PRACTICES AND PARTICIPATION OF MARGINALISED YOUTH IN NON-FORMAL AND DIGITALISED EDUCATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

Abstract

Educational inequality is prevalent in Germany and depends on different levels of social, economic and cultural capital (Bourdieu 1987). Yet, non-formal and informal educational arrangements are increasingly considered relevant to tackle those inequalities, specifically when it comes digitalised societies (Jeong et al. 2018). Non-formal educational providers increasingly target marginalised youth to reduce educational inequalities. However, those programmes have scarcely been researched. The question emerges, whether non-formal digitialised educational arrangements succeed at enabling educational participation of marginalised youth. In comparing two non-formal educational institutions, the research project “DILABoration” identifies conditions under which marginalised youth are able to profit off of those providers’ programmes and reconstructs them on a subjective level. In an ethnographic and reconstructive approach, a) different conditions in non-formal educational arrangements, b) learning and educational processes, specifically respective digital media use as well as c) the accessibility of participation within those arrangements are being investigated from a marginalised youths’ perspective. In order to empirically reconstruct the mechanisms of educational participation, the participants’ and employees’ practices within those arrangements are examined through participatory observation and videography. The data is analysed through Grounded Theory Methodology (Strauss/Corbin) as well as Artefact Analysis (Lueger / Froschauer 2018). Situational Analysis (Clarke/Washburn/Friese 2018) is applied in order to visualise constellations and relations between different human and non-human entities. Additionally, group discussions with non-participants of the programmes help identifying conditions that enable or constrain participation.