Wiki key concept Thematic group: Education and Employment

Success… …Just being happy?!

CONCEPT SCOPE SKILLS THEORETICAL CHALLENGES OUTLINE

Personal Situation Dynamic concept Social, cultural, Economical & historical situation

Society Individual Mechanisms Influences -Social pressure -Stigmatization -Social & economical needs -Individualization -… -Gender -Age -Sexuality -Class -Education -Ethnicity -Body -…

What is SUCCESS?

Definition of Success Success can be defined from many different perspectives, some of the definitions can fit into more than one.

Perspectives Individual Society Material Immaterial

Individual Perspective Realization of dreams Self fulfilment Happiness Personal Development Professional Development Secure and Stable Environment

Society Perspective Recognition Status Certified Qualification

Immaterial Perspective Realization of dreams Self fulfilment Happiness Personal Development Professional Development Recognition Status

Material Perspective Income Financial Independence Secure and Stable Enviroment

MaterialImmaterial Society Individual Happiness Income Secure + Stable Environment Self fulfilment Personal Development Professional Development Realization of dreams Recognition Status Certified Qualification Financial Independence

SKILLS FOR SUCCESS? There is no recipe for success as it depends on the type of success the person would like to achieve. Therefore any attempt to define the means to reach success will define the type of success.

Theoretical Challenges? How to define success? How to measure the defined success – The feeling of success – The perception of success (extra challenge: indicators for immaterial success factors)

Theoretical Challenges? How to influence this success? – The feeling of success – The perception of success – On an individual basis – On a structural basis What can be influenced and what not? What is the role of education?

Theoretical Challenges? How do different concepts like success, achievement, well-being,… interrelate?

A challenging question to all of us: What kind of success are we educating young people for? THANK YOU!!!! (applause now….)

A short summary of the presentation Rationale: The texts that had been provided within the library section as thematic texts for this group had been linked to youth and employment. Bradley’s mainly focused on winners and losers within the new economies, but neglecting the youth’s perspective on success. As for the second text – Koskinen, it had been mainly focused on identifying a set of factors that could guarantee the youngsters’ success on the labour market (such as the country of origin, the social status, etc.) Thus, using the two texts and the outcomes of the previous group working sessions, we consider that the presentation should be focused on defining success, working on four themes: - Success as a concept -Success and its scope Scope -Skills - Mechanisms of youth success

What should be clearly stated from the beginning is the dynamic perception of success, changing over time and being highly influenced by life phases but also by external factors– such as changes within the social and economic structures, the personal position within society etc. What do young people now perceive as success and what will be projected in the future? How does the social, cultural, economic and historical situation affect the youth’s perspective on success? In order to be able to explain the different perception of success, we have focused on identifying the answers to the following questions: Where does success come from? Is it mainly identified at the individual or from the society’s level? How does society influence individual ideas of success? What are the mechanisms through which the society influences the individual perception of success?

As for the mechanisms, without aiming at providing an exhaustive list, within the group have been identified the following mechanisms that could influence youth’s perception of success: -Social pressure - Stigmatization - Social and economical needs - Individualization

Considering that society has an influence on the perception of success, the following set of determinants has been identified as influencing: -Gender - Age - Sexuality - Body -Class -Education -Ethnicity -Challenges and fewer opportunities - … These aspects can be promoted or negated through the mechanisms described above. E.g. individualization turns body into an aspect you can work on or gender in a matter of taking the right decisions.

Speaking about the scope of the group work, as essential had been identified the answer to the following question: What is success? Definitely success can be defined from different perspectives, some of the definitions can fit to more than one. For this purpose, we choose to project success on four dimensions: -Individual - Society - Material - Immaterial

individual perspective: - Realization of dreams - Self-fulfillment - Happiness - Personal and professional development - Safe environment both at the working place and a stable family situation society’s dimension: - Recognition - Status

Immaterial dimension: - Dreams - Self – fulfillment - Happiness - Personal and professional development - Recognition - Status Material dimension: - Income - Financial independence - Secure and stable environment

Thus, it is obvious that some of the chapters can be identified in more than one of the dimension (as certified qualifications: society, material and immaterial) or financial independence (immaterial and material in society). What we want to stress is the fact that none of these is static and stable and it can easily define the dynamic character of what is being perceived as success. As for the skills, coming also with examples from the local realities and from the case studies conducted, we concluded that there is not recipe for success as it depends on the type of success the person would like to achieve. Therefore, any attempt to define the means to reach success will define the type of success.

Therefore, acknowledging both the importance of the topic, but also the ambiguity that our themes and chapter can determine, we also want to stress the theoretical challenges identified, which could be the basis of our future work’s development: -How to define success? How to manage to find the factors and mechanisms of your own success? - How to measure the already defined success? The feeling of success – individual? Perception of success – social construction of success? - How to influence this success? Can we influence it? Can we influence the feeling, the social perception of success? Is Bradley’s meritocratic perspective valid when speaking about youth’s success? - What can be influenced and what not, speaking about success? - What is the role of education in this perspective? - How do different concepts like success, achievement, well being – can be interrelated? Speaking about the triangle and involving the youth researchers, policy makers and practitioners, we also identified a challenging question: -What kind of success are we educating young people for?

Some pictures of the process…