What is the European Academy on Youth Work?
The EAYW aims to promote the development of quality youth work, to support its capacity to react to current and future developments, and to contribute to creating a common ground on youth work and youth work policy. To this end, it focuses on supporting innovation in youth work, as a response to the trends, challenges and uncertainties faced by young people in today’s fast-changing societies.
The EAYW offers a platform for reflection, exchange and knowledge gathering on trends and developments in and with relevance to the youth field in Europe, and on innovative youth work responses to these trends and developments. In this way, it contributes to a European youth work ecosystem that supports quality development and innovation in youth work.
The EAYW responds to the demands expressed in the Final Declaration of the 3rd European Youth Work Convention (Dec. 2020) to encourage and support the different stakeholders in youth work in Europe to strive “towards the maintenance of the good structures and practices that already exist, their development when the need arises, and the space for innovation in our thinking, our organisation and our practices”. Especially “in a post-pandemic Europe, youth work must seek to innovate and go further than the paths already known”.
Activities
Residential EAYW events are held biennially and bring together 150 – 200 participants. In between these events, the EAYW organises smaller-scale activities (online and residential), undertakes research projects and develops educational tools and resources on the topic of the Academy – innovation and future readiness in youth work.
