Background

Following the bankruptcy of youth care organisation Juzt, youth care for a group of young people in West Brabant was at risk of disappearing. There was also a strong possibility that these young people would lose contact with education. Until then, Warandecollege in Oosterhout had been affiliated with the secure youth care institution Lievenshove, which ceased to exist. Together with two educational partnerships and the youth care regions, Warandecollege was transformed into Plein3: an approach combining education, care and labour market participation.

Approach

Plein3 focuses on young people aged between 12 and 18 with serious behavioural problems and significant school absenteeism. These young people have often already experienced a great deal. Their confidence in themselves, in others and in society has been severely damaged. Van der Linden: “Restoring that confidence is central to our work. Instead of rejecting young people, we focus on building a relationship and look together with them at their feelings and needs when things go wrong. This also requires our staff to think and act differently.”

A regular day at Plein3

“We start at 8 a.m. with an arrival and reception period,” explains Van der Linden. “Our young people come from different places and sometimes from far away. Those who wish can have breakfast. At around 9:15 a.m., all the young people meet with their coaches to pay attention to one another and catch up briefly. After that, a student can choose between the work square, the care square or the education square: each young person follows an individually tailored programme. Everyone spends approximately two hours on each square every day. In addition, they have a daily mentoring session. In the afternoon, the young people prepare lunch for one another. This pattern is repeated every day.”

Focus on attendance and resilience

The daily division of time between the three squares explains the name of the provision. If young people are unable to remain engaged on the same square for two hours, they can move to another square where they receive support. According to Brouwer, education is less static than a standard timetable because young people can move between the squares themselves. And if things are not going well, young people can share their story with their coach. “Our goal is always to keep the young person at the provision. The focus is on attendance and resilience: being able to recover after a setback. We also always end the day with a reward. This often means that the young person is explicitly told what went well that day.”

Deliberately avoiding strict frameworks

“Plein3 deliberately does not use strict frameworks,” says Brouwer. “We always look for an individualised solution. If you cannot manage here, you do not have to leave immediately. This makes the atmosphere here less threatening. Young people are not afraid to make mistakes. From the outset, the focus is on their ownership. If, for example, a young person cannot attend a meeting, we reschedule it.”

“We work with a permanent mentoring group of around seven young people, an education coach and a care coach,” Van der Linden continues. “This ensures that every mentoring group has strong representation of expertise in both education and care. Together with the young person, the coaches take the lead in working towards the goals set out in the young person’s perspective plan. In doing so, they monitor progress in meeting the basic psychological needs for relatedness, competence and autonomy.”

Points of attention

Focusing on what is possible

Brouwer and Van der Linden believe it is important for young people to experience Plein3 as a place they can always return to and are welcome to return to. Brouwer: “We sometimes work with young people who have already attended eight different education or care locations. The difference is that they are allowed to experiment and make mistakes, while we continually look at what is possible. Young people talk about trust and feel at home here.”

Providing individualised support

Everything is tailored to the individual. As a guiding principle, Plein3 sets aside the learning pathways established by the government. “It is impossible to complete the full regular learning pathway in two hours of education per day,” Brouwer explains. “That is why we make choices based on what the young person wants, can do and needs. For example, we work with a young person who would like to become an international lorry driver. Together with him, we mapped out the skills and competencies he would need for that. We jointly concluded that it would be useful for him to obtain his driving theory qualification and learn English. This means that the educational offering differs from one young person to another, based on individual goals and prospects for moving on.”

Ensuring stability and continuity

To safeguard stability and continuity for the future, Plein3 is working with the municipalities of the West Brabant East and West Brabant West regions and the educational partnerships to investigate how they can establish appropriate capacity-based funding. Van der Linden: “At present, we receive our funding for the educational component through individual eligibility declarations from various educational partnerships, supplemented by additional funding. The municipalities mentioned above are providing us with pilot funding. Municipalities and partnerships from outside these regions can purchase services at fixed rates.”

Evaluation

Plein3 evaluates each young person’s situation at least twice a year. “A multidisciplinary meeting takes place during the initial meeting with young people and their parents, and then every six months,” Brouwer explains. “There, we look at progress together. This is also when we apply for any extension. At the end of the year, another evaluation takes place and we look at the possibilities for moving on. If moving on proves impossible, we choose a focus for the following year. We record this again in the development perspective.”