TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Patrícia Amaro
"CONNECTION” was a Training Course (TC) that aimed to improve the quality of European
solidarity projects and supported youth workers in the development of key skills involved in the
construction, development, and evaluation of projects. Had the following objectives:
● To understand the role of youth workers in the European Solidarity Corps program;
● To explore the ETS competence model for youth workers;
● To explore how to use the competencies of the youth worker (based on ETS Competence Model
for Youth Worker) into the ESC;
● To increase the quality of ESC projects through recognition of the Youth Worker and the
competencies of ETS competence model.
“CONNECTION” was targeted to Youth workers; Trainers; Youth leaders; Youth project managers; Volunteering mentors and Youth coaches. The profile of the participants that attended the training course was mixed in background and experience. There were participants directly working with young people (youth workers), some teachers, volunteers in youth organizations, mentors, and project managers. For most of the participants, this was their first TC about the ETS competence model for youth workers.
This richness and diversity proved to be a valuable element during the TC once the participants could learn from each other in a safe atmosphere and share some experiences and previous backgrounds.
27 participants (including participants on the waiting list) were pre-selected by their National Agencies. The
final number of participants attending was 21, representing 8 countries: Spain; Lithuania; France; Portugal; Romania; Germany, Republic of North Macedonia and Turkey. The trainer’s team was informed about all the participants, their motivations, and expectations two weeks before the start of the TC.
Team
Patrícia Amaro: Graduated in Sociology with a master's degree in Social Administration. Her career has been multidisciplinary, always linked to the protection of children and young people. In 2005, she developed a Local School with an Education Plan, where he implemented non-formal education sessions until 2011. Since 2013, she has been part of the Trainers Pool of the National Agency Erasmus + Youth in Action, in Portugal and she is involved in different activities (Cycle EVS, ACT, Dissemination, Youth Exchange). During these years she has worked mainly on voluntary and democratic participation, gender equality, human rights, and global education topics.
Sara Andrade: Has a degree in International Relations and a Post-Graduation in Human Rights. Her professional experience has been marked by a strong multidisciplinary approach that had allowed her to develop projects connected to education, training, theatre and social-cultural intervention. She is an enthusiastic youth worker, currently working in a youth organisation and juggling, at the same time, with her work as freelance trainer and facilitator. In the last years, she has gained extensive experience working in the implementation of educational activities in the youth field. She has been involved in different structures such as the Pool of Trainers of the Portuguese National Agency Erasmus+ and the Pool of Trainers of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.She is passionate about non formal education, human rights education, gender equality, youth work, intercultural learning, and volunteering.
By using online non-formal education methods and activities (such as team challenges, brainstorming,
reflection spaces, experiential learning, discussion), this TC allowed participants to experience, reflect and
learn about how to improve the quality of European solidarity by using the ETS competence model.
The platforms to be used during the course are:
• https://zoom.us/ (communication tool for Synchronous sessions) and canvas.net (platform for hosting the course, and supporting the learning process); Jamboard, Mentimeter; Padlet; CANVA; Miro; WhatsApp; Wordwall.
One of the Outcomes of this training was a booklet that includes some tools to work with ETS Competence Model for Youth Workers.
The participants enjoyed the Training Course and the flow of the activities allowed them to discover and
understand the ETS competence model for youth workers.
- “The last part where we found problems and solutions in the light of ETS Competence model was very useful
and eye-opening.”
- “The exercise "CONNECTION Practical Work" it was much easier to understand the model when we had a
concrete and familiar situation to reflect upon and that made us understand in practice how we can use the
model in our work.”
- “Self-assessment of competencies, to see/read the competencies and how to connect them in practice with a
the challenge we face in our work.”
- “Applying the ETC Model to challenges in our youth work. I think it was the best exercise to discover more
about the other organizations and how they face challenges. I had a lot to learn from that process.”
- “Exercise of taking real situations and using the competence model to find behaviors/attitudes/knowledge/skills that should be addressed to improve the situation. It gave space to
explore concrete and practical situations, like it would happen in real projects.”
- “I will take the hole model for different characteristics of my work, but starting now with the writing of the
quality label and consider how I can use the model to evaluate the projects I will implement. On another hand, I will use it to evaluate my competencies as a youth worker and someone working with volunteers inside ESC projects.”
Presentation of one tool that participants can use in the future and connect their work and their role with ETS
compentece model.
My responsibility was to present a tool that participants can use in the future and connect their work and their role with the ETS competence model and connect this with the quality standards of the European Solidarity Corps.
I am also presenting the model to the participants.