The first European Academy on Youth Work was hosted by MOVIT, Slovenian National Agency for Erasmus+, youth field, and the European Solidarity Corps, from 21 to 24 May 2019 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Participants engaged in reflection and discussions around the topic of “Innovation, Current Trends and Developments in Youth Work”.
The programme of the EAYW was based on a modular structure with parallel sessions and space for plenary sessions for key inputs and discussions on the topic of innovation in youth work. During the modular part of the programme, the participants were able to participate in sessions of their choice, where they could explore and test innovative tools, models and methods, learn and reflect about experiences and learning outcomes of youth work projects and practices that are responding to current developments an challenges, from local to European, and their political impact, and get to know and discuss outcomes of recent research, studies and reflection papers, reflect on how these practices, tools or studies relate to and can be transferred to their own working context.
Main topics addressed at the first EAYW included:
- Social inclusion, working with different target groups of disadvantaged young people;
- Digital youth work, technology and science in youth work;
- The political role of youth work, education for democratic citizenship, European values;
- Violence prevention, combatting discrimination and radicalisation;
- Youth worker education;
- Development and assessment of trainer competences;
- Quality in learning mobility and its recognition;
- Links between youth work and research;
- Youth engagement and participation;
- Cultural expression and creative learning;
- Values in youth work;
- Mental health in youth work;
- Entrepreneurship and sustainability in youth work.
