This document discusses open youth work in Europe. It defines open youth work as activities that provide young people space, like a youth center, that is partly structured by youth workers but appropriated by young people. Open youth work aims to provide opportunities for young people to shape their futures through informal education. It faces both internal challenges like outdated methods and external challenges like increased specialization. The EU framework supports youth work but it is mentioned infrequently. The framework focuses on increasing opportunities in education, employment, and participation for young people through both youth-specific and cross-sectoral initiatives.

1. Open
Youth work
Aspects,
challenges and
opportunities
in today’s
Miriam Teuma
Europe CEO
Agenzija Zghazagh

2. What is open youth work?
• A Parneship study identified the following actions as
being the central fields of youth work in twenty
European countries surveyed:
– Extracurricular youth education
– International youth work
– Open youth work
– Participation and peer education
– Prevention of social exclusion/youth social work
– Recreation
– Youth counselling
– Youth information
– Youth work in sports
– Faith based youth work

3. Lauritzen’s definition of Youth work
The main objective of youth work is to provide opportunities
for young people to shape their own futures.
Youth work is a summary expression for activities with and
for young people of a social, cultural, educational or
political nature.
Youth work belongs to the domain of ‘out-of school’
education, most commonly referred to as non-formal
education.
It belongs both to the social welfare and to the educational
systems.

4. The same study defines open
youth work as an activity which.......
provides a space (e.g. youth centre or youth club) which is
in principal open to all young people from the local
community or territory. In most cases, the space (and the
time, i.e. programme) is only partly pre-structured by
youth workers and is supposed to be actively
appropriated by the young people themselves. Leisure
time activities cover a large part of open youth work, but
they are also the context in which other social and
educational tasks (also for marginalised groups) and
outreaching activities are carried out.

5. SO...What is open youth work
Is open youth work then merely a
particular aspect or dimension
of youth work or does it contain
within it the capacity and
potential to incorporate other
aspects and dimensions such
as:
participation, empowerment, pe
er learning, prevention of social
exclusion, youth counselling and
youth information?

6. Internal values of Open Youth Work
• Voluntary and informal – open youth work is based on
freedom to participate and innovate
• Inclusive – open youth work includes all regardless of
gender, ethnicity and economic status
• Holistic – open youth work address the uniqueness of
the individual
• Developmental – open youth work aims to develop the
whole individual
• Relational and cooperative – open youth work is
based on active and cooperative human relationships
• Transformative – open youth work aspires to social
change

7. Internal challenges to open youth work
• Historically and socially outmoded
• Time and location bound
• Vague in aims and objectives
• Lack of methodology and coherent structures
• Lack of capacity in meeting young people’s
needs and aspirations
• Lack of professional competence
• Difficult to quantifying outcomes

8. External challenges to open youth work
• The information society: the virtual world and the
living world
• Specialisation and segmentation:
behaviours, ethnicity, gender, social
status, economic status
• Regulation and standardisation: formal education
and non-formal and informal learning
• Professionalisation: ethic and competence;
professionals and volunteers
• Human rights, welfare and inclusion: legal
beings, social beings and human beings

9. EU youth policy:
challenges and opportunities
for open youth work
Renewed framework for European cooperation in the
youth field 2010-2018
• Overall objectives:
(i) create more and equal opportunities for all young people in education
and in the labour market
(ii) promote the active citizenship, social inclusion and solidarity of all
young people.
• To be achieved by:
(i) specific targeted initiatives in the youth field - non-formal
learning, participation, voluntary activities, youth work, mobility and
information; and
(ii) mainstreaming initiatives - i.e. initiatives to enable a cross-sectoral
approach when implementing policies and actions in other policy
fields which have a significant impact on the lives of young people.

10. Renewed Framework for
European cooperation
• Main fields of action
– Education and training
– Employment and entrepreneurship
– Health and well-being
– Participation
– Voluntary activities
– Social inclusion
– Youth and the world
– Creativity and culture

11. Renewed framework for
European cooperation
(i) Work cycles of 3 years duration
(ii) Priorities: For each of these cycles, a number of priorities for
European cooperation will be chosen which contribute to the
fields of action
(iii) Implementation instruments:
– Knowledge building and evidence-based youth policy
– Mutual learning
– Progress reporting
– Dissemination of results
– Monitoring of progress
– Structured Dialogue with young people and youth organisations
– Mobilisation of EU Programmes and Funds

12. Where does youth work figure in
the framework?
Under this framework of cooperation, supporting and
developing youth work should be regarded as cross-
sectoral issues. Youth work is a broad term covering a
large scope of activities of a social, cultural, educational
or political nature both by, with and for young people.
Increasingly, such activities also include sport and
services for young people. Youth work belongs to the
area of "out-of-school" education, as well as specific
leisure time activities managed by professional or
voluntary youth workers and youth leaders and is based
on non-formal learning processes and on voluntary
participation.

13. Where does youth work figure in
the framework?
– Apart from this, youth work is only
mentioned 3 times in the main text and in 4 of
the 8 fields of action: education and training;
health and well-being; social inclusion; youth
and the world; and creativity and culture .

14. Fields of Actions
Education/Health/Social Inclusion
Initiatives by Member States and the
Commission
• Support the development of youth work and other non-
formal learning opportunities as one of a range of actions
to address early school leaving
• Encourage healthy lifestyles for young people via
physical education, education on nutrition, physical
activity and collaboration between schools, youth
workers, health professionals and sporting
organisations.
• Realise the full potential of youth work and youth
centres as means of inclusion.

