Education and social justice represent two critical issues for young adults especially when related to contemporary times that have to face political uncertainties; rebalancing of geopolitical forces worldwide; epidemics that have just passed, the consequences of which have yet to be deeply investigated; energy, territorial, as well as food wars that are still ongoing; artificial intelligence; and finally other phenomena such as nationalistic protectionism and the claims of the female gender especially in the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean area.

Young adult education represents a crucial moment in Italian welfare, as it provides an opportunity to match labor market (Strecker, López, Cabasés, 2021)supply and demand, is to some measure linked to the biographies of individuals and the development of society in a vision of social equity. Unfortunately, the various welfare initiatives over the years have not been free from evident social distortions and inequalities.

It is in this scenario that our reflection on NEETs is inserted. This paper aims to represent the phenomenon in its current state, comparing it with the most recent studies (Ferrari, 2018). It wants to give evidence of the European and Italian situation in order to stimulate debate, and to consider the different policies developed in the last decade by the Italian State specifically dedicated to young NEETs.

It wants to offer a tool for reflection on the same target audience, reconsidering the limitations and paradoxes that this targeting brings.

It also wants to point out the inadequacy of Italian policies (De Luca Picione, et al.2023) designed to minimize and counteract the phenomenon, which includes individuals as diverse as e.g.: mentally ill; dissatisfied with the work and school environment; and economically disadvantaged youth.

While on the one hand we see the anthropocentric view, which attributes educational and employment failure to individuals, essentially offloading the responsibilities of the state and local governments onto individual social actors. On the other hand, the neoliberal view tells of young people not studying and not working because of distrust in the future (Bonanomi, Rosina, 2020).

The Toniolo Report 2023 highlights how education impacts life trajectories and is a determining factor in the transition to adulthood and satisfactory self-expression, and so in the well-being of individuals and social participation (Caroleo, Rocca, Mazzocchi, 2020).

Fragility and perceptions of the future (Bauman, 2000, p.108)are felt to be more critical and negative, so NEETs express a higher risk of marginalization and, therefore, social inequality (Vieira, Pappàmikail, Ferreira, 2021).

In this view, individual abilities are diriment, unfortunately too often conditioned by education, training and job search systems. So the challenge for employment services is to work on the frustration caused by employment uncertainty; on the content of interventions, which are often outdated; on the role of emotions at play (Ylistö, Husu, 2021); as well as on the fragmented and scarce social policies aimed at young people, which make Italy (Mussida & Sciulli, 2018) the tail end in Europe (Assmann & Broschinski,2021) in terms of employment services and support during periods of inactivity.

Major disasters generate new opportunities and responsibilities for the role of education in society, called to contribute to climate justice and global sustainability. Climate justice articulates a paradigm shift in how education seeks to respond to the climate crisis, promoting actions to build a more just, stable and healthy future. The devastation of the climate crisis is experienced very differently among the people, communities and places most at risk, transformative climate action requires conceptually and empirically linking the climate crisis with social injustices, economic inequalities and health .

Underfunding of education and sustainability incentives both limit education's ability to implement climate justice. The paradigm shift requires a renewed commitment to public support for education for a more just and climate-stable future. Education is a critical sector of society that is so far underutilized in terms of preparing for the future.

As anchor institutions, schools are among the most stable and forward-thinking organizations in many communities. To reimagine what is possible, the climate crisis must be addressed in education alongside systemic change for social justice and structural change focused on economic justice, racial justice, and energy justice.

This paper intends to contribute to the debate on climate justice and education. The main evidence emerging from an exploratory study carried out in first cycle schools on climate change education as a response to the climate crisis is presented. Attitudes and behaviors towards climate justice are explored for possible transformative change. The different visions that emerged underline the complexity of the phenomenon and the methods of intervention.

Within the framework of the profound changes in the European Social Model, influenced by dominant neoliberal policies globally over the past three decades (Gallino, 2012), this contribution proposes an innovative perspective that redefines educational institutions as common goods (Locatelli, 2019). This perspective underscores the crucial role of lifelong learning in constructing a new welfare model, transcending the dichotomy between the sociological concept of “educational credentials” (Collins, 1979) and the economic concept of “marginal productivity” (Becker, 2008). In this context, there emerges the necessity to valorize Sen's capabilities approach (1997; 1999), which highlights the potential of education in addressing inequalities and ensuring genuine freedom of individual choice.

Coleman's work (1998) emphasizes how human capital results from personal transformations that lead to the development of skills and capabilities fundamental for adapting to new challenges. However, the significance of this development extends beyond mere economic growth, encompassing norms and values contributing to social change. Gender inequalities in income and access to career opportunities represent obstacles to full human development and democracy (Nussbaum, 2000).

