Educational Basis

Program Y’s education is student-focused, and the process relies on skilful facilitation. As student is in the spotlight, the entire concept of education is built around him/her in a way that first of all that student gets to assess and reassess his/her current perceptions, beliefs and norms and through learning and adopting new skills change their attitudes and behaviours as well as increase a scope of their life skills crucial for further growth.

During the first year of the Program Y implementation, we tried to empower young people to recognize harmful and stereotyped norms, influence their attitudes and offer them cognitive and psychosocial resources to effectively oppose such norms. Not only do we want to influence their attitudes and awareness of norms, we want to involve them through the activities of campaigns and workshops in transforming norms aimed at building a new value system, which contributes to health and general well-being of every adolescent.

Program Y is a manual that presents how to work with young people by using a comprehensive approach. This means that a far more complex approach to learning when compared to the commonly used methods present in our education system. In addition to the knowledge and skills development, this comprehensive program strives to develop positive and prosocial lifestyles among students, contributing significantly by preparing them for adulthood.

Taking into account that school is not always the only place where young people gain new knowledge and life skills, we have adjusted Program Y to schools and formal education to include educators and trainers that implement informal educative interventions in schools. To provide teachers, pedagogues and schools psychologist with a better insight into the expected results (i.e. learning outcomes), instructions for implementing educative workshops and sessions have also been included into the Program Y

The learning outcomes are the same as goals used to interpret changes related to the areas, themes, and sessions implemented. Simplified, learning outcomes tell us how the student that is included in the learning process based on Program Y methodology will change after going through a workshop cycle. Traditional approaches to learning assumed that with sufficient knowledge a young person automatically has enough competence to make adequate and “healthier” decisions. The new approach that Program Y promotes and applies is significantly more complex than traditional “ex-department/cathedra “approaches and is harmonized with contemporary educational standards. Besides adequate knowledge, Program Y encourages adoption of relevant attitudes and values and motivates young people to make informed decisions with more self-confidence as they face challenges throughout adolescence.