This quote, as well as the studies mentioned above, indicates that learning about structural inequalities may help adolescents to better understand their position in society and to develop their identities while being aware of ascribed positions, in addition to chosen ones. One student for example noted, “It helps to talk about this kind of stuff ’cause this isn’t stuff we talk about in school. The analysis of the ethnographic data suggests that this helped the participants develop a stronger sense of who they are, what they stand for, and of what external barriers they might have to overcome in their further development.

Knowing the broader context of young people’s lives makes the difference in our ability to build on their strengths and support them to overcome their challenges. Each chapter offers group learning and discussion and/or personal reflection exercises to help develop specific skill sets. And most importantly, they can deliver high quality instruction and support the holistic growth of our next generations.

Peer Norms

The authors engage with accounts from young people to demonstrate a common sense of disillusionment with the promise of higher education for more secure employment, while utilising strategies to navigate uncertainty towards their desired futures. In doing so, they advance existing scholarship on youth vulnerability not only by identifying ‘the problem’, but also by providing practical offerings informed by the often-marginal views and voices of youth as to how the conditions of vulnerability can be mitigated and/or disrupted. The papers utilise methodological approaches that start from the lived experiences of youth within different contexts and faced with enduring and emerging forms of marginality.

Scoping review

However, based on the broad nature of the keywords, paraprofessionals working in schools to support LGBTQ youth should be included. The review seeks to direct future research by providing clarity and illuminating gaps in literature to foster more nuanced https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/event/southeast-ccbhc-learning-community/ research and interventions that ameliorate significant health and educational disparities for LGBTQ youth. Recurring literature on social supports for LGBTQ youth include gay-straight alliances (GSAs), school policies, curriculum, and parent and peer support . Present data highlights that LGBTQ youth are at a heightened risk for numerous health and educational concerns.

Yet, as the articles on the role of peer norms and supportive classroom climates show, studies that differ in the theoretical perspective on identity they are grounded in can also approach the role of certain educational processes in adolescents’ identity development in a similar way, consequently validating each other’s research findings. For example, when it comes to the educational process of selection practices and differentiation, studies using a sociocultural perspective showed the impact ability grouping may have, through the different identity positions that are available to different ability groups, on adolescents’ engagement with school (as an indication of adolescents’ school- and learning-related identities). Furthermore, the literature on educational processes that may unintentionally play a role in adolescents’ identity development shows how schools and teachers may significantly impact adolescents’ identities in a negative way.

Vulnerability, for example, can be seen to derive its currency in part through its relation to the policy and program machinery of ‘resilience’ which is both an antidote to vulnerability and a positively inflected attribute as well as drawing from a similar body of psy-expertise and ways of framing the individual. This not only diverts attention from the structural factors affecting youth pathways and employment, but it also underplays the larger, situated and historical contexts that have shaped the formation of dispositions and aspirations over time. First, vulnerability joins a long line of discursive constructs and policy solutions that serve to individualise structural and social issues by repositioning them as problems that are aggravated – or ameliorated – by individual capacities or predispositions. The notion of vulnerability has a strong purchase on social imaginaries and has been remarkably effective in mobilising policy solutions and other forms of social regulation. This special issue addresses these questions with a specific focus on young people’s experiences in the domains of education and training.

• These differentials augment the achievement gap between affluent and low-income students.
• The focus of this review is on the range and effectiveness of peer led programs.
• Indeed, mental health and other key services for youths worldwide often occur within the context of educational settings (Margaretha et al., 2023).
• Snapp and others found that school policies were inequitably enforced as LGBTQ youth were punished for public displays of affection and violation of dress code compared to heterosexual peers, indicative of a lack of inclusive school policies.
• To feel a sense of belonging to their school, students must not only have confidence in their school and adopt its values but also have positive relationships with their peers and teachers (e.g., secure and satisfying social engagement; St-Amand et al., 2017).
• Forward and backward referencing was performed on all included and any relevant studies.

However, today’s complex world demands an educational shift towards self-awareness, co-constructed learning, and shared leadership. In many schools, teachers, parents, and policymakers still uphold hierarchical power dynamics, assuming that asymmetry between adults and children provides protection and continuity. Empowering children and youth requires confronting not only the structural limitations imposed by conventional educational systems but also the deep-rooted beliefs and societal attitudes that view children as incomplete, immature, or incapable of contributing meaningfully.