Today in Europe there are about 200 million people between 13 and thirty years old learning and earning, loving and living, searching and finding, worrying and thriving. These young people have very specific and also diverse needs problems and opportunities, expectations, ambitions, demands and dreams. European Youth Work assists young people to meet the challenges they face. But what exactly is youth work? Where does it come from and what is it’s purpose? Youth work is far from being a new thing.
The first ideas about youth work emerged in the nineteenth century. At that time the age of youth became seen as its own chapter of personal development, set between childhood and adulthood. Youth work has two different roots. First the school environment and second - charitable youth care. Both were influenced by the great changes of the 19th century in terms of how people lived and worked. The introduction of compulsory schooling led to the emergence of the first youth movements and organizations.
At the same time urbanization and industrialization created a large group of impoverished or unemployed youth with almost no state social security they were supported in youth care institutions by charitable organizations, the church or middle and upper class individuals. The first tries to organize you as a distinct group and change society in a way that is more fitting for young people. The latter is more concerned with enabling young people especially underprivileged ones to fit into mainstream society.
At the beginning youth work was concerned with things like child protection, character building, health promotion, delinquency prevention and patriotic education. These different beginnings have since evolved into what is today an even broader field of action, called youth work. It has a very broad meaning and not everyone has the same opinion about what exactly it is.
But there are some basics almost everyone agrees on. Youth work is one of the three important places of learning empowerment and personal development beyond the school and family. It is based on non-formal learning; it is voluntary, and carried out in leisure time. Youth work aims at promoting self-conscious and self-determined individuals, capable of being active, constructive and responsible part of society, and youth work is a participatory not a top-down process. To sum it up, youth work provides space and opportunity for young people to shape their own present and future.
Youth work is a powerful educational tool that provides the required skills to navigate risks as well as opportunities. Despite this there are diverse approaches to youth work. It can engage with a variety of young people, use different methodologies, address diverse issues, and operate in various contexts. It can be conducted by professional youth workers or by volunteers. It's clear - definitions and approaches wary widely between different European countries and organizations. While cherishing this diversity, it is time for European youth work to further pave the way for common ground.
According to many experts in the field, there are seven key challenges to face.
That sounds like a lot of work! Yeah, there's a lot to do in youth work, but there's a lot to win as well. In tackling these seven challenges European youth work can empower young people to be active citizens and support their social integration. Let's find a common ground for European youth work and strengthen it together.
Source: European Commission and Council of Europe Youth Partnership
The first ideas about youth work emerged in the nineteenth century. At that time the age of youth became seen as its own chapter of personal development, set between childhood and adulthood. Youth work has two different roots. First the school environment and second - charitable youth care. Both were influenced by the great changes of the 19th century in terms of how people lived and worked. The introduction of compulsory schooling led to the emergence of the first youth movements and organizations.
At the same time urbanization and industrialization created a large group of impoverished or unemployed youth with almost no state social security they were supported in youth care institutions by charitable organizations, the church or middle and upper class individuals. The first tries to organize you as a distinct group and change society in a way that is more fitting for young people. The latter is more concerned with enabling young people especially underprivileged ones to fit into mainstream society.
At the beginning youth work was concerned with things like child protection, character building, health promotion, delinquency prevention and patriotic education. These different beginnings have since evolved into what is today an even broader field of action, called youth work. It has a very broad meaning and not everyone has the same opinion about what exactly it is.
But there are some basics almost everyone agrees on. Youth work is one of the three important places of learning empowerment and personal development beyond the school and family. It is based on non-formal learning; it is voluntary, and carried out in leisure time. Youth work aims at promoting self-conscious and self-determined individuals, capable of being active, constructive and responsible part of society, and youth work is a participatory not a top-down process. To sum it up, youth work provides space and opportunity for young people to shape their own present and future.
Youth work is a powerful educational tool that provides the required skills to navigate risks as well as opportunities. Despite this there are diverse approaches to youth work. It can engage with a variety of young people, use different methodologies, address diverse issues, and operate in various contexts. It can be conducted by professional youth workers or by volunteers. It's clear - definitions and approaches wary widely between different European countries and organizations. While cherishing this diversity, it is time for European youth work to further pave the way for common ground.
According to many experts in the field, there are seven key challenges to face.
- Define the meaning youth work and recheck the underlying theories and concepts. The results will provide a good base for a common vision for the future.
- Clarify the aims and expected outcomes of European youth work both the national and the European level.
- Define youth work to bordering and related areas such as formal education, training and employment, health housing and so on.
- Evaluate and manage the connections between youth work to these bordering and related areas.
- Secure recognition for its contribution to the lives of young people and their communities.
- Establish education and training systems of professional youth work practice and ensure quality and standards.
- Last but not least, gather real long-lasting political support for the consistent development and delivery youth work.
That sounds like a lot of work! Yeah, there's a lot to do in youth work, but there's a lot to win as well. In tackling these seven challenges European youth work can empower young people to be active citizens and support their social integration. Let's find a common ground for European youth work and strengthen it together.
Source: European Commission and Council of Europe Youth Partnership
“What is Youth work today?” Erasmus+ Youth Action
Reviewed by sdfdr
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March 22, 2018
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Reviewed by sdfdr
on
March 22, 2018
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