Nadia Crescenzo – Presentation and paper proposal

Institutional affiliation
I’m a first year Ph.D student in “Language Sciences, Society, Politics and Education” – curriculum “Sociology and theory and history of institutions” – cycle XXXIII at the University of Salerno.

Training Background
My interest for the issues of the Sociology of Education began during my MA in Sociology at the University of Salerno, where I took part in a project aimed at analysing the use of new media in the everyday life and in educational processes. Since then I have continued to focus my scientific and research interests on the issues connected to educational processes, paying specific attention to non-formal education. Since 2017 I have been a member of the Italian Research Unit of the international project “RAY – Research-based analysis of Erasmus+: Youth in Action”, coordinated by the Italian National Youth Agency (ANG) with the scientific support of the Department of Political, Social and Communication Sciences of the University of Salerno. This project aims at collecting a reliable documentation useful for understanding the results and effects of the activities developed in the context of the Erasmus+/Youth in Action Programme. One of the specific goals of this project is to explore the relevance of non-formal education practices and youth work activities within the European youth policies.

Main themes of investigation
The research project on which I am working for my Ph.D is aimed at analysing the non-formal education practices, experiences and policies in the Italian youth sector, within the European context. In this respect, the mail goal of the project is to understand the role of European policies and organisational practices for the recognition and development of the non-formal education sector in Italy, with a focus on the contribution of European programmes for youth to the capacity building and competence development of Italian youth workers, i.e. of Italian non-formal educators working with young people.

A paper intended to write
My paper proposal would be aimed to reconstruct the European framework on non-formal education, paying specific attention to the contribution of the European institutions.
After framing the discussion in the theoretical debate, it would be interesting to recover, analyse and compare the documents, guidelines, rules and practices drafted within the European youth policies on the subject of non-formal education. After this step, a critical analysis of the collected European documentation can be held. In this context, in fact, European youth policies would involve more and more non-formal educational contexts and experiences. In this way, the final goal could be to identify the features underlying the non-formal education model proposed by European institutions and to compare it with national experiences.

The starting knowledge-base (empirical materials, theory, methodology, etc.)
The starting knowledge-base for this paper are is, in first instance, connected to the theoretical debate on non-formal education. On this basis, the reconstruction of the European debate on non-formal education can be achieved on the basis of a review of the normative, organisational and methodological documents produced in the context of both the European Commission and the Council of Europe in connection with non-formal education and youth work. My involvement in the RAY project can offer the chance to get data, information and knowledge useful to critically evaluate the materials collected.

The knowledge needed to complete the paper.
Together with a knowledge about non-formal education and the European institutions connected with educational and youth policies, in order to complete the paper it is needed the capacity to critically analyse, interpret and compare the European documents, guidelines, rules and practices collected and identified. It is also necessary to give particular attention to the European dimension, for which the participation to SUSEES can give further inputs.

• This topic was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by  Nadia Crescenzo.