Written by Lorena Baric, EAYW rapporteur Held at the 4th European Academy on Youth Work, this Deep Dive session explored how climate justice is shaping youth work, with a focus on climate emotions, participation, fairness and repair. Through discussion and reflective exercises during three 90-minute sessions, participants explored how youth work can respond to the…
Written by Juha Teubl-Kiviniemi, EAYW Advisory Board Member Edited by Lorena Baric, EAYW rapporteur The winds of change can be rough The world is always changing, and we have to adapt to it. With digital technology, this becomes more challenging due to the rapid pace of change. AI has even further increased the pressure for…
What does youth work need to move forward in times of uncertainty? For four days in May 2026, almost 200 stakeholders in European youth work, policy and research tried to answer that question together – and discovered that the better question may be who do we need to be. The gathering From 5 to 8…
Peter Merry, evolutionary leadership expert and long-time companion of the European youth field, started his speech with a word: hyper-complex. He traced it back to a 2012 IBM study where thousands of CEOs were asked what challenges they were facing. The word they came up with, hyper-complexity, was an admission that they no longer knew…
Prof. Dr. Özgehan Şenyuva (Middle East Technical University, Ankara) walked onto the stage with a confession: he is not a sociologist. He is a political scientist who used to be a youth worker and is now, depending on the room, asked to give shorter and shorter keynotes. The room laughed – not just at the…
Research from Wales found that for children who have experienced significant adversity such as abuse, neglect, household instability, consistent access to a single trusted adult reduced poor health outcomes from 59.8% to 21.3%. So, not a programme, not a policy but one person who showed up, reliably, regularly, over time. Science caught up with practice,…
Every journey into the future is better with a Companion. The European Academy on Youth Work has launched the Companion for navigating innovation and futures thinking in youth work – a reflective resource created by the field, for the field. Drawing on learning from the Academy’s work between 2018 and 2025, the Companion brings together…
Welcome back to Kranjska Gora. I want you to once again feel the crisp air surrounding the 4th European Academy of Youth Work venue. Today, the special Slovenian green is looking even greener, if that’s even possible. The sun is shining brightly, and your skin actually feels warm, the kind of spring warm you enjoy…
Today we finally got some sun in Kranjska Gora, which everyone seemed to enjoy. Coffees, discussions and games moved to the outside terrace, and we could finally see the mountain peaks through the fog. The day started (actually it felt like yesterday simply continued) in the final session of the deep dive groups. It was…
Welcome to the second day of 4th edition of EAYW, or in the words of a colleague from my Deep Dive group: the day we finally started doing something. The ultimate understatement, from my perspective here in the evening, as I sit down to write this blog. Feels more like the day we did everything…