What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to explore Kosova youth's experiences across different learning contexts, particularly focusing on the impacts of participation structures.

March 4, 2026

Experiences and Perspectives of Kosova Youth Across Learning Contexts

Key Points

This research aims to explore Kosova youth's experiences across different learning contexts, particularly focusing on the impacts of participation structures.
Conducted an ethnographic study within two learning contexts: a youth empowerment organization and traditional schooling.
Collected qualitative data through youth narratives and reflections on their experiences.
Analyzed how authority-youth power dynamics influenced experiences in both contexts.
Youth in the empowerment organization reported positive, humanizing experiences due to participatory structures that challenged traditional authority.
In contrast, schooling experiences were often perceived negatively due to hierarchical authority that restricted youth agency.
The findings highlight the potential for youth empowerment organizations to foster critical literacy and encourage youth to critique traditional educational systems.

Abstract

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study examining Kosova youth’s experiences and perspectives across two learning contexts: a youth empowerment organization (LUMI) and schooling. Specifically, it explores how various structures of participation shaped youth experiences, revealing a stark contrast between the two sites. Within the empowerment organization, youth reported humanizing experiences facilitated by structures of participation that reconfigured authority-youth power dynamics and positioned them as co-creators. In contrast, youth reported negative experiences of school due to structures of participation that emphasized hierarchical authority-youth power dynamics that limited their agency. These contrastive experiences facilitated a form of critical literacy and deepened youth’s critiques of schooling, the primary state-sanctioned space for their education. From this development, this research raises ethical and programmatic questions for youth empowerment organizations and youth studies scholars to consider, particularly regarding ways to more consciously support youth to navigate schooling systems they’ve become more critical of.

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