TurnUp Academy: Turning Dreams into Reality!
Everyone has dreams, but sometimes dreams don’t easily become reality. In Turnhout, we face a challenge: a high percentage of early school leavers at 13.8%, surpassing the Flemish average of 11.3%.
Schools in Flanders grapple with breaking the cycle of poverty: children growing up in poverty often face a high risk of poverty later in life.
Employers seek skilled workers with strong learning abilities. Vocational training doesn’t always meet job requirements, leading to a shortage of skilled labor.
Critical educational decisions are made by youth around 10-13 years old, often without sufficient information, impacting the rate of early school leavers.One in three children in Turnhout grows up in poverty (27%).
Stigma and unconscious biases influence the educational choices of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
But in Turnhout, we’re taking action.
This September, we’re launching TurnUp Academy – a weekend school where children in vulnerable situations, from the fifth grade in primary school to first year of secondary school, will be intensively guided in discovering their talents. These talents will be practically assessed across a wide range of different professions, presented interactively by passionate volunteers from the field, driven by their own intrinsic motivation.
Let’s empower our youth to dream big and achieve even bigger. Together, we can turn dreams into reality at turnUp Academy!
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. 2022-1-BE02-KA220-SCH-000086016