Orientation activities in times of crisis: new challenges for secondary schools

The relationship between educational/training processes and the world of work – between schools, universities and companies – is a topic which, for some time, has neither stirred great enthusiasm nor aroused much interest. It is by no means a new idea, even though in recent years it has continued to expand, shifting from a school-work binomial to the wider one of school-territory. Yet, in spite of increased efforts in the field, the school-work nexus remains weak. Indeed, workers in the field cannot help noticing that every season there appears a reform or a policy or a slogan designated to resituate the school, and its connection with the world of production, centre stage Apart from the uneasiness, the indignation, caused by the condition of youth (from the points of view of education, level of qualifications obtained and occupational insertion), what interventions do schools carry out on behalf of tomorrow’s adults? What is being done at the local level, which is where young people’s competence is really developed and initiatives on their behalf put into practice? The paper tries to answer these questions focusing on a specific local context (the Piedmontese region in Italy), using qualitative methods.