Young Leaders in Special Secondary Education: A Qualitative Study on the Implementation of Positive Youth Interventions in Dutch Special Education

Abstract

Special Secondary Education (SSE) in the Netherlands is far from reaching its full potential. Outflow numbers are worrying and a recent government intervention meant to improve the situation did not have the desired effect. There is a need for youth interventions that could help SSE-youth reach their full potential. By looking at SSE-youth as impaired instead of disabled, this study examined how the Young Leaders (YL) youth intervention can best be implemented in SSE. This exploratory study made use of semi-structured interviews with SSE-teachers and YL-trainers (n = 16) by asking them: (1) what the added value of YL is to SSE; (2) What challenges need to be overcome; (3) And what changes need to be made in order to successfully implement YL in SSE. Conclusions of this study was that YL helped SSE-youth to reach their full potential and that YL can best be implemented when changes are made in consultation with specific schools due to the heterogeneous nature of SSE-youth. Future research should focus on which teaching methods would be most effective and should ideally include youth in their research population in order to provide a better fit with SSE-youth.