I graduated with a PhD in Youth and Community Studies from the University of Malta, Faculty for Social Wellbeing on 1 March. This seven-, almost eight-year journey was a rollercoaster ride, where I was challenged to face my fears, manage my emotions, time and energy, and become comfortable with risk and the unknown. A recurring thought throughout the journey was why I felt drawn towards committing myself to conduct research at PhD level. This, incidentally, happened during the worst times along the way, when the angry waves towered above me, and when the end of the tunnel would find itself demoted from a beacon of light to a threatening question. It is at times like these that one learns the meaning of the words "commitment" and "perseverance".

Choosing my research approach and focus had much to do with my previous experiences as a student, as a parent, and as an educator passionate about social justice. I have always been intrigued by students' emotions in the face of the schooling imperative, and I myself have colourful memories of the village state school I attended in the 1970s - strict teachers, punishments for less-than-correct behaviour, of feeling like a round block being pushed into a smaller square mould, and warm ones of particularly kind and understanding teachers who had a sense of humour and who could see much more than met the eye.

Through my research, I wanted to bring to the fore the lived experiences of young people who appear to fall, or jump off the education system, and who get labelled and also made to feel responsible for it. These young people are often categorised as "NEET" (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

Who are we speaking about when we speak about 'NEETs'?

In policy and research, young people who are disengaged from education, employment and training are referred to as NEET - a concept that points at both the challenges of contemporary young people (Kleif, 2021), as well as of the number of them whose struggles put them at the margins of society (OECD, 2018; Tamesberger et al., 2014). Although being NEET is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, some young people may deliberately decide to take time off from education and work for various reasons, including to find their bearings and get a clearer picture of what they want to do with their lives (Kevelson et al., 2020; Kleif, 2021). The origins and outcomes of being NEET are thus complex and multi-dimensional (González-Rodríguez et al., 2019; Jonsson et al., 2022), and can best be understood by studying the lived experience of NEET young people.

Studying lived experiences

A study of lived experiences can yield insights into how the world appears to the individual/s concerned, or how they make sense of phenomena. This phenomenological approach allows researchers to receive the participants' disclosures as their truth, while accepting and respecting their socio-cultural backgrounds, difference and diversity, which is integral to the requisite open stance (Finlay & Evans, 2009). Phenomenological researchers are empathic and curious as they endeavour to gain insights into the participant's lived experience, simultaneously preserving enough detachment so that they can remain critically analytical. Phenomenology assumes that only the subject can objectify and that objective reality is "largely constituted by subjective meaning-making" (Larsen & Adu, 2022, p. 214).

Phenomenology is driven by the search for a universal truth that can be distilled from lived experience. Nevertheless, as researchers, it is crucial that we understand that no research is perfect and that the tension between attempting to find truth versus generalisability constitutes rocky terrain. Indeed, phenomenology does not aim to generalise research findings to the broader population (Larsen & Adu, 2022).

The research approach

Young people classified as not in education, employment or training are often not easily accessible, making it difficult to know or study them. Given the multi-layered and complex realities comprising the phenomenon, which scholars, researchers and policymakers strive to understand, I was motivated to embark on what turned out to be an intriguing adventure. I collected the qualitative data through participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 "NEET" young men and women in Malta, subsequently using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyse the verbatim transcripts and field notes. This involved line-by-line analysis of each participant's narrative to identify patterns within the participants' narratives, studying both convergence and divergence in single cases, and then subsequently across the multiple cases. The analysis yielded seven main themes: Personal narratives of hardship; The impact of previous school experiences; Use of time; Young people's notions of success and failure; NEET young people's attitude towards life; Coping and Projections for the future.

The research findings

The research findings yield insights into the participants' life-worlds, often showing their struggles with difficult and traumatic personal circumstances throughout their school years, which they mostly bore silently - out of shame, fear of judgement or the inability to articulate their suffering, also feeling alienated by school procedures. While the participants appreciated the importance of finding employment and obtaining the necessary qualifications to be in a better position to do so, they are acutely aware of the absolute importance of their mental health and emotional wellbeing, these being the most important "qualifications" for an enhanced quality of life. They believed this to be an armour protecting them from being overwhelmed by disadvantage and adversity, and from losing sight of what matters most, such as meaningful relationships. For the research participants, being successful transcended the notion of academic achievement; it was rather closely connected with personal freedom.

The findings highlight the participants' resilience and agency despite the hardships they have endured and continue to experience. Being NEET, the participants felt a sense of uncertainty and apprehension at structural factors beyond their control, but this is counter-balanced by a sense of hope and possibility. They found their own special ways of being, and used this knowledge to fend for themselves, also finding strength and inspiration from family and friends, who acknowledged their individuality, and thus helped them make it on their own terms.

The participants' accounts highlight the need for teachers and school administrators to be trained in awareness about youth cultures, enhanced communication skills and conflict resolution skills. Skills' deficiency in this area causes and exacerbates anxiety and negative feelings in young people, which defeats all endeavours at teaching them. This study of the research participants' lived experience of being disengaged from employment, education and training emphasises the importance of effective and relevant youth and education policies.

Finally, the research participants' actions and decisions that resulted in their disengagement from education, training and employment may be seen as manifesting their rejection of the structures that sought to mould them. The findings from this work serve as a call to examine and re-evaluate our social policies, including our priorities in designing an education system wherein and whereby every child and young person can thrive.

References

Kleif, H. B. (2021). The Temporality of Being NEET: A Longitudinal Study of NEET Occurrences among Young Adults in Denmark. Young, 29(3), 217-235.

Kevelson, M. J. C., Marconi, G., Millett, C. M., & Zhelyazkova, N. (2020). College educated yet disconnected: exploring disconnection from education and employment in OECD Countries, with a comparative focus on the U.S. ETS Research Report Series, 1-29.

Larsen, H. G., & Adu, P. (2022). The theoretical framework in phenomenological research: Development and application. Routledge.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2018). Education at a glance 2018: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing.

Tamesberger, D., Leitgöb, H., & Bacher, J. (2014). How to combat NEET? Evidence from Austria. Intereconomics, 49(4), 221-227.

This PhD research was funded through TESS from national funds