To address the persistent failure of schooling to support underserved students, youth participatory action research (YPAR) has emerged as an alternative and critical paradigm for educational practice. YPAR re-centers authority on marginalized voices and understands research as a tool for social change. Grounded in critical pedagogy, such projects…

Healthy learning environments for young people are underpinned by respectful relationships. Unfortunately, Australian students who do not form reasonable relationships with peers and staff are unlikely to benefit from being at school. These students tend to disengage and are often excluded. However, a growing number of Australian schools have…

One of the greatest challenges in education today is to adapt and respond to a linguistically and culturally diverse world, and to combat social disintegration and discrimination. Participatory and collaborative action research represents an empowering and emancipatory approach to this challenge because the "target groups" become…

Work experiences are a critical component of preparing youth for transition to adulthood. Potential benefits for youth who participate in work experiences include: 1) gaining career readiness skills including the "soft skills" that employers look for in entry level workers; 2) increasing one's knowledge of specific occupational skills…

Leadership is an important life skill that can and should be developed in young people. Sport and physical activity contexts have been identified as a prime venue for developing leadership in youths, but they are underused. Coaches and physical educators can play an integral role in helping their athletes and students to develop leadership skills.…

The intent of this article is to follow deconstruction as a way to think about the questions that are currently being asked in Child and Youth Care (CYC). As a graduate student in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria (SCYC), I am challenged to think my position and identity in terms of my location within, or on the…

Although policymakers stress the importance of education in promoting peace, little research examines the ways that schools prepare students affected by conflict to participate in the restoration of peace in their political community. Post-conflict societies experience severe challenges in strengthening political processes and social cohesion.…

This article examines four influential programs--Citizen Schools, After School Matters, career academies, and Job Corps--to demonstrate the diversity of approaches to career programming for youth. It compares the specific program models and draws from the evaluation literature to discuss strengths and weaknesses of each. The article highlights…

It is ironic that the population of students on which educators have the most surveillance, either through ubiquitous video cameras or through the vigilant presence of probation officers, have been the most invisible in many educational practices. English learners who are incarcerated youth and attend county court schools throughout California are…

This case study describes the high school experiences of White working-class boys in a rural community in the northeast United States. It examines the identity formation of these youth, key characteristics of those identities, as well as a prominent and significant group identity among them. These youth are typically kinesthetic learners and…

Like many others seeking to make room for alternative voices in the narrow canon of CYC theory and practice, our work is steeped in theoretical and activist perspectives on colonialism, neoliberalism, normativity, social power, and social change. This critical, multidisciplinary lens is too often cast outside the realm of authentic CYC. In this…

In this article, the authors discuss the potential for emancipatory pedagogies, which include practices like the use of digital tools and popular culture, to undo deficit constructions of Black and Latino males and their literacy practices. They discuss why such practices are not more readily available and visible in traditional urban school…

The public policy of numerous nations, including Australia, articulates a clear expectation that schools will develop young people's capacities to participate in civic society and its democratic structures and processes. A romantic policy rhetoric hides a reality that is both more complex and less well understood than is typically acknowledged.…

Since at-risk youth are in transition to adulthood, major adult learning concepts can be applied to them. The purpose of this study was to describe the learning strategies of youth in transition to adulthood in the urban life skills program of A Pocket Full of Hope®. Both qualitative and quantitative data collecting methods were used. Assessing…

A key but often overlooked aspect of intentional, out-of-school-time programming is the integration of a guiding theoretical framework. The incorporation of theory in programming can provide practitioners valuable insights into essential processes and principles of successful programs. While numerous theories exist that relate to youth development…