EASI - EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL C O U N T RY

Italy
INNOVATION PROGRAMME
FAMILY STAR – FAMILY GROUP POLICY AREAS
CONFERENCES AND STUDENT Youth employment
Fight against poverty and social exclusion
AT RISK
TA R G E T G R O U P S
I N N OVAT I V E H I G H L I G H T S National, regional and local authorities
• Preventive actions to assist young teenagers and their Social partners
families and to prevent school dropout Non-governmental organisations
• Participatory method less prone to stigmatisation Higher education institutions and research
applied to a context with high shares of early school institutes
leavers Experts in evaluation and in impact
assessment
S C A L E A N D T Y P E O F S O C I A L I N N O VAT I O N Media
• Radical and Organisational Innovation
C O O R D I N AT O R
CALL NAME Azienda Speciale Consortile Comuni Insieme
Social Policy Innovations supporting reforms per lo Sviluppo Sociale
in Social Services
CO-BENEFICIARIES
L’Associazione per lo Sviluppo della Valu-
tazione e l’Analisi delle Politiche Pubbliche
Azienda Speciale Consortile del Lodigiano
per i Servizi alla Persona’
La Rada Consorzio di Cooperative Sociali
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

EU CONTRIBUTION
€ 790,000 (75,98% of the total costs)

T OTA L C O S T S
€ 1,039,698

D U R AT I O N
October 2015 – September 2018

Social Europe
OF THE ACTION The Family STAR project is aimed at preventing social exclusion by reducing school difficulties
and the risk of students dropping out school at lower secondary level (11-14 years old), thanks
to the engagement of their families, teachers and social services into so-called Family Group
Conferences. The project has been designed as an early-stage intervention, supporting all the
actors involved in planning solutions to address the challenges which young teenagers face both
SUMMARY

in school and life, while increasing family engagement.

Family STAR promoted the participation of many schools and end-users, in an extension that
allowed to test Family Group Conferences feasibility and effectiveness in different Italian regions
characterised by less favourable social and economic conditions. While Family Group Conferences
have been extensively used - with good results - in social and judiciary fields, their practice
in school contexts is very rare and their effects still unclear. By using a robust evaluation
methodology based on randomised control trials with pre- and post-measurements of outcomes,
the project has been able to determine the positive effects generated by the action.

Keywords: social exclusion, school dropout, students at risk, childcare

CONTEXT AND NEEDS

As of 2018, Italy has been a Member State with one of the highest shares of early leavers from education
and training in the EU. A high number of students in lower secondary school level reveals problems in their
studies and relations with classmates/teachers. Additionally, their parents are typically not actively involved
in school activities. Normally, these cases were referred to social services - a too heavy-handed solution
prone to lead to stigmatisation. The project uses a preventive approach not focusing on heavily problematic
high-school children (e.g. offenders) but one specific age group of lower secondary school students (11-
14 years old) experiencing mild well-being/performance problems.

The concept of the project was developed in 1989 in New Zealand and targeted the Maori population.
The practice at that time was that the government would take away problematic children from the
parents through social services. The Maori activists insisted that the government should ensure adequate
involvement of both the enlarged family and the children. The Family Star was also inspired by previous
positive examples in Italy, like a smaller pilot conducted in Bollate, called “Riunioni di Famiglia” (2013-
2014). Family STAR however was a much larger pilot: both the Northern and Southern territories were
included in multiple localities.

“The idea is that one can try to improve the relationship

between the schools and parents rather than intervene
from the side of social service. The Family Group
Conferences are a way to create this informal alliance
between parents and children.”

OBJECTIVES
01
• Introduce Family Group Conferences as a softer,
preventive way to decrease the level of lower secondary
school dropouts.
02
• Test Family Group Conferences in the context of lower
secondary schools with a large sample of pupils in
five Italian regions (Bollate, Lodi, Salerno, Milano and
Sondrio).
 200 PRE AND POST
5 FAMILY GROUP ASSESSMENT
REGIONS CONFERENCES

FAMILYSTART EVALUATION
RESISOR
540 120

METHODOLOGY
STUDENTS FACILITATORS INTERVIEWS
CONTROL AND FOCUS GROUPS
TRIAL GROUP QUESTIONNAIRES
60
SCHOOLS

The project uses a relatively new social policy model, the Family Group Conferences, in a new preventive
style and in a new context (the lower secondary school), in which it has been used very rarely. With
voluntary participation, more than 60 schools located in five different areas have been involved
with a total of 540 pupils. The participating schools were asked to choose pupils as candidates, who
were then randomly assigned to the intervention group or to the control group: one was treated with
the intervention, while the other was not. For the intervention, 120 facilitators have been trained
to coordinate meetings between families and teachers. Also, interviews and focus groups, as well as
baseline/follow-up questionnaires were used for data collection.
RESULTS

The results demonstrate that both local public and private service providers (78%), students (84%),
parents (81%), and schoolteachers (64%) saw Family Group Conferences as useful, reporting significant
impacts on children’s academic skills and their relations with parents/relations at school.
Schools located within the five areas have been involved and more than 200 have been implemented.

The evaluation results show a statistically significant impact of the intervention on pupils’ well-being
at school; on support received from parents and teachers; as well as on inter-family relations and
relations between parents and schools. Moreover, the intervention has reduced the perception of teacher
discrimination, negative feelings and deviant behaviours if compared to control groups.

The project targeted those

The model is family-centred: the who are experiencing minor
decision-making focus was moved problems. The model strives
from social services experts to to prevent problems (as an
families. This leads to proactive early intervention).”
involvement.”

FGCs is a simple, inexpensive and

effective way to increase students well-
being at school, to reduce drop-out rates © [Azienda Speciale Consortile
and social exclusion, and to help families, Comuni Insieme per lo Sviluppo
in collaboration with the school staff” Sociale], 2014
 INNOVATIVE
CONTENT
The innovative content of the project consists of three key elements. First, Family Group Conferences
have rarely been used as a preventive method applied in schools despite their success in broader
social and judiciary contexts. Second, the model had been mainly tested in Anglo-Saxon countries
before, but Italy (a country with high shares of early school leavers) looked like a new promising
context for it, considering the high relevance of family ties and the high share of resources conveyed
through family networks (regional innovation). Third, unlike other available social interventions,
Family Group Conferences are not only expert- but also family-oriented. As such, they are less
susceptible to lead to stigmatisation of the involved young teenagers.

TRANSFERABILITY
AND UPSCALING
At the national level, positive results of the pilot might motivate the government to fund similar interventions in the
future. Comuni Insieme serving 7 municipalities implemented it as one of the policy tools that are available to
schools on request. Also, some project members are currently working on a similar project (called REACT) in Milan.
Participation in the programme has helped the team to showcase the results of Family Group Conferences at a
broader European level and confirm the credibility of the method. The project has produced a methodological
manual on how to implement Family Group Conferences for sustainability and transferability. The Family STAR results
have also been shared with Family Group Conferences Network, a pan-European organisation, supporting
implementers across 13 EU Member States.

© Luis Silva / https://cargocollective.com/luissilva

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