The Project seeks to answer several of the needs advanced in the Horizontal Priorities for Strategic Partnerships in the Field of Education, Training and Youth . That is to “reduce disparities in learning outcomes affecting learners from disadvantaged backgrounds/with fewer opportunities …. enhancing access to participation and performance in education and training, preventing early school leaving……” The existence of disparities in the learning performance of the many adolescents and young people from disadvantaged contexts and the large number of these who drop out of school without having obtained a basic certificate or do not go beyond compulsory education (early school leavers) is an evidence. Much of the scientific literature points to the influence of the family and the social and cultural contexts in these outcomes. The lack of close referents or role models who could stimulate a successful life project in adolescents and youth of vulnerable contexts is one of the most frequently mentioned problems for developing the potential which each one has but which requires stimulus and recognition in order to grow. The absence of such referents is particularly present amongst among children of minority groups such as a children of immigrants or Roma children. Likewise, the training of teachers and other professionals in the educational context is often distant from socially disadvantaged contexts. Schools also often do not value or do not have the means to deal in these contexts with aspects (emotional, motivational and such) related to the personal growth of adolescents and young people. The fact that the aim of the teachers efforts is to concentrate on the cognitive side of development and the social and cultural distance of these professionals from the learners in their charge, are added difficulties in fostering the desired outcomes. The main objective of this Strategic Partnership is to carry out a pilot experience in order to develop a model holistic strategy to foster the experience of successful educational achievement in adolescents and young people from disadvantaged contexts with learning difficulties, thus helping them to improve their performance in school and to continue in the educational system and on to university if possible. In order to achieve these aims, the project proposes a strategy based on the development of local mentoring programmes with a holistic approach which entails: 1) Providing the adolescents and young people with a mentor from outside the school context who comes from a similar background but has attained higher education and thus can give the student support in cognitive skills while at the same time helping him to develop personal competences and be a role model for him; 2) Helping the pupils to develop personal and social skills such as self-confidence, creativity, communication by giving him the opportunity to participate in cultural activities (theatre, artistic activities, etc.) in a context other than the school; 3) Raising the adolescents and young people’s awareness of their social context and social responsibility by involving them in community work in their neighborhood as well as involving social agents in the neighborhood in their educational progress and support . The target group of the local programmes are pupils in the critical transition years of lower and upper secondary education and vocational training. Each local programme would benefit up to 20 pupils, except the one in Madrid which would be include up to 40 adolescents and youths. The local NGO’s and no-profit organizations who are partners in the project would be responsible for the programme in connection with the schools and the families. The mentors will be university students recruited from the same contexts in which the project is being implemented or from universities in the area and will be given special training. The local programmes will be evaluated and the results analyzed in order to arrive at the best model strategy. The results of the local evaluations and analyses will be written up in a report which wil be used for dissemination. They will also serve as the basis for the joint report in which the model strategy will be proposed. A methodological guide with the proposed model will be published. All these products will be presented at different events and made available on the webpages of the different partners as well as on the webpage of the SIRIUS Network.