Addressing early school leaving and youth unemployment: Second Chance Schools of Spain (E2O) meet with European counterparts

The Spanish Association of Second Chance Schools is a member of the UfM-labelled regional project Mediterranean New Chance (MedNC), which addresses the challenge of socio-professional integration of young people and, particularly, of those youngsters who are not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEETs)

18 April 2018, Bilbao. The Spanish Association of Second Chance Schools (Asociación Española de Escuelas de Segunda Oportunidad) organised on the 18^th of April in Bilbao, the 3^rd National Meeting of Second Chance Schools which, on this occasion, took a European dimension by gathering as well Second Chance Schools of France and Portugal with which cooperation has been initiated.

The meeting, that was held at the University of Deusto under the motto #Towardsmyfuture (#Haciamifuturo), in partnership with the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean and the Municipality of Bilbao, aimed at developing concrete and efficient solutions to face early school leaving and youth unemployment and brought together around 400 participants encompassing members of the schools (young people and trainers), representatives of public administrations, social and educational entities, universities and companies.

Throughout the event, participants discussed about the benefits of the implementation of a common accreditation system envisaging to facilitate recognition and continuous improvement of the E2O model, the opportunities offered by mobility experiences and the perspectives for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in the field. In this regard, on occasion of the event, more than 20 schools were awarded with the E2O accreditation and a partnership agreement was signed between the Spanish and the French network of Second Chance Schools. Concrete initiatives developed in synergy with socio-economic partners were presented and young people had the chance to share their vision regarding the different subjects and to put questions to policy makers.

The Spanish Association of Second Chance Schools is a member of the UfM-labelled regional project Mediterranean New Chance (MedNC), which addresses the challenge of socio-professional integration of young people and, particularly, of those youngsters who are not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEETs) by mobilizing and strengthening cooperation among stakeholders from both rims of the Mediterranean, including Second Chance Schools. The project, framed within the Mediterranean Initiative for Jobs (Med4Jobs) and coordinated by the European Institute Cooperation and Development (IECD), is currently being implemented in Algeria, Egypt, France, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia through capacity building activities and the exchange of innovative education experiences and best practices.

More information

• More on the UfM-labelled regional project Mediterranean New Chance (MedNC)
• Asociación Española de Escuelas de Segunda Oportunidad: http://www.e2oespana.org/evento-2018/