The paper investigates, starting with a reconnaissance of some of the variables that characterize their identity profile, the forms of participation in social and economic life and the exercise of active citizenship of contemporary young generations. Then: what does it mean to talk about “young generations” today? What conditions do young people experience in their different configurations and what kind of hypotheses can be practiced to imagine a propulsive function of Europe in promoting youth inclusion, protagonism, and participation? Around these questions is articulated the paper proposed here. First, it is necessary to frame the existential conditions that these young people experience, their issues and demands, the mindsets and styles of view they express, the requests and needs they manifest, and the symbolic and value universe they inhabit. Therefore, the objective is to attempt to understand, specifically, the changes that go through the mechanisms of socialization, education and the intergenerational relationship, in order to better explore the reasons, forms and strategies of youth participation, which seems to constitute a real “paradox”.

In sociological reflection, it seems there is a constant line in the descriptions of the different aspects of the juvenile condition: the scenario of the young contemporary generations is thus connoted by a series of peculiar factors, a set of characteristics and elements that are in many respects never before seen. We are facing a “dimension” - historical, anthropological, social - of absolute originality, with which we must necessarily deal, in order to be able to think, orient and propose intervention strategies aimed at empowering inclusion, civic participation practices, and that “creative” citizenship to which our proposals tend. Profoundly changed, in the socio-historical scenario that our young people inhabit, are the intergenerational relationships (the “disappearance” of the father, the unprecedented dynamics of socialization, the new trajectories of schooling, the role of social media, etc.), in whose interstices the transformations of the identity status of the young contemporary generations are manifested.

Thus, one of the most peculiar features is to be found in the condition of “cognitive dissonance” caused by the contrast between two existential conditions: an early adulthood, due to school, media, and the mighty technological progress, and an interminable adolescence, for which these young people depend on their families of origin for a long time, due to the difficulties of entering in the job market. To propose a strategy to try to interrupt, as far as possible, the pathological drifts of this vicious cycle, is the substantial goal of this work. The idea is to bring within the processes of training and education a series of mechanisms, a set of possibilities, of operational methodologies, new, creative, capable of intercepting the needs and issues of the younger generations, as much on the training level as on the identity level.

The right to the recognition of competences acquired through life experiences is now normatively established at both the European and Italian national levels. The “Council Recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning” of 1992 and, in Italy, in the same year, Law 92/2012 “Provisions on labour market reform in a growth perspective” (commonly known as the "Fornero Law", albeit for other reasons...) and especially the subsequent Legislative Decree 13/2013, constitute the mainstays of a regulatory framework that has developed and well-articulated in recent years, firmly embedding lifelong learning as a "right of the individual".

“Within the scope of public policies on education, training, labour, competitiveness, active citizenship, and welfare” – as stated in Decree 13/13 – “the Republic undertakes to ensure equal opportunities for the recognition and valorisation of competences any way acquired...”.

A significant change is ongoing: structural – both normative and methodological – but also cultural. The very meaning itself of “learning” and its relationship with individuals' lives and organizations is changing. People acquire skills and knowledge over time and in “other” ways and places than the formal ones. Now there is a right to have those skills and knowledge formally attested, and this makes possible that each “mosaic tile” of the personal heritage to be recognized, valued, certified, made transparent and transferable even beyond national borders and spent.

But after 12 years, it is necessary to ask: is the right of the individual to the recognition of acquired learning actually guaranteed? Effectively exercisable by citizens? What is happening in the territories?

There is not one answer but a series of differentiated and complex responses. As shown by recent first monitoring of the SNCC carried out by INAPP, while all Regions apply SNCC standards to formal certification (downstream of training courses), the situation regarding the recognition of competences acquired through non-formal and informal experience is extremely heterogeneous, and we are far from a real application across the entire national territory. In some cases the service is consolidated reality, while in others, it is still in the experimental phase or even completely stalled.

The ramifications of this non-application are significant: faced with a national norm that guarantees equal rights to all Italian citizens to have their competences recognized regardless of how they were acquired, differential access to such services based on the territorial context of residence has emerged, thus accentuating social inequalities and hindering the realization of social inclusion and personal development.

This should somehow also stimulate a more general, extremely current reflection, given the political project of the so called “differentiated autonomy”: the LEPs are established (as indeed the SNCC norm does), but what actually happens if Local Institutions are unable to guarantee them in the territories?

The paper aims to investigate the reasons and consequences in terms of unequal access to rights, protections, social inclusivity, of the differentiated and unequal implementation of the National Competence Certification System.

Background

In Italy Social policies aimed at people with special needs are very rich and varied.

The legislative framework covers different forms of protection in various areas of associated coexistence, but often in a constant and unambiguous manner (Terraneo & Tognetti, 2021).

The education system is one of the areas where the promotion of priority strategies for vulnerable groups aims at guaranteeing and facilitating opportunities without disparities or distinctions (Striano, 2010; Santagati, 2011).

This is the framework of a research project financed by the PON Research and Innovation 2014/2020 which intends to promote social inclusion policies within an Italian university identified as a case study.

Study design and method.

The project is conceived in such a way to promote inclusion of SSNs through a human-centred approach based on social and technological innovation.

The paper presents some data collected by a classical research approach and the results arise from primary and secondary sources, and desk research.

Next, the paper will give an account of the strategy adopted to collect data and engage with the various actors, as well as of the procedures that were used to run the study. In this respect, the paper will discuss ideally optimal options based on the actually feasible on the ground.

First findings and discussion

The paper will discuss the main findings in coherence with the research aims and the case study. It will discuss how the inclusion of students with Special Needs in higher education still appears characterized by various forms of significant discrimination and inequality. A special focus will be dedicated to the new role of universities which sees them increasingly as actors of social policies (Merler, 1984; Bellacicco, 2018; Cardano, Cioffi & Scavarda, 2021) that combines university autonomy and a well-defined institutional warrant (Colozzi, 2009; Douglas, 1990).

Moreover, the paper wants to provide an understanding of the general framework for protection and integration for Higher Education students with special needs in Italy, also by means of a general overview of the national social policies for vulnerable groups.