Winter Youth Work Academy

One can become a youth worker in variety of ways. Some take up formal education paths, studying pedagogy, psychology, socio-cultural animation, or other social sciences. Others realize they want to support young people in the middle of their careers of engineers, accountants or any other types of professional activities. Many of active youth workers are gaining their professional preparation to work with young people during their youth work engagement. And it’s ok! Let’s complete the proper preparation for youth work function together!

This is the project for you if you want to:

• learn the full “curriculum” of a youth worker in different variants –
• recognize it and plan your further educational steps,
• detect areas in which you need a formal qualification in your country or a competence development,
• consciously develop your own approaches and path in youth work.

The objectives for this Training Course are:

• to provide participants with an overview of the field of youth work: different types, typologies and variants practiced in the European countries, 
• to familiarise participants with competence models, qualification frameworks and the youth work curriculum that we recommend,
• to support self-directed learning of participants to fulfil all the standards and requirements for youth workers in their own countries and in Europe,
• to explore various aspects, areas and forms of youth work by exchanging practices and examples from different countries,
  to encourage participants to develop as youth workers.

Expected tangible results:

• The map of youth work - interactive database of different types, forms and approaches in youth work,
• Online publication consisting of roadmaps for professional preparation of youth workers in Europe, 
• other materials participants will find useful to prepare their dissemination activities.

We invite 26 participants: youth workers or adult youth leaders aspiring for the role of a professional youth worker from the Erasmus+ Programme Countries. The list of eligible countries you’ll find on the registration webpage on SALTO-Youth. We will select participants taking into account gender balance, geographical proportions and the quota of participants we planned for this project.

Professional profile:

We invite youth workers on different stages of development or seeking to (re)invent their educational paths. We also gladly host adult youth leaders with an experience in some forms of youth work aspiring for the role of a professional youth worker.

Social profile:

We are open to youth workers with various social, cultural, economic or personal backgrounds. Please be transparent about your conditions, so we can make the necessary adjustments, provide the requested resources, or create the space required to satisfy your needs. We may contact you to consult planned measures.

Here’s what we cannot overcome: the venue we use has no elevator. If your mobility is limited, we will accommodate you on the ground-floor. The necessary locations in the building (like dining room and seminar room) are accessible, yet some facilities require the use of stairs.

Participation conditions:

Participants should be comfortable using English as their working language.

All participants should have minimal experience in youth work and collaborate with an organization (NGO, municipality, other public/private body) working with youth, registered in one of the Program countries of Erasmus+ and having a verified ECAS account.

Participants will be asked to present their organization's OID number in the registration form. When selected, your organization will become a project partner – representatives of the organisation will attend a preparation meeting and sign a bilateral partnership agreement to get involved in the project.