The Hubs4Teens Project: A Path to Successful School Completion

In the HUBS4TEENS project, we believe that if we truly want to help young people grow and believe in themselves, we must first accurately understand the barriers holding them back. Early School Leaving (ESL) is not just a dry statistic about students who fail to enroll in the next school year. It is a complex life process that often begins long before a student actually walks out of the school gates for the last time. This is precisely why it is crucial for our project to have these professional definitions clearly established—they serve as the foundation upon which we build all our practical activities.

A professional perspective tells us that we must distinguish between formal and functional failure. While the law is concerned with whether a child has completed compulsory education, at Hubs4Teens, we are primarily interested in whether a young person leaves school prepared for life. If a student receives a certificate but lacks the skills, self-confidence, or motivation to succeed in adulthood, we speak of functional failure. Our project fills this gap by connecting school with non-formal education. In our "Hubs," students do not just learn facts; they develop social, emotional, and financial competencies that are critical in the modern world.

A key insight we build upon is the division of influences into so-called "push-out" and "pull-out" factors. Sometimes, a school unconsciously pushes a student out—for example, through overly strict rules, low teacher expectations, or a hostile classroom atmosphere. On the other hand, there are external factors that pull a student away from education, such as a difficult family situation or the need for immediate income. Because we conduct in-depth self-assessments of schools and communities in the first phase of the project, we can precisely identify these invisible forces in specific locations, such as Spišský Hrhov. Local action teams can then plan "tailor-made" activities that directly weaken these risks.

Furthermore, a unified language and precise definitions are essential prerequisites for our international cooperation. As the project brings together experts from six countries, we need common ground to stand on. The resulting practical toolkit we are creating within HUBS4TEENS is not just a random list of games or clubs. It is a comprehensive system of proven interventions based on scientific knowledge and years of experience working with disadvantaged communities. Clearly defining the problems allows us to identify warning signs in students much earlier, offering them encouragement and space to develop their talents instead of punishment. Only if we understand why young people lose interest in school can we, together with families and the community, create an environment where they will want to stay and fully develop their potential.

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This text was produced as part of the Hubs4Teens project, funded by the UniCredit Foundation through the Edu-Fund platform.