Learning objectives
The laboratory will examine and critically discuss issues of youth employment in Europe. The lab will be organized in two parts. Part one will provide an introduction to the principal features and trends of youth employment, and youth employment policies, at both European and national levels. In part two, students will have to present and discuss their research which will build on and will expand the knowledge acquired in part one by focusing on how at regional level, various social, entrepreneurial and political actors across Europe have dealt with youth (un)employment (students will be free to chose a region, including Italian ones).
At the end of the laboratory, students will have acquired:
a. Specific knowledge to understand the features and dynamics of youth employment in Italy and in other European countries, as well as at the EU level;
b. The capacity to apply such knowledge through the critical analysis of youth employment policies and their consequences on the society, with particular attention to intergenerational relations;
c. The capacity to produce an autonomously-elaborated critical understanding of issues at stake;
d. The capacity to speak with a technical language strengthening students’ communication skills while interacting with the stake holders of the youth employment policy arena;
e. The capacity to elaborate logic-driven solutions to key social problems.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
Youth employment in Europe: principal features and trends
Unemployment, education and skills mismatch
The social protection of youth unemployment in Italy and in Europe
Flexibility and precariousness: diversity in models of flexicurity
Youth employment policies: the European strategy and its national applications
The role of regions in contrasting youth unemployment: a comparison of Italian and European regions
How public discourses and policies match (or not) in the case of employment: the Italian case in comparative perspective
Full programme
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Bibliography
AA VV, 2011, Sociologia del Lavoro, Fascicolo 124, numero speciale: Giovani: i perdenti della globalizzazione? Lavoro e condizione giovanile in Europa ed in Italia
AA VV, 2013, International Journal of Social Welfare, Vol 22, Issue 3, Mini-symposium on youth unemployment in Europe
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons
Assessment methods and criteria
Knowledge acquisition: lectures and reading
Capacity to apply acquired knowledge: research plus verbal and written presentations about research
Capacity of autonomous thinking: during the lab, students will be guided through developing critical understanding of specific policy choices
Capacity to learn: for each topic/issue, the discussion will begin by adopting a problem-solving approach allowing considering all available solutions, their pros and cons.
Acquisition of specific/technical language: during the lab, each concept will be duly presented and students will become aware of these concepts’ common understanding among policy makers as well as in the academic community.
Final test: each student will have to make a verbal and written presentation about the case study of their choice.
Other information
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