Finding good approaches together

Working together with young people, who have dropped out of school and work, trying to find out how one can help youths of their kind back into the society and the social life of a local community, the researcher meets a lot of challenges. Based on the experiences in the project “Youth at risk” involving nine different municipalities, I address and enlighten some of these challenges, such as differences in life experiences, power and knowledge. Further I discuss how the researcher can meet these challenges. I have been working together with four young people and four experts in a local community, where the municipality wishes to assist young people who have dropped out of school and work to contribute actively towards improving their own life situation. The aim is to increase the quality of life and encourage lifestyle changes in order that they achieve a meaningful life. I have met them regularly for two years. Together we have identified what we experience as good approaches, and will describe this in a “Booklet of experience”. I discuss how practical knowledge as approach can give a platform supporting empowering processes, appreciating the different participants special kind of knowledge. I give special attention to how Aristoteles consept of phronesis and the claim of the situation, and how Gadamers perspectives of understanding, can be a useful perspective for the researcher in the collaboration.