RJLSS 2020

Early leaving from education and training poses challenges for many European educational systems. Early leavers from education are more likely to experience unemployment and poverty, as well as social exclusion. Our paper aims to give a comprehensive overview of the compensation measures implemented in this field in Romania. The paper starts by analyzing the proportion of early leavers from education and training at the regional level in Romania and at the European level. It then describes the compensation measures available to tackle early leaving from education in Romania. We identified five main compensation measures: (1) the Second Chance Program, (2) evening or reduced-frequency high-school education, (3) apprenticeship at the workplace for European Qualifications Framework level 1, (4) vocational training for European Qualifications Framework level 1 and (5) vocational training courses for basic/key competencies. This article analyses the recent evolution of early leaving from a comparative perspective and simultaneously contributes to a better understanding of the existing compensation measures to reduce early leaving from education and training in Romania.

The economic exclusion of the older persons is addressed in the literature through the lens of the available income (mainly from pensions) and represents an important topic on the agenda of public decision-makers. The aim of this article is to present the perceptions of the older persons regarding the eAectiveness of the policy measures aimed at reducing social exclusion for this population category. To answer this objective, a survey was conducted among older persons (65 and over) at the national level. The following aspects were measured: the ability to cover current expenses; the necessity to supplement the available monthly income through loans in order to cover current expenses; the ability to cover unforeseen expenses, the ability of saving financial resources; the ability to use various financial products. Our study shows that although significant progresses have been made in the field of legal framework for pension, the available pension income remains low for a large proportion of the older population.

Our research aims to deepen the understanding of the evolution of traditional bullying into cyberbullying among youth. We compile and analyze various perspectives on bullying from fields such as medicine, economics, education, security, statistics, and developmental theory. Our findings highlight that both traditional bullying and its modern counterpart, cyberbullying or electronic bullying, have become phenomena on a global scale. The inherently interdisciplinary nature of bullying complicates the development of regulations and policy interventions. The complexity of the bullying phenomenon requires dedicated attention. We employ conceptual analysis within a developmental framework as our methodology. Our work contributes a standardized conceptual framework for addressing bullying, focusing on the increasingly prevalent issue of cyberbullying within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens.

As the population ages, the need for flexible transport services, but also ensuring the accessibility of public spaces and means of transport become essential to prevent the exclusion of older persons from the community life. The aim of this article is to provide recent empirical evidence about the degree of use of means of transport by older persons, including their perception regarding the accessibility of public transport and spaces. To attain this objective, a survey was conducted among older persons (65 and over). Our study shows that the accessibility of public spaces and access to assistive devices that facilitate the mobility of older persons do not meet the needs of this population category, especially in rural areas. About a third of the participants admit that public transport is not adapted to the needs of older persons and the use of public transport is much more frequent in urban areas, compared to rural areas. The results of our study highlight the need for appropriate policy measures in the medium and long term period in the field of active aging and transport.

This "policy brief" aims to provide a deep and functional understanding of the significant transformations regarding public policy to address Poverty from reduction and alleviation to poverty eradication. The path of public policy development marks the change in philosophy. It starts from growth policies approaches "Broad-Base" & "pro-poor growth" policies through "inclusion policy" to the beyond growth approach as it is the "just transition" policy. The methodology used is a comparative and evolutionary analysis for the 2007-2014, 2015-2020, 2021-2027 European Strategical documents under the Agenda 2030 sustainability framework. Our contribution is to formulate some policies' characteristics: * The "human dignity, universal social protection, social justice, sustainable development" are perennial and continuous objectives, reshaped under the intelligent machine era. * The factors, problems and solution design and coherence with the 1st Sustainable Development Goal are dissimilar across policies: - - - - The degree of novelty, governance level, and allocation mechanism shape the specificity of factors. The problem design focuses on space or people. The solution design is from reactive to anticipative. From the economic Growth, competitiveness & social protection policy toward system resilience policies with environmental sustainability, individuals, and communities' fair wellbeing outcomes are fully coherent with the 1st Sustainable Development Goal and the entire Agenda 2030 Framework.