In an era defined by the knowledge society (Kuhn, 2007), it becomes crucial to invest not only in a high-level education system to ensure national competitiveness but also in a solid foundation of basic and vocational education. The school, with its central role of “teaching to learn,” provides the groundwork for a “learnfare” that promotes stable and high-quality employment (Colasanto, Lodigiani, 2008).

However, in Italy, delays in basic education and socio-economic disparities influence the quality of human capital produced by educational institutions, contributing to a poorly meritocratic and inequitably distributive system (Schizzerotto, 2002; Giancola, 2006). Therefore, educational institutions must redefine their objectives to expand citizens' cognitive skills and sense of meaning, serving as custodians of the collective intellectual heritage necessary to address common challenges and issues (De Leonardis, 2001).

In conclusion, this contribution aims to advance the reflection on the crucial role of educational institutions in addressing social inequalities and promoting more inclusive educational policies oriented toward equity, meritocracy, and human development.

In this paper, we investigate the impact of institutional configurations and regional contextual traits on school to work transitions outcomes.

The transitions from education to work affect working career, family formation, social participation and even political discontent of young people. Therefore, they represent a strategic area of intervention for EU policymaking and a key for the future of the European polity, as confirmed by the longstanding commitment of the European Commission to the Youth Guarantee and the establishment of the Youth Employment Initiative as a cohesion financial tool integrated in the European Social Fund to promote the implementation of the Youth Guarantee scheme.

Comparative research on school-to-work transitions mainly focused on country differences, examining institutional design variation in shaping youth labour market outcomes (Raffe, 2014). However, research highlighted significant territorial variations among sub-national territories and jurisdictions in the processes and outcomes of transitions (Scandurra et al., 2021). Cross-regional differences are remarkably high in Europe (Iammarino et al., 2018), and pertain to many dimensions, including labour force participation, skills and returns to education. This body of research suggests that complementarities between institutional configurations and contextual socio-economic conditions in subnational territories have a crucial impact on school-to-work transitions, with extended effects on young people’s life chances.

In this paper, we adopt an innovative approach by bringing in a territorial perspective to the study of transitions regime and youth labour market integration. We want to investigate the effect of national institutional configuration that characterize well recognized regimes of youth transitions (Walther, 2017) on the trajectory of youth labour market integration in subnational territories (Cefalo et al., 2020).

We build a novel dataset comprising regional variables (NUTs 2) on several outcomes of youth labour market integration (NEET, youth unemployment, youth employment by education, early school leaving rates) as well regional socio-economic conditions (such as GDP per capita in PPS, sectoral employment and GVA); national variables that group the countries according to the transition regime, skill formation systems in Europe. The dataset includes all EU NUTs 2 regions for more than 2 decades (2000-2022). We will exploit the longitudinal and multilevel element of the dataset by means of panel data analysis and specifically by fitting multilevel growth-curve models to understand trajectories and determinants of regional youth labour market integration outcomes in the last 2 decades.

Our contribution to the literature is manifold and contributes to connect studies on youth and labour market integration – on the one side – with investigations on territorial cohesion and economic geography – on the other side. First, we provide sought after evidence of youth employment and school to work transitions below the national level, moving beyond the methodological nationalism of the field (Raffe, 2014). Second, our analysis contributes to our understanding of the impact of institutions and institutional configurations on cohesion in European territories (Rodríguez‐Pose, 2020), looking at youth labour market integration.

In the last decades of the last century, supranational and national institutions necessarily had to undertake different social protection measures compared to previous ones. Financial crises, digital and ecological transitions, an aging population, increased unemployment and the recent pandemic have determined the need to redefine new welfare models. The Council of the European Union has embraced the concept that education and training have a crucial role in addressing the many socio-economic, demographic, environmental and technological challenges that Europe and its citizens face and will face in the years to come. The reactive capacity of the Italian educational systems towards new economic and social needs should constitute a form of protection in the face of new forms of risk and requires decisive interventions in this direction to allow the current and future workforce to acquire a multiplicity of skills in order to adapt to new social needs and changed labor market conditions. The article analyzes the most recent methods of implementing learning policies in our country, initiatives that place education and training in the foreground for the development of the individual and society, highlighting how the measures undertaken in terms of welfare, in reality, can produce distorted effects, which consist in generating or maintaining social inequalities rather than limiting them. Through the processing of secondary data, we therefore examine their actual effectiveness in responding to a demand for equity spread across the entire national territory in relation mainly to the institutional capacity to strengthen the training offer in the field of professional education and training, to create human resource capital and ensure that everyone has an equitable opportunity to generate and employ capabilities.