“Never stop dreaming,
– Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
never stop believing,
never give up,
never stop trying, and
never stop learning.”
In youth work acitivites, we put great emphasis on learning – we learn from different situations and different people. We have different styles and different preferences in learning. We are responsible for our own learning. And, therefore, in this post we are talking more about three contributions dealing with learning – youth worker learning and recognition, quality in learning mobility and learning made by trainers. Quite a lot of topics await us, so let’s start!
In previous posts, we have already talked about the importance of research and education in youth work, as it helps us create better interventions. You had the opportunity to find more about cooperation of formal and non-formal education from the practice Better Together. We discussed more about youth workers education in the contribution Tertiary Level Education of Youth Workers and talked about Educational and Career Pathways of Youth Workers. Contribution called “Recognition of a Youth Worker: Specific Work for and with Youth” by Miriam Della Mura also goes into this direction and discusses what are the opportunities to recognize youth work. During the contribution, participants had the opportunity to get insights to an analysis of youth work in Italy from the perspective used in the research conducted by the Observatory, based on each field and topic connected with youth cultures. Also, the concept of Summer School for youth workers was presented, which combines both lectures from academia and practice. During the workshop, some interesting trends and common aspects emerged despite the different origins of the participants. In particular, a common aspect concerns the lack of recognised training courses that prepare for the profession of youth worker. Get more information about this practice in the workshop report and three-part presentation.
When we organise any kind of mobility, learning is an important and integral part of it. During these experiences we are learning new things about the topic, culture, interactions, and our selves. The quality in learning mobility, thus, became a central topic for the European Platform on Learning mobility (EPLM) which is consisted of different NGOs, European Youth Forum, Erasmus+ National Agencies, European Commission, Council of Europe, researchers, trainer community, youth information services, national/regional youth ministries. Within EPLM, Quality Framework was developed through a 3-year consultation process with the field (expert seminars, editorial teams, feedback rounds, public consultations) leading to: 22 Quality Principles for Mobility Projects for Youth and a set of indicators to analyse the quality of your mobility project and resources to improve the quality of your project, leading to two practical products for organisers of mobility projects: Handbook on Quality in Learning mobility and interactive web-based app on quality in mobility. Let’s dive together into quality in learning mobility with our contribution “Tools for Raising the Quality in Learning Mobility” by Tony Geudens and Davide Capecchi! Read more about it in the workshop report below.
In order to have quality learning mobility, we should also invest in trainers, who need to think about their self-assessment (great tool for this is Appraiser, which was presented on EAYW) and also have enough resources and information to continue with their professional development. This is where contribution “Trainers Library” by Darko Mitevski can help a lot! The trainers library, which is currently in development phase, will be an easy to use and accessible website with resources for self-directed-learning and will be aligned with the European trainers’ competence model. The library aims to support trainers and youth workers in increasing their own competences. More information on this can be found in the workshop report and presentation! Hint: don’t forget to watch videos inside the presentation to find out why Trainers Library is important in developing different competences of trainers.