In the last 20 years, Early School Leaving (ESL) in Portugal has registered a significant decrease. In order to understand the reasons for this trend towards improvement, this paper conducts an analysis of anti-ESL measures implemented in diverse educational institutions. The main objective is to understand how mainstream and alternative education can learn from each other in terms of increasing school engagement and reducing ESL. The analysis is guided by the intention to go beyond individual-oriented views of ESL and focus on wider institutional and structural issues. To achieve an in-depth understanding of these measures, interviews took place with several educational stakeholders (principals, teachers and students), and focus group discussions were conducted with students and teachers. The findings suggest that, in both mainstream and alternative educational institutions, measures to combat ESL tend to be designed and implemented in a top-down way, rather than built on the basis of young people’s lived experiences and needs. However, differences were also identified, suggesting that alternative models of education seem to be rooted in a more comprehensive view of ESL, and to better adapt to the challenges that young people experience in their daily lives. Consequently, mainstream education could follow the example of alternative institutions, and develop more comprehensive anti-ESL measures, which do not focus solely on students’ presumed “deficits”, but seek to tackle wider systemic inadequacies. In terms of policy recommendations, the findings suggest that both mainstream and alternative education could benefit from greater exchange between institutions of inspirational policies and practices.

What leads young people to disengage and leave school early? This paper focuses on young adults’ educational trajectories, with the objective of identifying useful insights for improving school measures and strategies against early school leaving and school disengagement. Specifically, it draws upon an empirical study with young adults from the north of Portugal. Longitudinal bio-interviews took place with young men and women, aged 17 to 24, who were enrolled in secondary education at mainstream schools or in alternative learning contexts or who were early school leavers. A set of critical moments and circumstances were identified as turning points in the young adults’ descriptions of their school trajectories, revealing both obstacles and incentives to continue studying. Based on these narratives, the study identifies some risk and protective factors for early school leaving and makes suggestions about how to improve school-based measures to prevent school disengagement. Some key recommendations for schools include: increased support mechanisms during educational transitions; a firm stance on bullying and the creation of violence-free and secure learning environments; enhancing socio-emotional support and encouraging the emergence of relationships of care; and providing meaningful education by ensuring the school content is aligned with students’ motivations and needs.

This paper represents a contribution to ongoing debates in the Journal of Youth Studies concerning young adults, in particular, those that address young adult citizenship and ‘voice’ and which take into account the generational political, economic and cultural processes that both frame and shape their citizenship construction. The potential impact of the enactment of citizenship on the daily lives of young adults is at focus as we address the ways in which they express the attainment and desire for educational citizenship in their current lives, with particular emphasis on participation and the construction of knowledge. Educational citizenship of rights and knowledge is seen as a political and cultural right and as an opportunity. Young Portuguese adults were consulted in their final school year in semi-disadvantaged schools and regions. Consultation was supported on focus group discussion and individual in-depth interviews.

Based on participatory research with a group of young people of 13 to 17 years old from a socially vulnerable community of Porto (Portugal), this article proposes a reflection and debate about what conditions these young people find for citizen participation in the relationship with their communities. Faced with a fragmented urban landscape, constituted by socially marginalized communities, which often instigate asymmetrical power relations and situations of territorial stigmatization and social exclusion, young people come across constant social challenges. Through the photovoice method, the youngsters were encouraged to research the community reality that surrounds them; to carefully observe and analyze the contexts and express them visually. This article presents results produced by this research experience, and how it facilitated debates and interaction with young people, allowing us to understand better their reality and the ways they see it and act in it.