New ways of teaching in the face of an old problem; the education of young people at risk of exclusion

Abstract

Teachers are students’ first contact in the classroom and the ones with whom they experience their relationships most intensely after  those with their own classmates. Relationships with teachers and their actions in the classroom are of great relevance in how students  develop their careers. Young people at risk of exclusion, which has been recurring in recent years, is an important matter. The aim with  the research reported on here was to explore the life events and critical events that make it possible to describe the educational  trajectory of young people at risk of exclusion who have dropped out of education and subsequently re-entered it. The aim was to  investigate and characterise teacher-related events. We used a biographical-narrative approach by elaborating on the educational  trajectories of young people at risk through the reconstruction of their life stories. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used to  collect data. The main results indicate that the teachers’ relationship with their students and the teaching methodology differ  considerably in the different stages of their trajectory. Teachers in the reinstatement stage are more understanding of the different  situations of students and are more supportive, leading to more positive events than in previous stages.