Rooted Juveniles: Interconnection between home experiences of rural children and youth and their perceived quality of life and well-being

The research project focuses on interconnection between home experiences of rural children and youth and their perceived quality of life and well-being. Especially the role of the comprehensive schools in creating rootedness is of particular interest. The results of the project provide rural schools operating models and tools for organizing education of home.

Research subjects are students of comprehensive schools between 7 and 16 years. The research material is collected by using elicitation interviews, role-playing method as well as softGIS method. The informant groups are made up of students from ten primary schools all across the country from various rural area types.

The results of the project will be presented and reported in multifaceted way. First, there will be a documentation publication, which gives voice to children’s and youth’s own experiences. In addition to that, there will be a report in which these experiences are contextualized and policy recommen-dations are presented. The results of the project will also be published in two scientific journals one of which will be written in Finnish.

The beneficiaries of the research project are children and young people living in rural areas, rural schools, rural municipalities as well as decision makers concerning rural policy and basic education.

Project’s duration time is 1.5.2019–31.12.2020. The project is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry from the The Development Fund for Agriculture and Forestry (Makera).