The relationship between adults, such as teachers, educators, pedagogues and their pupils or wards in Polish educational institutions is strongly rooted in traditional perceptions of education and is heavily marked by distance, power imbalance and hierarchy. Research shows that Polish students do not trust teachers (Jankowska, 2013) and the perceived possible support from them in challenging situations is relatively low (Wrona, Małkowska-Szkutnik & Tomaszewska-Pękała, 2015). This may lead to resistance to schooling and student-teacher relationships, which Paul Downes described as “a diametric space of assumed separation, closure and mirror image inversions” (2016). Such processes are particularly evident in institutions aimed at working with young people at risk of social maladjustment, which are based on coercion through the use of various disciplinary and punitive methods (Granosik, Gulczyńska & Szczepanik, 2019). The research shows that in many of these institutions prevails a controlling and restrictive social climate ( Staniaszek, 2018). At the same time, a positive relationship with a significant other is one of the most important protective and compensatory factors (Masten, 2014; Powell, 2015), especially for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds whose immediate environment often lacks a model of a supportive relationship with an adult (Clarke&Thévenon, 2022; OECD, 2019). The COSI.ed project aims to create a working model in which, through an indirect approach, equality literacy and co-creation, diametrical relationships are to be broken and the chance to change a culture of resistance towards a concentric relationship i.e. connection and openness as a precondition for trust, care and voice is created (Downes 2016). The main target group of the project are young people at risk of leaving school early. In the presentation we discuss the challenges of implementing this innovative model of working with young people at risk of educational and social exclusion in two Warsaw institutions - a special educational centre and a youth sociotherapy centre. We will include the perspective of young people as well as that of the staff of these institutions, highlighting the risks and opportunities that a bridging and empowering working model opens up for them.

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