Research has shown that family backgrounds, characterized by lower socioeconomic status and lower parental education, affect adolescents’ choice of lower level school track. Consequently, due to their lower education, adolescents from this school track face a general devaluation in (German) society, while experiencing feelings of being left behind (Skrobanek, 2011).
NoLimits! is a 6-months program founded by the non-profit-organisation “Dein.München”. The program aims at improving adolescents’ sense of self, personal agency, and societal belongingness by implementing a series of workshops based on PERMA Model (Seligman, 2011). Further, this workshop concept uses PPIs on four key topics: character strengths, resilience, growth mindset, belonging.
Program participants are students attending four Bavarian ”middle schools” (N=55) from lower secondary classes in grade 7-9. They filled in self-reports (Wellbeing Profiler and Big Five) a week before the workshop series. Post measurement results are still pending but will be available at the time of the conference.
Considering that the adolescents’ environment is influenced by various restrictions, which are reinforced once they face their school-to-apprenticeship transition, a workshop series using evidenced-based PPIs can ensure that they continue their education and fully become a member of society. This tailored program can be one step towards this goal.