Connecting You(th). Overcoming divisions in society

The Foundation P&V fights against the exclusion of young people. In our current society, two separate groups (of youngsters) seem to have formed and seem to live next to each other. These two groups seem to cristallize around education.

The better and the less educated do not often meet each other. They do not live in the same neighbourhoods, they do not go to the same sports club or school, they do not meet in the same (digital) places and they no longer meet in the church or the military. Where in the past there used to be compartmentalisation according to political and religious convictions, educational level is the new compartmentalisation, say some researchers. Not only do the better and the less educated rarely see each other, they are also concerned about different issues. People with higher levels of education (including young people), for example, are concerned about the environment, (higher) education and health care. People with lower levels of education are particularly concerned about crime, migration and unemployment.

Although the Educational Gap is not a recent discovery, some reasearchers suggest that this gap has deepened or worsened in recent years, and in particular concerning the less educated who tend to have more difficulties to build a comfortable life for themselves. There is also a growing awareness of the consequences of the education gap on social cohesion and the possibility of building a society with which everyone can identify.

Accordingly, the Foundation P&V has launched a new multi-year Research/Action program, lasting several years and covering various stages:

Phase I - Research

The grouping of scientific knowledge and ideas on the major dividing lines and inequalities in our society in general, concerning education in particular, on the evolution of these divisions, on the origins of that evolution, and its consequences; the good practices that succeed in overcoming the educational gap for the youngsters…

Phase II - Call for projects

Nourish and deapen the reflection, based on this united expertise, on the different knowledge and ideas, with the aim of identifying and supporting forms of policy and projects that can contribute concretely to solving the identified problems.