15. Field of Action
Youth and the World
Initiatives by Member States and the Commission
• Raise the awareness of young people about global issues such as sustainable
development and human rights,
• Provide opportunities for young people to exchange views with policy-makers on
global issues (e.g. via participation in international meetings, virtual
platforms/forums, etc.),
• Foster mutual understanding among young people from all over the world through
dialogue and by means of supporting actions such as training
courses, exchanges, and meetings,
• Encourage young people to participate in ‘green volunteering’ and ‘green’ patterns of
consumption and production (e.g. recycling, energy conservation, hybrid
vehicles, etc.),
• Promote entrepreneurship, employment, education and volunteering opportunities
with regions outside of Europe,
• Promote cooperation with, and exchanges between, those active in youth work on
different continents,
• Encourage young people to participate in development cooperation activities either in
their country of residence or abroad.

16. First Cycle of implementation of
Framework 2010-2013
– Jan 2010- June 2011: Priority - youth
employment
• Spanish Presidency focussed on the active
inclusion of young people: combating
unemployment and poverty
• Belgian Presidency focussed on Youth Work and
the first European Resolution on Youth Work
• Hungarian Presidency focussed on encouraging
new and effective forms of participation of all
young people and on the structured dialogue with
young people on youth employment

17. Spain
Promoting education, training and non-formal learning in order to enhance
employability by improving young people's knowledge, skills and
competences, and ensuring that these are tailored to the needs of the
changing labour market and the growing new employment sectors, by
developing fair, flexible and efficient systems for high-quality education and
training, as well as through non-formal learning and youth work, within the
framework of a knowledge-based economy.
Hungary
Youth work and non-formal learning could be recognised and further
supported as a significant source of support for equipping young people
with skills and competences and thereby easing their access to the labour
market........
Improving key competences and media literacy of young people to enable them
better to decode, use, influence and produce media is key to their being
able to participate properly in democratic life. Both formal education
systems and non-formal learning play an essential role here, and
establishing further contacts between the two areas would therefore be
beneficial for both sides. Youth work is important for imparting information
and developing media literacy and e-skills in order to enhance effective
participation.

18. First Cycle of implementation of
Framework 2010-2013
– Jul 2011- Dec 2012: Priority - youth
participation in democratic life
• Polish Presidency focussed on the Eastern
dimension of youth participation and mobility
• Danish Presidency focussed on fostering the
creative and innovative potential of young people
• The Cypriot Presidency focussed on participation
and social inclusion of young people with
emphasis on those with a migrant background

19. Poland
With a view to the future partnerships, there is a need to take into account the
strengthening of young people’s mobility for learning mobility, including non-formal
learning in another country, which can take such forms as youth work, including
youth exchanges and voluntary activities;
Denmark
young people’s active engagement in society e.g. through youth work, voluntary
activities and civic organisations can harness their creativity and innovative
capacity.....;
support young people’s creativity, innovative capacity and talent aiming at ensuring
sufficient opportunities for personal and social development through non-formal
and informal learning, voluntary activities, active citizenship, intercultural
cooperation and youth work;
Cyprus
promote youth work and youth policy, which can enhance active participation, social
inclusion, solidarity and intercultural dialogue of young people, leading to the
acceptance of the growing diversity among all young people;
develop innovative methods to carry out youth work in areas where young people
meet;
promote the personal development and well-being of all young people, through youth
work opportunities, so that they can realise their potential and become active and
engaged members of society;

20. Belgium
• Promote different kinds of sustainable support for youth work, e.g. sufficient
funding, resources or infrastructure.
• Enhance the quality of youth work, the capacity building and competence
development of youth workers and youth leaders and the recognition of
non-formal learning in youth work, by providing learning mobility
experiences for youth workers and youth leaders.
• Identify different forms of youth work, competences and methods that youth
workers and youth leaders share, in order to develop strategies for
enhancing the quality and recognition of youth work.
• Recognise the crucial role of youth work as a provider of non-formal
learning opportunities to all young people,

21. The future of Open Youth Work
• In light of internal and external challenges and EU
policy priorities , do we accept open youth work as:
– An aspect/dimension, among many, of youth service
provision
– A support intervention for other policy areas e.g.
education, employment, health
– A refuge for failures in other policy areas
• Or do we assert :
– The values of youth work
– Its capacity and potential for making an invaluable
contribution to the lives and future of young people and the
well-being of society
– Its ability to do what no other policy area can do

22. If so, what might we do?
• Professional ethic, competence and development
• Qualify Standards and continuous quality
improvement
• Empowerment of young people through ongoing
dialogue and active participation
• New spaces for active engagement with young
people and relational development and for
interfacing and cooperating with other policy
areas
• Discovering more about young people’s lives

23. Youth Work in Malta
Agenzija Zghazagh (National Youth Agency): role and
aspirations
• Profession development: Youth and Community
Studies; Maltese Association of Youth Workers; Youth
Work Profession Bill; Youth Activity Centres
• Quality Standards and their development
• Empowerment programme for young people; local
youth councils , art, music, theatre, media
• New Spaces and interacting with other policy areas:
youth cafes, hubs, youth information, kellimni.com,
• Discovery: Young people’s perceptions of
themselves, their families, communities and society

24. Where is Snoopy?