TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Olga Poddubnaya
The main aim of the seminar was:
To develop and enrich the concept of young people learning process through fostering understanding and cooperation between youth educators from different educational sectors.
The concrete objectives were:
- reflect on different concepts of learning and the facilitation of learning of young people;
- explore learning to learn competence and self-directed learning competence from different educational perspectives;
- reflect on the individual learning style and learning process of the participants;
- exchange and analyze experiences and good practices examples of cooperation between formal and non-formal education which benefit the learning of young people;
- translate the learning of participants into applicable tools for the daily practice of working with young people;
- raise awareness of the learning opportunities within Youth in Action and other educational programmes of the EU.
The seminar was bringing together participants from 6 EU countries both youth workers and teachers from Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Italy, Romania, Latvia. The trainers' team consisted from 3 trainers from Poland, Belarus and Belgium.
Methods of the seminar were based on the principles of non-formal education:
- it is learner-centred and participatory;
- learning is aimed at developing essential skills, attitudes and values;
- participation in the seminar is voluntary;
- intercultural approach to learning, respecting the diversity of experiences and aspirations, and also diversity of learning needs;
- a key element of learning is learning through experience, meaning group experiences on the site of the seminar and previous experiences of participants.
The project was using non-formal education methods, using a participative and learner-centred approach. Among key methodological aspects, we quote group work, active participation, theoretical and practical inputs, and simulation/case-study exercises referring to the environments where participants usually carry out their youth work.
During the seminar participants were developing plans for cooperation between school/teachers and NGOs/youth workers, so as outcome they were implementing those activities in their countries.
I acted as a full time trainer, responsible for the preparation, delivering and evaluation of the activities.