Thursday the 12th September saw the third and final webinar of this year’s bi-annual European Academy on Youth Work. The theme of this Academy cycle has been “The Futures of Youth Work” – for those not familiar with the programme of this year, the ‘s’ on the end of ‘future’ is deliberate.
The futures of youth work
Over a year ago, in the summer of 2023, the Steering Group of the Academy asked a small team to do a piece of research on the future of youth work. To do this, they engaged in Future Foresight work, something that was presented to the Academy back in May 2024 by Adanna Shallowe. At the Academy event, the research team presented a summary of their findings in terms of the identified trends and some of the numerous potential futures they represented. There was also an input analysing the research results, and pointing towards some strategies the youth sector could adopt moving forward. The last part of the Academy event itself was dedicated to the attendees having the opportunity to reflect on, analyse, respond to and provide an opinion on all they had heard in the preceding days regarding the futures of youth work.
Those who had attended the Academy event shared that it had been inspiring, taking their focus to places they had never thought of, and it gave some a time to reflect on their own mindset. For others, it gave some clues about how to become future ready, it provided space for creativity, and it highlighted the need for adaptability by youth workers.
The third webinar
The 3rd webinar was attended by youth workers, youth work trainers, researchers, policy makers and youth supporters. It provided a reminder for some and an introduction to others about this Academy’s cycle theme, the various events that have taken place, and the resources that have been developed as a result of it. Some of the participants at the webinar had taken part in the 3rd edition of the Academy in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia in May of 2024. Quite a few others had been present at one or both of the previous webinars.
Futures thinking
The whole focus on the ‘futures’ has been to raise awareness in the sector. As Sonja Mitter said, “society is changing so fast we need to think about what youth work might look like in some years from now, 15 years from now, 25 years from now! How can the youth work field engage with these developments today and with the developments that might be happening tomorrow?”
Future foresight work and futures thinking can still be scary to think about and consider being a part of, there is a strong sense that it is a specialised science that needs experts and university professors to do it. Yes, conducting a full research does need those involved to be futures literate, to read up on the different theories and gain a deeper understanding of the concept. However, there are many activities and exercises that can be done by youth work individuals and organisations that can help in understanding and preparing for the possible futures.
Some of these can be found in the Academy report and there is a game specifically developed for the Academy by Anita Silva, Window to the Future. This game can be found on the EAYW website. During the webinar, the participants were asked to engage in a small futures exercise. They were asked to respond to one of five simple questions. Two examples being “What if every school had a youth work hub?” and “What if youth work disappeared and a new, better concept emerged? Describe it…”
Regarding the school question, some of the responses were that young people would feel better in schools, it would reduce stress levels and anxieties among the young people, and vulnerable young people would be better supported.
If youth work disappeared, people felt that a new ecosystem based totally on youth participation empowerment would naturally appear in its place, or it would simply reappear, a new and better concept would emerge and it would be called something completely different.
This is engaging in futures work, multiple people answering the same question will come up with multiple answers – meaning multiple possible futures being exposed. Having this information means being able to make plans for different scenarios within existing long-term strategies.
Seven strategies for future readiness
The aim of this webinar was to not only look at the key takeaways from the Academy but also to introduce seven strategies for future readiness. The research team put these together by building on the research results and the participants’ inputs from the Academy. The presentation of the strategies included links and information to resources related to the different strategies for those who want to engage in future foresight work.
The strategies were as follows:
1 – Adopt a reflected sense of agency.
Become co-creators engaged in ‘what is coming to an end’ and ‘what is emerging’. Honouring the past while being open to all future possibilities.
2 – A future-ready mindset.
Fostering a future-ready mindset is crucial for youth workers as they navigate an increasingly uncertain world, influenced by shifting from a ‘culture of hope’ to one led by anxiety and risk.
3 – Structured spaces for future-focused discussions.
The ‘Futures of Youth Work’ research highlights the need for more focused and structured discussions about the futures of youth work with a wide range of stakeholders at all levels of youth work.
4 – Future literacy.
Future literacy is not about predicting the future but about understanding the types of possible futures and developing capacities to influence them.
5 – Embrace whole-system change.
Address future challenges through a holistic approach that includes both individual development and creating systemic conditions in the youth work sector.
6 – Readiness to rethink the societal role of youth work.
While the core purpose of youth work – empowerment and engagement – remains constant, the societal role of youth work should be regularly reassessed.
7 – Stay alert to transformation calls.
Being future-ready means being able to hear and recognise ‘calls for transformation’ in a timely manner.
What next?
The research report reveals in detail the different trends that the researchers discovered and provides more explanation about the strategies. The question then remains, what is the youth work sector expected to do about it and how. Participants revealed that they want to talk about this with their local authorities, with policy makers, and/or they want to explore it further with other researchers. Others want to present it to their teams, to European partners, with their communities, with young people on youth exchanges, with youth work students at university, in training of trainers and other relevant training courses, with other youth NGOs, in social media, and in newsletter articles.
For many there is a clear understanding that this is something they need to engage with or at the least to be aware of. Interestingly, when asked, over half of the participants of the webinar said that they believe that youth work will be completely different by 2050 and a quarter of the group felt it would change a little bit. No one thinks it will remain the same.
Future steps
Sonja Mitter closed the webinar sharing that the research report will be available on the Academy website, and that the plan is to create a resonance page attached to the Academy website. This will be a space for people to continue the discussion about the futures of youth work, where they can share their experiences and their feedback on the questions that are raised in the report, and where announcements will be made.
This is also the end of this cycle of the Academy, the Advisory Board and Steering Group are meeting this autumn to start thinking about the 4th edition. Let’s see soon what direction linked to innovation the Academy will be taking for the next two-year cycle.
Author Nik Paddison