Adolescence of the 21st century: social conditioning, basic characteristics and pedagogical challenges

Car, Sandra. (2013). Adolescence of the 21st century: social conditioning, basic characteristics and pedagogical challenges. Pedagogijska istraživanja, 10(2). pp. 285-294. ISSN 1334-7888

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Abstract

Current economic, social and political circumstances surrounding the growing-up process of children and young people have permanent effects. In other words, the childhood and adolescence experiences form and define the characteristics of young generations. Those social marks create paradigms through which generations of children and young people perceive the world and make decisions. Contemporary adolescents have been growing up during the era of internet, cable TV, globalisation, increasing consumerism, terrorist attacks and a concern for sustainable development. Such common experiences bring the members of a generation together, forming a generation as a specific phenomenon with certain characteristics and lifestyles that represent a pedagogical challenge for parents and teachers. In order to be able to reach these young people in a day-to-day interaction, to know how to motivate them and ‘encourage’ them in the right direction, adults must first know what interests them, what they think about, what worries them, why they see the world from a different perspective, what they consider important and valuable, what makes them enthusiastic, thrilled and happy. All this is relevant not only for making the life of adolescents less stressful, but also for making the positive value oriented education more effective.

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