One of the most frequently ordered educational decisions made by the family court is to place a minor in a youth educational center. Youth Educational Centers (YECs) are institutions intended for individuals in adolescence, aimed at meeting their needs, providing support in their psychosocial development and preparing youngsters for independence in adulthood. Today, youth educational centers play a crucial role in the local community by fostering collaboration with external partners. The rapidly changing reality poses new challenges for these institutions, rendering their existing organizational and methodological frameworks inadequate. Identifying new directions for work in youth educational centers necessitates an analysis of existing difficulties, their verification, the identification of necessary changes and above all a systemic approach to the process of juvenile social rehabilitation within and beyond the institutional boundaries. The aim of the qualitative research presented in this article, conduct through focus group interviews, is to determine the current problems identified by the pedagogical staff of youth educational centers in their work and to indicate the main directions for working with minors. The findings of the conducted research highlight five main problematic areas, which are not new but have noticeably intensified in recent years. According to the respondents, addressing these challenges requires urgent, well-considered and interdisciplinary solutions, including the exchange of “good practices” among the institutions and the need of systematic changes.
Justyna Siemionow (Tue,) studied this question.
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