This paper brings to the fore the political-pedagogical briefs that emerged from the implementation of the project EduTransfer – Learning from diverse educational settings: transferability of promising practices in the 2020 Horizon. EduTransfer is concerned about the need for greater participation of young people in the construction of knowledge, building from their experience in context. We argue that participation in citizenship has been framed by regulatory activities sanctioned by the State and the involvement in the paid labor market; young learners have been seen as in preparation for citizenship, through education. Situated in deficit, their knowledge/experiences are not valued enough, generating a deficit in participation. There is need to recognize them as citizens, with full rights, who participate in their present. There are promising practices that the diverse educational institutions involved in the project (their professionals and young people) may share and learn with one another in order to improve the educational offer to young people under the recognition of their citizenship. The implementation of Problem Based Learning provided data on the possibilities and hope for change. It implied the provision of spaces for the construction of educational citizenship (Macedo & Araújo, 2014; Macedo, 2018) with recognition, interdependence and equality of condition (Baker, Lynch, Cantillon, & Walsh, 2004). It also encompasses the enactment of pedagogical educational rights of inclusion, participation and enhancement (Bernstein, 2000). The political background of the project is the European Union recommendations and concerns about: i) the reduction of early leaving from education and training; ii) the promotion of school and educational success, and iii) the insertion of young people in the labour market. In the vein of this soft law, particularly since 2015, the Portuguese government has developed a set of educational policies focused on educational inclusion. The investment in the diversification of the educational offer is one example. Decree-Law No. 55/2018, of 6 July, establishes the curriculum for basic and secondary education, with a view to developing in young people the skills and attitudes that contribute to achieving the skills set out in the Profile of Students Leaving Compulsory Schooling (ME/DGE, 2017). The guiding principles are: curricular autonomy and flexibility, guarantee of an inclusive education, recognition of teachers as key agents in curriculum development, appreciation of interdisciplinary projects and collaborative work, appreciation of the paths and progress made by each young person, and recognition of the importance of mobilizing diverse literacies and multiple competences, both theoretical and practical. However, there are some matters of concern: i) a tendency of hierarchization between systems, which divides young groups in education into ‘schoolable’ and less ‘schoolable’ or ‘professionalizable’; ii) the prevalence of bureaucratization of teaching work, which leads to less investment in the relational dimension of pedagogy; iii) curricula that are too long and complex, and iv) a focus on ‘accounting’ education, that is, on the final assessment, in the framework of education (institutions, professionals and young people) as products. 

The EduTransfer project shown that different institutions, policy makers and education and training professionals, as well as young citizens can join forces to combat early leaving from education and training, foster educational success and contribute towards labour insertion. This implies collaboration in the development of strategies to reduce what has been described as students' disinterest and lack of motivation, and their withdrawal from education. These problems, which affect social justice and inclusion are generated (and must be addressed) within society, its systems and institutions.

The project EduTransfer is based in Portugal and financed by the National Agency. The policy briefs in this paper are a reflective-synthesis of three years of work. It included monitoring by means of an online questionnaire (thirteen teachers and trainers). The questionnaire addressed i) the way(s) PBL was integrated in the educational and training institutions; ii) its potential implications on the pedagogical practices and the development of students’ competences. The questionnaire results were later discussed with eight teachers (two focus groups). A draft of the policy briefs was discussed with policy makers: the Portuguese General Director of Education, two representatives of local authorities and two directors of educational and training institutions. The final briefs were presented in a final seminar. The discussion also included young people, professionals and policy makers. The project directly involved six educational and training institutions in Porto Metropolitan area (two upper secondary schools, two training centers and two vocational schools); 345 students (10th to 12th grade), plus 30 students who acted as consultants/critical friends; 32 professionals (teachers and trainers), whose number spread throughout the project owing to its multiplying effect (involvement of other colleagues by professionals). The conditions surrounding these groups and institutions varied from quite comfortable social and economic positions to locations of relative vulnerability. The study figures an intensive participatory research (Mannay, 2016) based on ‘creative research methods’ (Kara, 2015). The involvement of researchers and participants in the co-construction of data (Riessman, 2008) supported the assertion of the plurality of voices (Jackson & Mazzei, 2009), making bridges and bonds between young people, as citizens, and researchers and teachers as educational professionals with complementary roles in the improvement of the educational offer and construction with young people. Participant observation and intentional conversations lead to the acknowledgement of the cultures of these contexts and of their actors – professionals and young people. This was complemented by collection and analysis of relevant documents provided by the institutions. Then the project moved to training in PBL: the research team, professionals (two editions of workshops, 36h/each) and young people (five workshops with 70 young people). The implementation of PBL as participatory strategy for the construction of teaching and learning was supported by the research team, and involved different phases with increasing autonomy by the institutions. At different stages, focus groups were held with professionals and with young people, as well as online monitoring and evaluation questionnaires and meetings.

Problem-Based Learning as a participatory strategy to construct the learning and teaching process has a role to play in intervening in the problem identified: young peoples’ lack of participation in the construction of their knowledge and communities. PBL brings proposals for the process of democratization of education, fostering the participation of young people. The implementation of PBL in the various educational institutions, with different young people and professionals assumed particular contours, enhancing the transferability of promising practices. Political-pedagogical recommendations were a product of the project. They fit into a set of categories to be explored in the paper presentation: • To meet peoples’ conditions, bring conditions, encourage participation • To stimulate partnerships, strengthen relationships, collaborate • To live the curriculum, reinforce the relational construction of knowledge • To invest in research and training with young people and professionals, challenging their conventional roles • To exercise a democratic culture: communicating with media and social literacy • To invest in the relational dimension of pedagogy: democratic communication with autonomy and affection • To value critical and creative thinking in the relationship with the social environment • To build a curriculum that protects educational space and time • To establish young people and their educational community as partners in political construction

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