University of the Basque Country
Currículum vitae
Joana Miguelena Torrado is a professor in the Degree of Social Education and a member of the UPV/EHU’s IkasGaraia research group.
She has participated in different competitive research projects on the study of the rights of children and adolescents, and socio-educational intervention with children, adolescents and youth in social difficulty, mainly that of the foster care groups and those out of the protection of residential care. She is the author of several chapters and articles of impact on this subject. It has also participated in the creation and implementation of two UPV/EHU programmes, Arrakasta and IkasLagun, which aim to promote equal opportunities and educational inclusion for children, adolescents and young people in the region of the Basque Country who are already out of the social protection systems which have provided them with care.
Talk
“Higher education as a key to other future scenarios in the transition to adult life: The university is also for the former foster care youth.”
This talk aims to be a space for reflection on the educational paths followed by adolescents and young people after the protection in residential care, trying to raise questions such as why do most of these young people end up enrolled in a basic vocational training course? Why does the university rarely fall within their expectations? Don’t they want to? Don’t we let them? Do we think it is positive and real to instill in them the idea that if they want to, they can get to university?
We know that education and training level are factors that favor or hinder situations of inclusion or social exclusion, but in the case of these young people, education becomes a key protective factor due to the obligation to leave the protection system when they reach the legal age. Additionally, are we putting education at the focus of the intervention? Are we prioritizing it over other areas? Should we prioritize it?