Training and Trainers in the field of youth - Changes and Challenges

“Training and Trainers in the field of youth - Changes and Challenges” is a 4,5 day training course for the support and development of trainers active at national level. It is designed to promote critical thinking and ability to deal with changes and challenges in the areas of their work linked to civic and political aspects of their work. The training course for trainers is organised as part of the long term cooperation project “Trainer Competences Development” (www.salto-youth.net/TCDproject) which aims at supporting quality development of (international) training courses for youth workers by supporting competence development of trainers. Herewith the project supports the implementation of the European Training Strategy (ETS) in the field of Youth (www.salto-youth.net/trainingstrategy), in particular by applying the ETS Competence Model for Trainers to work internationally (www.salto-youth.net/trainercompetences). The training course will focus on the new competence area currently titled “Integrating a political dimension into the trainers’ work”. Although the new competence area is still under continued development, the participants of the training course will have the unique chance to apply the new competence area of the ETS competence model for trainers in practise. Aim of the training: To support trainers active at the national level in their development in relation to the civic and political competence. Objectives of the training: - To explore changes and challenges in youth work at local, national and European level. To analyse existing youth work challenges and what this means for youth workers and youth work trainers in their daily practise - To develop trainer skills and knowledge for dealing with challenges in the field of civic and political issues/ topic - To reflect on and explore the limits of the trainer role in the field of civic and political issues - To reflect on their own civic and political competences and share possibilities of personal and professional development Key program elements The “Training and Trainers in the field of youth - Changes and Challenges” training course intends to enable participants to take further steps in their professional practice. There will be space for the exploration and sharing of the participants’ experiences and challenges related to civic and political issues in their work as trainers of youth workers and youth leaders. Participants will have an opportunity to take part in parallel workshops which will offer an opportunity to dive deeper into some “hot topics” and challenges identified in the participants´ realities. They will be able to analyse them both from a youth worker perspective as well as from their own trainer perspective. The course will offer examples of practical tools and methods, as well as provide space for participants to share their activities and best practices. This will support trainers in better understanding the context of their work and in the facilitation of the challenges they face. The team of trainers are Bára Rodi (http://trainers.salto-youth.net/BaraRodi/) and Nik Paddison (http://trainers.salto-youth.net/NikPaddison/). Participant profile: Trainers working in the youth work field at local or national level (European experience is not required), who wish to relate their training work to the bigger picture of European Youth Work. Potential applicants should be experienced trainers and they should be able to listen and speak appropriate English to follow complex discussions and reflections during the training course. In the context of this training course ‘experienced’ means that the trainer-learner has the capacity to direct his / her own learning and in particular the ability to self-assess his / her own competences. Participants are expected to take part in the preparation phase, all the duration of the training course and to contribute to the evaluation of the training. The standard accommodation for participants will be double rooms.