teaches social pedagogy and intercultural education. She carries out research in the areas of youth policies, transitions in the life course, youth welfare, and European school systems in comparative perspective. She has recently edited together with P. Loncle, V. Muniglia, and A. Walther, "Youth Participation in Europe. Beyond discourses, practices and realities," Bristol: the Policy Press, 2012.

This article discusses how teachers perceive their role in supporting and guiding students in transitions. Do teachers see themselves more as gatekeepers or as supporters? The analysis draws upon qualitative data collected in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Finland. Based on the analysis of teachers' interviews, we developed three constellations of how teachers perceive their role in relation to supporting students: support focused on employability, support focused on access and opportunities, and support focused on students' well-being. We found that teachers tend to find a balance between all three constellations, but also that the education system (differentiated vs. comprehensive), patterns of collaboration with other youth professionals, and labor market conditions all influence their role.

This paper proposes an analysis of the educational trajectories of disadvantaged students, among them migrant ones, at the transition point from lower secondary into upper secondary school/ vocational education, i.e., the age group between 10 and 16 years. The data were collected in the European project "Governance of Educational Transition in Europe -GOETE". The main aim of this paper is to present the interactive aspect of students' transitions in order to spot some different lights to the quantitative studies stating the serious migrant educational underachievement mainly attributed to structural causes. Instead, the indings of GOETE project highlight the interplay between socio-economic structures and family resources, institutional pathways and support provided by education (and welfare) systems, and the subjective motivation and orientation of the young people. Confronted with a transition demand, migrant students' possibility to act and make their own choices is structured differently. Keywords: migrant students, educational trajectories, transition, educational inequality ResumoEste artigo propõe uma análise das trajectórias escolares dos alunos desfavorecidos, entre eles os migrantes, na transição do ensino básico para o ensino secundário superior ou o vocacional, entre os 10 e os 16 anos. Os dados foram recolhidos através do projecto europeu "Governance of Educational Transition in Europe -GOETE". O objectivo principal é apresentar a dimensão interactiva das transições dos alunos, realçando alguns aspectos em estudos quantitativos que apontam para um sério subaproveitamento escolar dos migrantes devido a causas estruturais. Ao invés, os resultados do projecto GOETE destacam a interacção entre as estruturas socioeconómicas e os recursos familiares, os percursos institucionais e o apoio dos sistemas de educação (e de bem-estar), e a motivação e orientação subjectiva dos jovens. Confrontados com a transição, a possibilidade de os estudantes migrantes agirem e fazerem as suas próprias escolhas é estruturada de forma diferente.

This paper reflects on our experiences of using participatory action research (PAR) with young people as part of an EU H2020 project exploring the spaces and styles of youth participation in formal, nonformal and informal settings. The paper outlines key tenets of action research and provides a brief review of the literature concerning the use of PAR in youth research. Drawing on three case studies, we provide an honest account of some of the messy realities involved in realising the promise of participatory action research in practice. The central focus is on how the action research played out in practice, the challenges of undertaking PAR within the context of a funded project with predefined deliverables, the power relationships between researchers and young people and how agendas are negotiated in action research. We conclude with some critical reflections on lessons learnt, highlighting the importance of acknowledging the exploratory nature of PAR and the critical role of the researcher as facilitator.

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