MaCE Handbook

The intent with MaCE is to develop an open-access training package including a handbook, which can be used by other students, academics and external stakeholders to support them in engaging more effectively with marginalised young people.

The training package (IO2) gives an insight into what co-research entails, experiences and training needed to work with students as co-researchers. We have drawn upon the empirical research undertaken in the project, and have translate the findings for the practical application of the method. Here you will also find descriptions of how to apply the methodological approach when carrying out research projects with marginalised young people and we offer guidance regarding pitfalls, challenges and examples. Stakeholders, academics and student/ co-researchers may use this handbook to support their learning and application of the ‘indirect approach’ perspective in reaching vulnerable young people. One very important element in the handbook is the focus on ethics, both in terms of ensuring that all researchers follow ethical guidelines/ procedures prior to conducting research with vulnerable participants, and in terms of managing complex ethical dilemmas during the research process. 
Through this training the students from both masters and bachelors programmes were enabled to work side by side with experienced researchers in researching on younger ESL/NEET students. The students have drawn upon their own lived experiences (context) as well as learning practically and theoretically. The students were actively involved as interviewers, respondents, analysts and writers. They joined as individuals and became active participants in the social practices of a social, multidisciplinary and multinational community. In this way the students actively constructed their academic identity through this environment, and obtain academic merits, which has helped them stand firmly and secure in the meeting with the academic environment. 
In this hand book we present our experiences, seminars, reflections and design in order to encourage others to try this out to 1) engage students and 2) as a methodology for research on marginalised groups.
When publishing this we see that it is important to see this IO linked with the others in MaCE. The other IOs show the process and results from the work, and we have therefore included links to all the IO’s as part of this training package. This is how it is built (with links at the bottom of the page): 

• Getting started: we explain how we have prepared, worked and why.
• Implementation: we have taken the process step by step from training the HEI researchers in building common ground, to training the students online and in seminars.
• Completion: here we link this work to the other outputs which we believe will show more about what has been done, the results, as well as the critical and ethical perspectives and the models.