Low levels of personal development contribute to cause educational as well as economic exclusion for a relevant number of youth at risk of poverty (Gallagher, 2011; OECD, 2015) as well as social exclusion (Gallart and Jacinto, 1998; González, 2017; Novak, 2018; Olmos Rueda and Mas Torelló, 2013). Second chances are relevant to reengage them into a ‘significative education’ (McGregor et al., 2015; Mills et al., 2017) that can contribute to solve these problems.

Second Chance Schools (E2O is its acronym in Spanish) are an educational alternative for early school leavers (Boylan y Renzulli, 2017; Meo y Tarabini, 2020). They are an example of the variety of programmes promoted in many European countries, as well as in other parts of the world such as South America (Jacinto, 2017), addressed to young people who did not complete their secondary education (Salvà-Mut et al., 2016). Within this framework, E2O have a social and educational dimension where counseling and guidance are relevant tools to facilitate education and labor success during and after schooling.

Attending E2O implies for many youth an opportunity to think and plan profound changes in their life courses (Martins et al., 2020). Particularly, in the case of Spain, E2O purposefully declare their promotion of reflective thinking and self-knowledge as key dimensions in their educational practice (Villardón-Gallego et al., 2020). In fact, these authors identified in their study that practices involving group reflection dynamics, as well as other activities with the aim to raise consciousness about their personal circumstances, were strategies frequently used in E2O (Villardón-Gallego et al. 2020). When conducting their practice, educators privilege personal and emotional development of their youth above mere academic success (Riele et al., 2017).

Despite claimed evidence, there has been relative scarce research at national and international level about the efficacy of devices training and facilitating access of youth to the labor market; although counselling and guidance gain increased relevance (Merino, 2019). This paper is framed within this context, we attempt to analyze guidance systems in Spanish E2O trying to identify what is the content of these practices, how, when, for whom and with which aims.

We introduce a multimethodological study addressing the object of our study from the perspective of different informants. In 2021 we conducted semi-structured interviews to the management of twenty-four schools, 10 professionals in companies hiring youth after finishing their training in E2O as well as 9 teachers in secondary schools to which former students of E2O returned. Additionally, we conducted a survey among 351 youth who had finished in their E2O and we analyzed the record of another 1592 youth who had finished in their E2O in schoolyear 2019/2020. We present a descriptive analysis of the quantitative data obtained here.

Among our results, it is worth pointing that counselling and guidance goes far beyond acquisition of knowledge and of professional competence, and it implies accompanying processes that involve personal, occupational and life dimensions that are positively appreciated by youth. Flexibility and ability to adapt to the specific needs of each youth along their schooling, care about their personal and emotional wellbeing prove aligned with results of previous studies (Riele et al. 2017), and so does the holistic approach towards integration, which are key elements of the counselling system.

Our study applies a multimethodological analysis attempting to understand our object study from a holistic perspective. We apply a mixed methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative information and analysis. Our research is conducted in cooperation with the Spanish Association of Second Chance Schools and it has received the approval of the Ethics in Research Committee of the Universitat de València (approval 1614696905618). Qualitative information consisted in interviews to twenty-four E2O management teams, 10 professionals in companies hiring youth after completing their training in E2O and 9 to teachers in secondary schools to which youth returned after E2O. All interviews were conducted between March-May 2021. Our quantitative study had two sources of information. We conducted a survey to 351 youth who had completed their training in 2019/2020 (out of a total population of 2711 youth as reported by the Spanish Association of Second Chance Schools). In parallel, we had developed a database which was fulfilled by professionals in E2O, providing data of 1592 individuals out of the same population, reporting data on their current situation in terms of study or work, as well as the programs they had taken at the E2O. The quantitative analysis we present here is descriptive. The interview guidelines, the survey as well as the information demanded for the database were produced by the joint UVEG-UAB research team. Semi-structured interviews covered issues about curriculum, organization, counselling and accreditation. In this paper we report only on counselling. Information was gather and analyzed with MAXQDA Plus 2020, following the thematic analysis procedure by Braun and Clarke (2006). Therefore, we select relevant issues and proceed to conceptualize them rigorously. We applied the procedure described by Barnes (1996) that consists of successive comparisons among content in the interviews and theoretical concepts as defined in the identification of fundamental themes (Barnes, 1996). The questionnaire consisted of twenty-three multiple-choice items with a Likert scale. A group of seven experts of three different universities (Valencia, Balearic Islands and Murcia) took part in the process of validation of content, together with 4 educationalists working in E2O. The database with data from E2O provides information according to indicators on competencies acquired by youth in relation to their profile and training. The results of the questionnaire and the database were analyzed through descriptive statistics, used to find out the perception of former E2O youth on their curriculum within them.

Professional guidance is considered by management in E2O as a highly relevant process of personal accompaniment, and it serves the needs of all youth registered within E2O. Several features are common to guidance in these schools: integrality, easy communication between educators and young people, adaptation to the particular needs of each youth and time flexibility when it comes to taking decisions. Interviews in E2O indicate several stages in the support and guidance process: welcome phase, follow-up, preparation to leave the E2O and follow-up once they have finished it. Therefore, guidance takes place along the whole schooling process within the E2O and it continues along several months after finishing. Agents implied in guidance services mainly have a psychological profile, although there are also multidisciplinary teams, assessing both the personal experience as well as the vocational expectations of the youth. Youth value as highly positive the guidance support they have received in E2O. Results show that six months after leaving it, 49% of the youth continues studying, a 21% of youth is working and another 9% is both working and studying. The remaining 30% who neither study nor work after leaving the E2O is however an indicator of necessary improvement. Our survey, which took place 9 months after finishing the E2O, indicates that this percentage falls down to 24%. Anyhow, these results indicate the need to provide further guidance services beyond the period within the E2O. E2O provide guidance to vulnerable youth. An educational offering that attempts to educate young people to reasonably improve their chances of success demands that counselling and guidance, both personal and vocational, are a core dimension of educational practice.

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