In a period of rapid social and economic change, labour markets are undergoing major transformations. This book explores the changing fortunes of young people in Europe's flexible and precarious labour markets and the range of policies that are being developed to help them deal with the problems they face. The book draws on recent research carried out across Europe to highlight a number of key dilemmas for youth policy: what help is needed for young people and their parents in coping with lengthened transitions from school to work? What types of training and education are most effective? Is a switch from general to vocational education needed? Is workfare the right solution? The contributors, who are all leading authorities in the field, challenge the conventional wisdom in many of these areas. The book will be of interest to those researching and studying labour markets and youth policy, and to policy-makers and practitioners in these fields.

The European Youth Centres (EYCs) in Strasbourg and Budapest were established to implement the Council of Europe's youth policy by providing international training and meeting centres with residential facilities. The Budapest centre was set up in 1995 as the first permanent service of the Council of Europe in a Central and Eastern European country. This publication contains contributions from a variety of people from different age groups and a wide spectrum of political, cultural and social life in Europe who have had some involvement with the Budapest centre, whether in a political or professional function, through work or voluntary commitment to civil society past or present.

This edited collection provides the first in-depth analysis of social policies and the risks faced by young people. The book explores the effects of both the economic crisis and austerity policies on the lives of young Europeans, examining both the precarity of youth transitions, and the function of welfare state policies.

In a period in which the future of the European Union is subject to increased scrutiny, it is more vital than ever that the thoughts and views of younger generations are considered. Young People’s Visions and Worries for the Future of Europe: Findings from the Europe 2038 Project seeks to do exactly that, presenting the findings of a large-scale research project investigating the opinions and worries of young people between the ages of 16 and 25 across seven European countries. In this unique and timely volume, Strohmeier and Tenenbaum, together with the Europe 2038 consortium, examine young people’s endorsement of multiculturalism, diversity, European identity, human rights, and political participation, and unpick the cross-national differences in a range of European countries. Young People’s Visions and Worries for the Future of Europe concludes by formulating effective evidence-based recommendations for policy and practice. This work is essential reading for advanced level undergraduate and masters level courses in Psychology, Social Work, Politics, Sociology, Social Policy, and Education, as well as researchers in those fields.

Highlights the AILEC European and Intercultural Workshops.

Based on a two-year European research project on policies and young people in rural development, this edited volume examines these issues and compares young people's experiences of rural life in the UK, Ireland, Finland, France, Germany, Austria and Portugal. It reviews relevant policies and highlights not only the pressures on young people in rural areas but also what might be done to address these issues.

What is it like to be young in a Europe faced with conflict and austerity? Volume 3 of the series Perspectives on youth focuses on “healthy Europe”, not just in the narrow sense, but in the broader sense of what it is like to be young in a Europe faced with conflict and austerity, and what it feels like to be young as transitions become ever more challenging. The assumption when planning this issue was that health in this broader sense remains a controversial area within youth policy, where the points of departure of policy makers, on the one hand, and young people themselves on the other are often dramatically different; in fact, young people tend to interpret the dominating discourse as limiting, patronising, maybe even offensive. The question of health brings the old tensions between protection and participation as well as agency and structure to the forefront. Not all questions are addressed in detail but many are touched upon. It is, intentionally, an eclectic mix of contributions, to provide a diversity of argumentation and to promote reflection and debate. As has been the intention of Perspectives on youth throughout, we have sought to solicit and elicit the views of academics, policy makers and practitioners, presenting theoretical, empirical and hypothetical assertions and analysis. Perspectives on youth is published by the partnership between the European Union and the Council of Europe in the field of youth in co-operation with, and with support from, four countries: Belgium, Finland, France and Germany. Its purpose is to keep the dialogue on key problems of child and youth policies on a solid foundation in terms of content, expertise and politics. The series aims to act as a forum for information, discussion, reflection and dialogue on European developments and trends in the field of youth policy, youth research and youth work while promoting a policy and youth work practice that is based on knowledge and participatory principles. The editorial team of this volume is composed of 12 members representing the supporting countries, the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR), the co-ordinator of the youth policy reviews of the Council of Europe, the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership and the co‐ordinator of the editorial team.

This open access book presents findings from 15 European countries participating in the second cycle of the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2016). The study investigates the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries in the second decade of the 21st century. It responds to new and persisting challenges in the area of civic and citizenship education. The main results presented in this book are based on data collected using a European student questionnaire and provide insights into lower-secondary students’ views on European identity (such as whether they identify as European, or have opportunities to learn about Europe in school), perceptions of freedom of movement and immigration (such as attitudes toward immigration, restriction of freedom of movement, and the freedom of European citizens to live and work across Europe), and perceptions of Europe and its future (such as views on European cooperation, expectations regarding Europe’s future, and attitudes toward the European Union). For the 12 countries that participated in the previous cycle (ICCS 2009), ICCS 2016 reveals changes in young people’s perceptions of immigration and European identity between 2009 and 2016. Test and questionnaire data from the international core study are used to review the extent to which region-specific perceptions are related to other factors, such as students’ level of civic knowledge and social or educational contexts.