El Lema de Urysohn y el Teorema de Extensi´ on de Tietze

The frameworks provide overarching lenses to understand various dimensions the research. It is hoped that the frameworks might help to challenge and extend existing knowledge on youth programming and broaden parameters of conventional programming design and implementation.

2.6.1 The Capability Approach

Sen’s Capability approach used as a conceptual framework allows the opportunity to further delve into the ingredients necessary in programming and explore broadening the range of capabilities to be developed. The literature reviewed highlights key elements and raises a number of issues about the diversity of skills that young people should have. The concept of human capability rests on ability. “The substantive freedom of people to lead the lives they have to reason to value and to enhance the real choices they have” (Sen, 1999, p.293).

The approach has a two-pronged appeal. Firstly the freedom-orientated perspective highlights that despite the objective, the thought behind development should be expanded to the concept of freedom. Sen has argued that the main concern is with our ability to lead the kind of lives we have reason to value (Sen, 1999) and this notion allows us to re-direct our view of development: “This approach can give a very different view of development from the usual

concentration on GNP or technical progress or industrialization, all of which have contingent and conditional importance without being the defining characteristics of development” (Sen, 1999: 285). By using Sen’s approach it highlights the need to re-orientate some of the basic issues of development, which are often neglected issues in public policy, in dealing with poverty, inequality and social performance (Sen, 1999).

The second part of the formulation of capabilities is that of ‘valuable functionings’. All people have the right to live a life that has a measure of quality to them personally. Sen defines ‘functionings’ as “…the various things that a person may value doing or being” (Sen, 1999: 75) and that this is an improved benchmark to “assess social welfare than utility or opulence” (Alkire, 2005: 118). These functionings extend from basic needs such as being nourished and able to take care of oneself/family to survive, to being confident or taking part in political decisions (Alkire, 2005). Essentially this brings to the fore a focus on the

evaluation of well-being, bringing about a life of genuine choice and this intrinsic value of freedom is proposed to extend across class and culture (Sen, 1999; Alkire, 2005).

2.6.2 Identity Based Motivation

A model of Identity Based Motivation is used to understand how varying social structural factors affect young peoples’ aspiration-achievement gap by influencing their perceptions of what is possible for people like them with their particular background and upbringing (Oyserman & Destin, 2010). Social structural factors matter influencing the aspiration- achievement gap “in part by affecting young peoples’ perceptions of what is possible for them and people like them in the future”(Oyserman & Destin, 2010: 1002).

The model was chosen to demonstrate how interventions focusing on the macro-micro level can work to re-orientate young peoples’ perceptions of themselves while considering how social structural factors might impact attainment potential. Oyserman and Destin use an integrative, culturally sensitive framework of Identity Based Motivation which has three core postulates termed action readiness, dynamic construction and interpretation of difficulty. “Action readiness is the prediction that identities cue readiness to act and to make sense of the world in terms of the norms, values, and behaviors relevant to the identity” (Oyserman & Destin, 2010: 1003). The model assumes that identities are dynamically constructed in context. “Dynamic construction is the predication that which identities come to mind, what these identities are taken to mean, and therefore, which behaviours are congruent with them are dynamically constructed in context” (Oyserman & Destin, 2010: 1003). The third

postulate, interpretation of difficulty, predicts that when a young person experiences a behaviour that feels compatible with their identity, difficulties in engaging in the behavior will be interpreted as meaning that the behaviour is important not impossible and, therefore, effort is meaningful, not pointless (Oyserman & Destin, 2010). Thus, “interpretation of difficulty matters because it influences judgment, choice and behaviour” (Oyserman & Destin, 2010: 1003).

2.6.3 Positive Cycle of Adolescent Empowerment

The final framework supports exploring how programming can be implemented and how programmes of this nature can be operationalized. Chinman and Linney’s (1998) cycle of Adolescent Empowerment allows the study to better analyze the ‘how’. The model defines empowerment as a way people gain control over their lives through “…active participation, with an emphasis on strengths instead of weaknesses, an acknowledgement of cultural diversity, and the use of language that reflects the empowerment ideals” (Rappaport, as cited in Chinman & Linney, 1998: 394).

Figure 1 Positive adolescent empowerment cycle (Chinman & Linney, 1998: 399)

The Chinman & Linney cycle shown in figure 1 above merges themes of identity

development, rolelessness and bonding theories and describes the potential empowerment process of youth in well-constructed programming. By giving a proposed overview of factors to consider in the empowerment process the cycle enables this study to further explore how the nature of activities, approaches and design might enable more comprehensive

Overview of framework interaction with the study

The following basic overview depicted in figure 2 shows how the frameworks are thought to function and where they can have value in terms of the key questions of this study including the three relationships being explored.

Figure 2 Basic overview of framework interaction

Through this basic overview we can see that youth are exposed to factors in their

environment that according to the literature could play a vital role in shaping perceptions. The life experiences of young people could potential influence attributes developed, identities formed and skills acquired – “the baggage” they enter any programme with. ‘Baggage’ in itself implies that young people are not empty vessels upon entering a post-school

programme and that potentially the wider socio-economic context which young people find themselves exposed to affects this baggage dramatically. The research hopes to explore the salient points highlighted from the literature review and theoretical frameworks, showing that together they have come to form an overall frame in which to understand the goal of the research.

In order to understand the significance of more comprehensive programming, its ingredients and how they are put into place concepts brought forth from the literature and frameworks will include skills for life, motivation, understanding negative image and low self-esteem, belonging to a network, socio-cultural structures and community conditions, altruism and resilience. Together with the frameworks this will assist when interpreting data collected from respondents.