In the previous articles, you had a chance to read about contributions dealing with research, quality youth work, and innovation. And we are continuing to discuss this topic today with you as well! During the first European Academy on Youth Work, we asked ourselves lots of questions, including how to support our work as youth workers and trainers, but also how to provide better support for young people, especially those at risk. And the three contributions we are presenting today will deal with this!

Should we have a universal code of practice for youth workers?, was one of the main questions of the contribution held by Amr Arafa titled “Developing a Universal Code of Practice for Youth Workers”. During the workshop, participants had the chance to discuss more about developing a code of practice. Some of the conclusions tell us that a code of practice needs to be universal to cover the full spectrum of the youth work field. A code of practice should be developed in a collective way to create a sense of ownership among youth workers. And of course, a code of practice should not be bylaws and restrictions. It should be a reality check process, a self-awareness exercise and proposal for alternative solutions when an ethical dilemma appears. Interested to find out more about a Universal Code of Practice? Check it out in the workshop report below!

Supporting young people, especially those at risk, is at the core of youth work activities. Especially if we discuss the issue of housing and homelessness, which affects more and more young people throughout Europe. Therefore, Miki Mielonen and Timo Kyllönen presented the contribution “The Youth Shelters and The Pathway Home”. The main aim of the workshop was to provide an overview of the issue of homelessness and the services for young adults in Finland and an introduction to the discussion about these phenomena at European level. Youth Shelter services and the Pathway Home offer personal and low threshold support for youth and their families or other peers. The support model helps young adults to build their own independent way of living and find their full potential. Work is based on the dialogic method, where the young person is the main actor and solutions will be found together between the young adult, their family / peers, a volunteer and a professional. Interested to find out more about this practice and to discover if are we doing more social than youth work? Then take a look at the workshop report below and find more information inside!

Finally, it is also important to discuss how to provide support to, or find support as trainers. This was the main aim of the contribution “Appraiser: 360° professional development appraisal service for trainers”, held by Snežana Bačlija Knoch. Appraiser is a competence assessment platform for trainers. It offers free solutions for professional development which include self-assessment and feedback from participants, colleagues and organisers, as well as trio collegial support. The platform is adapted to the needs and practices of trainers in the youth field. The tool tries to resolve the challenges of understanding the importance of assessment of competences for the professional development of trainers / youth workers, which could imply also the need for professionalisation. On the other hand, there is always lack of time and willingness to invest effort into complex assessment processes, to which this tool responds. If you are interested to find out more about Appraiser, you can read more about it in the workshop report and presentation below.

Ready to find out what we still have in store for you and wanting to get inspired even more? If the answer to this question is “yes”, stay tuned, as we still have lots of interesting practices to share with you in following weeks!