Making the right choice concerning secondary education has a lasting impact on a young person’s life. The lack of a post-secondary qualification is strongly linked to later difficulties in finding employment and to lower income levels. We need scientifically proven methods to help young people make successful choices about training and education.
My Path was a multi-disciplinary research project funded by the Strategic Research Council of Finland. The purpose of the project was to identify ways of tackling social exclusion in comprehensive schools, before students make the transition to secondary education. The project also enabled decision-makers to create research-based policies to promote youth wellbeing. While the project itself ended in 2021, the new and improved My Path programme, based on the findings of the project, is now being more widely rolled out.
Participants in the My Path project were the VATT Institute for Economic Research, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, the University of Jyväskylä, Aalto University, Walter Association and dozens of schools across Finland.