Call for Trainers

European Academy on Youth Work, 3rd edition, 14 - 17 May 2024 - Call for workshop facilitators

Description

What is the European Academy on Youth Work (EAYW)?

The EAYW aims to promote the development of quality youth work and to support its capacity to react to current and future developments. To this end, it focuses on supporting innovation in youth work, as a response to the trends, challenges and uncertainties faced by young people in today’s fast-changing societies.

The EAYW offers a platform for reflection, exchange and knowledge gathering on trends and developments in and with relevance to the youth field in Europe, and on innovative youth work responses to these trends and developments. In this way, it contributes to a European youth work ecosystem that supports quality development and innovation in youth work.

The EAYW is a strategic cooperation of National Agencies of the Erasmus+ programme, youth field, and the European Solidarity Corps [1] and SALTO-YOUTH Resource Centres. It targets youth workers, professionals in areas with relevance for the youth field and representatives of youth policies and public services, National Agencies and other staff working in youth work structures, from NGOs, science and research. Geographically, the EAYW addresses stakeholders from the broader European context, including Europe’s neighbouring countries South of the Mediterranean. The 3rd EAYW further includes the involvement of students in youth work or related studies from selected universities.

More information: www.eayw.net.

About the third EAYW event

The 3rd EAYW will take place from 14 - 17 May 2024 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Participants are expected to arrive on the 14th, the official start of the EAYW is foreseen for late afternoon. The programme will run until lunch on 17 May.

The 3rd EAYW event follows the successful first two editions, which were organised in May 2019 and May 2022 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, and brought together around 170 professionals from youth work practice, research, policy and related fields, including institutions supporting youth work at different levels. Following a call for proposals, around 30 innovative practices in and related to youth work were presented and discussed with reference to innovation and their links to current and future trends and developments.

The 3rd EAYW also builds on the outcomes of two studies undertaken in the framework of the EAYW:

• Study on Innovation in Youth Work (2021)
• Futures of Youth Work – a collaborative research project using foresight methodology to develop future scenarios of youth work (ongoing)

The specific focus of the 3rd EAYW will be emerging trends and future developments and their possible impact on youth work. Foresight is crucial when making policy and practice decisions, but predicting the future is difficult. There are a host of challenges for young people and youth work, such as mental well-being, the rise of populism, increasing social polarisation and climate change, that all require innovative solutions. Therefore, the EAYW has decided to invest in futures thinking, to consider the potential impact of all the negative and positive developments on how youth work in Europe is being realised.

The specific objectives of the 3rd EAYW are to support knowledge-building, peer learning and networking to:

• Jointly explore emerging trends and future developments and discuss their possible impact on youth work;
• Showcase and mainstream a variety of innovative practices, approaches and strategies developed in response to these developments and
• Foster networking and innovative thinking about the futures of youth work within the community.

Programme

Key features should include:

• Workshops based on presentations of innovative practices, which will be selected in the frame of a public call;
• Inspiring inputs and discussions of key questions related to innovation, current and future trends and developments, which should help to address the needs of youth work in different environments and build the capacities for innovative approaches of the participants and their organisations;
• Presentation of the EAYW research: Futures of Youth Work - Potential Future Scenarios and validation of the research outcomes by the participants;
• Inviting spaces for community-building, networking and joint reflection about futures of youth work;
• Useful outcomes of the discussions and suggestions for follow up that can help to build the knowledge and capacities of the youth work field to respond to new needs and developments.

During the 3-day programme, participants will be able to attend Workshops (Practice & Reflection Forums) of their choice where they will have the opportunity to explore innovative examples of practice from different fields and contexts of youth work, research and policy and addressing a variety of themes and target groups.

The practice examples will be responses to societal challenges, youth-related trends or future developments and that support quality and forward-looking developments in youth work and related fields. The themes and emerging trends addressed will include, e.g., climate and sustainability, accessibility & inclusivity of youth work, civic participation, education, training and competence-building of youth workers and trainers, recognition of youth work, technology and AI in youth work, young people’s social behaviour & lifestyles, promoting innovation in youth work, support for considering the future, influences from other fields and new approaches to thinking about youth work.  (A public call for contributions is open in parallel to this call for participants.)

Some of these practice and reflection forums will be spaces for presentation and discussion, others might offer a more hands-on, experiential or experimental approach.

Key notes, debates and inspirational inputs will offer further sparks for reflection on questions, such as:

• How can we get ready for future thinking?
• How can we act, plan and envision for a future we don’t know?  
• How can we move youth work forward?

At the end of each day, participants can reflect in smaller learning groups on what they experienced during the day and what actions might be needed to take youth work further.

Finally, it is also important and fun to feel and get a glimpse of what innovation is all about, so there will be informal spaces for sharing, experimenting and seeing things from a different perspective…

You can find more information in the day-by-day Programme overview.

[1] National Agencies of Austria, Belgium-FL, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden.

Requested trainer profile

Role and tasks & selection criteria

The workshop facilitators will be responsible for facilitating workshops, also called Practice and Reflection Forums,. We are planning four sessions of 1 1/2 hours, where always 4 workshops will be held in parallel for groups of approx. 20 - 30 participants. Participants will be able to chose the workshops in which they would like to participate.

Some of the workshops will include two presentations of practice examples and interaction and discussion with the participants. In some workshops, only one practice example might be presented and they might be of a more hand-on and experientail approach of involving the participants. 

Concretely, each facilitator will

• facilitate four workshops. 
• support the preparation of the workshops and the inputs and role of the practice presenters (contributors). 
• support the process of reporting and evaluation of the workshops that they are responsible for.

Guidelines for the process and for the workshops will be prepared by a member of the overall EAYW organisation team, who will also support the workshop facilitators in their tasks. 

The facilitators are expected to have:

• Good experience in facilitating workshops for different stakeholders, in English language, in European youth work and/or related fields;
• Broad knowledge of the main themes, current structures and developments in European youth work;
• Experience in, and some “passion” for the topic of innovation and thinking about future developments and the related challenges and opportunities for youth work;
• Ability to think conceptually as well as affinity for creative and participatory facilitation methods and approaches;
• Experience in using digital tools in international educational events;
• Readiness to integrate into the larger organisation and facilitation team.

Working conditions

As indicated in the tasks above, the workshop facilitators are in charge of supporting the workshop contributors (presenters of practice examples) during the preparation of the workshops, probably in the period from March 2024 onwards. The process will be kicked off by a joint online meeting with all workshop facilitators; the date will be jointly decided.

During the EAYW, they will facilitate selected workshops. They are expected to take part in the full EAYW event from 14 - 17 May 2024. 

Payment

Full board & lodging at the residential preparatory meeting and the EAYW event will be covered and travel costs will be reimbursed by the organisers.

The selected facilitators will each receive a fee of 2.310 EUR (based on 7 days of work) upon completion of all tasks.

Team composition

The overall EAYW preparation and organisation team consists in 2 facilitators, digital facilitator, rapporteur and communication expert, 1 team member in charge of supporting the workshop facilitators, the 4 workshop facilitators and the EAYW coordinator and assistant.

Application & selection procedure

Apply no later than: 19 January 2024
How to apply:

All applicants must fill in the online application form available at http://onlineform.salto-youth.net/2055

The application requires a registration in the MySALTO system. If applicants do not have a MySALTO profile yet, the page will direct them to the registration.

Applications should highlight the background of the candidates in relation to the theme of the EAYW. Applicants will be selected on the basis of their competences and suitability for the required tasks, with reference to the selection criteria indicated above.

For more information

Sonja Mitter Skulj, EAYW coordinator
Phone: 0038614304747
Email: