Centre for Children and Youth, and Social Preparedness - PrepChild

Centre for Children and Youth, and Social Preparedness - PrepChild is an interdisciplinary research centre at Nord University that aims to develop knowledge about social preparedness for children and young people in vulnerable life situations, and to prevent exclusion.

• About the centreCopy linkCopied

  Many children and young people in Norway live in vulnerable life situations, despite relatively high prosperity and good social services. PrepChild are concerned of young people that may fall outside school and social communities. Much is due to challenges with relationships and the interaction with others and the environment. Therefore, it is a great paradox that it is most often individual help that society offers. Important keys to a good upbringing and a good life are good relationships, belonging, community and cooperation.

  Social preparedness is both about understanding the social glue in society, about mobilising resources in the public and civil society, and creating schemes that counteract exclusion. These can be critical events in everyday life, such as bullying or abuse, or major socially critical events, such as the corona epidemic is an example of. The basis of social preparedness is what we all do when we create good and inclusive communities for children and young people. It is about our ability to detect and respond to what may be critical events in a child's life. To achieve this, it is important that we know what can be perceived as difficult for children and young people. It is also important that we have knowledge of good approaches, practical expertise and systems that enable us to both act and interact well.

  We will contribute with knowledge about how both belonging and exclusion arise in practice and how cooperation and vulnerability have been defined, understood and applied. Furthermore, we will contribute knowledge about how we as a society, in a collaboration between children and young people, parents, the local community, as well as civil and public actors, can establish an early social preparedness to identify, provide support, strengthen relationships and cooperation around those who are at risk of experiencing exclusion at an early stage.

  Together with children and young people, students, the field of practice and our international network, we will use the knowledge to create collaboration models and teaching for both students and practitioners from different professional groups. These can be, for example, teachers, social workers and police. Among other things, we will have social preparedness exercises, where, based on various practical scenarios, we can practice and learn together.

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  The work is structured through six work packages:

  • Work package 1: Knowledge-management and transformative learning
  • Work package 2 Understandings of vulnerability and risk in public documents, literature and research
  • Work package 3 Children and young people's perspectives on vulnerability and belonging
  • Work package 4: Longitudinal study on transitions and inclusion in school
  • Work package 5: Mapping collaborative practices
  • Work package 6 Social preparedness exercises and cooperation models

  Around 20 employees from four different faculties are involved in the work; Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Education and Arts and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences and Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Collaboration (Nord University Business School).

  Financing:

  The center receives financing from The Research Council of Norway. Duration: 2025-2029.

• PartnersCopy linkCopied

  We work with:

  • Bodø municipality
  • Nordland County
  • Salten Regional competence Centre
  • Vefsn Municipality
  • Med ungdom i Fokus
  • Mental Health Young
  • Roskilde University (Danmark)
  • Police University College
  • UNICEF
  • KS

  Our International Scientific Research Board consists of:

  • Trine Wulff Andersen, Roskilde Universitet (Danmark)
  • Ilse Julkunen, University of Helsinki (Finland)
  • Naomi Nichols, Trent University (Canada)
  • Victoria Cooper, Childrens Research Centre (England)
  • Sara Serbati, Padova Universitetet (Italia)
  • Ketil Grimastad Lundberg, Vest University College