“EXPERIENTIALITY – EXPERIENCE AND REFLEXIVITY CONTRIBUTING TO YOUTH PARTICIPATION”

Schools and universities, as main spaces where young people spend most of their time, are a fertile ground for youth participation. In these settings, there are always issues that concern them, ranging from the decision making process linked to their rights and responsibilities to the possibility of organising events, visits, etc. However, often students play the role of spectators, are disengaged, and only a handful of schools, among those that we have been working with, allow students to be actors in their settings. This passive atmosphere, that quickly becomes a routine for the time young people are at school/university (5-6 hours a day), is affecting and influencing their personal and private lives. On the other hand, youth organisations intervening in formal education settings, especially if they come from the outside, have to overcome a strong reticence and skepticism from the educators and leaders, and prove themselves. This is sometimes linked to the novelty of the non-formal learning approach and very often to the lack of trust in the fact that a youth worker has the capacity to work and manage groups of young people, while at the same time ensuring learning. After discussing with teachers and professors, we concluded that they fear the content that youth organisations and workers are delivering - often manifested through the fact that they ask all the details advance (like politicians who want know the questions before a press conference), or the effect that the content may have on students - possibly giving them even more reasons to rebel - e.g. through developing critical thinking (“adding petrol to the fire”). With ‘Experientiality’, we work and tackle these challenges that youth workers face when working in formal settings and promoting youth participation. In this framework, we will focus on the qualitative aspect of youth work, assuming that a trainer that is aware of his own values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour will have a positive influence on his/her participants’ learning experience and participation. ‘Experientiality’ will focus equally on the philosophy of and the methodology used by non-formal learning professionals, and on youth participation (particularly in formal education settings), as the common field of action of project partners. Thus the training is exploring the sensitive area where non-formal learning enters the context of formal education. The training’s main aim is to improve the individual self-awareness and personal competences of non-formal learning professionals (trainers and facilitators) working with youth groups in the field of youth participation. The training’s session will cover the development of a deep sense of self-awareness of trainers and facilitators and of a set of competences related to non-formal learning and youth participation. In the first part of the training, participants will reflect and evaluate the practices and techniques they use in their work, will share different practices, give/receive feedbacks, and revise personal training style, specifically for trainings to be carried out in formal education settings. The second part of the training will serve as a space to use the newly acquired competences and eventually to revise and/or create new approaches, practices and techniques aiming at increasing the level of youth participation in formal education.