans while “living day by day”. Some lived training as a so- waiting room for the labour market. cially acceptable waiting period and claimed that timetables Similarly, in Croatia, Italy and many other countries, helped them to structure daily routines. As a 25-­year-­old professionals and educators appraised the capacity of young woman from Croatia worded it, the majority were concerned adults to start elaborating their life plans since they realised that “the years are passing by, and I am unable to plan anything they “had learned” or “had done” something. In other cases in my life”. These interviewees felt anxious because their deci- such as Bulgaria and Portugal, professionals acknowledged sions about leaving the parental home or starting a family were how lifelong learning programmes taught basic skills that delayed for an undetermined future. greatly contributed to heal the scars of extreme (often, deeply entrenched ethnic) discrimination. It is complex. I have a lot of wishes, but I don´t These professionals faced multifarious contradictions be- know how to realize them or even if I should real- tween opposing concepts of youth citizenship. Apparently, ize them. (female, Rhein-­Main Region, Germany) not only the member states have endorsed differing con- cepts of youth citizenship (Chevalier, 2016), but street-­ Our analysis contrasted the voice of young beneficiaries level professionals have also developed varying capacity to with the voice of professionals who ran lifelong learning pro- cope with those contradictions. Certainly, most street-­level grammes. Many of these professionals agreed that the priority professionals adhered to the official rationale of lifelong of lifelong learning programmes was improving young people's learning, which eventually share the commitment of the EU employability. In their view, learning, guidance, counselling Pillar of Social Rights. However, two extreme cases high- and qualifications were crucial instruments to find a job. Rather light how this rationale transcended the mainstream focus on |    14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 52 RAMBLA and KOVACHEVA employment-­centred learning in Turku (Finland), whereas focused on job searching. Some also realised that employ- some professionals drew on stigma to cope with the chal- ment did not cater to all the needs of the youth. In some coun- lenges of incipient lifelong learning policies in Bulgaria. tries, the professionals dealt with contradictory views on the In Turku, many professionals showed a broad under- needs and opportunities of the youth. standing of individuals’ predicaments. Instead of short-­ term employment, they emphasized empowerment and life skills. A dense network of local agencies and civil society THE ROOM FOR M EANINGFUL organisations was involved in facilitating access of all the TRANSITIONS youth to some sort of on-­the-­job training. So, the rationale of the programmes was notably wider than job search in the Our qualitative evidence underpins the literature that has short term. captured in which ways youth transitions (Furlong, 2009; Walther, 2017) and adult learning (Jarvis, 2009) take place at I mean everyone has difficulties in admitting the interface between structures and opportunities. Our find- their own problems and challenges in life. And ings on regional variation and social interactions also expand when you talk and talk and talk about them, some previous conclusions. they become something you don’t have to be First, regions vary along socio-­economic and institutional ashamed of. (-­-­-­) Finding them and talking axes. Besides prosperous and declining regions, further re- about them has in a way influenced the fact search must investigate the breadth of apprenticeships, since that this young person finds it easier to accept many of these schemes have been implemented across the themselves and get experiences of success and Union, albeit the ranges of options are uneven. Moreover, the so on. So that all kinds of support and help are weakness of local governments seems to hinder the expan- incredibly important there. sion of these schemes. However, street-­level professionals and the youth are quite aware of these shortcomings and quite The responses of our interviewees in the two Bulgarian re- eager to push for some reforms. gions illustrate a set of contradictions that were also explicit in Apprenticeships as such do not guarantee meaningful other Southeastern and Southwestern countries. There, lifelong transitions to the extent that they may be paternalistic (Bonvin learning policies had only been implemented recently, while the et al., 2018) and biased towards employment in the very short country was making its way through a new scheme of profes- term (Parreira do Amaral & Zelinka, 2019). However, new sional practices. The policies predominantly focused on provid- innovative and pragmatic ideas may emerge from the inter- ing access to the labour market while neglecting other hardships, play between local policy actors, provided local authorities, including special mental needs of the young. Even when they employer boards and unions are endowed with some capacity were placed in training in real work settings, some youngsters and engage in stable negotiation. complained that the employers did not spend time explaining Second, neither street-­level professionals simply repro- the tasks to the trainees. In the words of a young woman from duce standards of practice nor young adults are merely wait- Plovdiv, employers expected them to “already know everything”. ing for training opportunities tightly coupled with particular In Blagoevgrad, some policy makers and street-­level profession- jobs. Otherwise, both the literature and the recent evidence als engaged in stereotyping on gender and ethnic grounds. Since on social work and education professionalism indicate that most programs had fixed short-­term goals, the youth often leaped lifelong learning policies uncover connections between em- from one to another training opportunity. Albeit an exception, ployment, housing, leisure, urbanism and other areas of pol- these programmes also had some potential of fostering elaborate icymaking. Their expertise makes these professionals aware life projects often thanks to the high level of personal involvement of these intricate connections. of the responsible trainer. For example, in a training program of At the same time, young people do not exclusively need an NGO in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, a 29-­year-­old father who had pre- lifelong learning initiatives that are subservient to employ- viously dropped out of school engaged in biographical reflection ment policies. They are capable to avail of a wider scope of and decided to sign up for an individual form of studies to get a options—­or a richer concept of welfare, training and employ- high school diploma. He felt he needed to set up a personal model ment itineraries. The young are active in searching for more for his two very young children to follow in the future. training opportunities and/or negotiating more flexible con- In sum, our interviewees showed that many young ben- ditions for program implementation that fit better with their eficiaries of lifelong learning programmes endeavoured to individual needs. Alternative approaches of policy design elaborate simultaneously on their learning and their life plans that emphasise individual empowerment may help people to although they were exposed to severe risks of social exclu- construe their transitions and their learning in more mean- sion. The professionals who ran these programmes mostly ingful ways. | 14682397, 2023, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12505 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [21/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License YOUTH TRANSITIONS THROUGH LIFELONG LEARNING     53 Finally, narrow understandings and weak institutions do support, compensation of early school leaving, vocational ed- not seem to be the initial stages of a linear and seamless dif- ucation and training, active labour market policy and social fusion of apprenticeships and a gradual widening of the room welfare. However, this goal will not be at reach unless edu- for meaningful transitions. Although it is hard to generalise on cation, training and lifelong learning are meaningful for the Southeastern and Southwestern Europe (the former is not even people who are exposed to social vulnerability. Even though included in Chevalier's typology), our evidence warns of likely the policies may establish encompassing schemes of services perverse effects of these shallow forms of lifelong learning. and pathways, these schemes will not be effective if the ben- If weak local institutions are in charge of these programmes, eficiaries (many youths among them) are not protagonists of it will be hard to prevent derogatory perceptions of the youth their learning. The crux seems to be helping them to plan for to prevail. Simultaneously, if these programmes become re- their life and cope with adversity over long periods of time. medial itineraries that alleviate the vulnerable conditions of a few youths, the frustration of the life plans they are elaborating CONFLICT OF INTEREST despite adversity threatens to break their psychological well-­ The authors declare they have any conflict of interest. being, to unbind their rage and to condemn many to despair. DATA AVAILABILIT Y STATEMENT The data that support the findings of this study were ex- CO NC LU D ING R E MA R K S tracted from interviews conducted in nine EU member states in Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, English, Finnish, German, Currently, lifelong learning programmes have become a key Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The national reports includ- instrument of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Many ing an English summary of the interviews with young adults beneficiaries are young people who could not follow an easy are published in URL www.young​-­adull​lt.eu. Each partner transition from school to work due to multifarious troubles of the consortium keeps the transcripts of the interviews in derived from social vulnerability. These young participants an institutional repository. These documents are not fully often frame lifelong learning within the horizon of wider life available due to ethical considerations, particularly, because strategies. Crucial to our argument is that, across the European the full transcripts cannot guarantee confidentiality and Union, many young adults are capable to learn despite social anonymity. vulnerability. Although the majority of programmes focus on basic skills and only expect to boost employment at the short- ORCID est possible term, most young adults associate this type of Siyka Kovacheva https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4612-9374 training with wider processes of biographical learning. A key conclusion indicates that the prevailing institutional R E F E R E NC E S arrangements and the actual interactions between young Alexander, R. (2018). Social justice and geographical location in career adults and professionals eventually qualify the general con- guidance. In R. Hooley, T. Sultana, & R. Thomsen (Eds.), Career strual of social vulnerability. Local and regional authorities guidance for social justice: Contesting neoliberalism (pp. 77–­ 92). 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