Young people are the primary constituency of most educational institutions. Questions of socialisation, the transition into economic participation and the duties of citizenship are important concerns. As such, young people are at the heart of much educational research, whether directly as participants or more indirectly as the subjects of educational questions. The study of youth, as it is variously explored in the field of youth studies, can concern young people’s transitions to adulthood, cultures, subjectivities and the representation of youth, often understood in ‘the intersection of a changing social structure and the life course’ (Woodman et al., 2020, p. 1).
The category and concerns of youth intersect with education in consequential ways. Yet it is less common that educational research engages with youth, as distinct from young people as educational subjects in the terms given to us by educational policy, institutions and systems.
