Improving educational expectations in an Open Access Centre in Barcelona. An educational orientation project for young people at risk of social exclusion / La mejora de las expectativas educativas en un Centro Abierto de Barcelona. Un proyecto de orientación educativa para jóvenes en riesgo de exclusión social

Abstract

This article presents the design, implementation and evaluation of an educational orientation project for young people at risk of social exclusion who attended an Open Access Centre in Barcelona (Spain). The project aimed to increase participants’ expectations of education in general, and of university and higher education in particular. A content analysis and a pre- and post-test design are used to evaluate the effects of the programme. The programme was developed during five sessions under the supervision of a psychologist researcher. The results show that young people adopt a new meaning in relation to higher education by appropriating a language that allows them to redefine its sense and the original meaning of the academic institution.