TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Nerijus Kriauciunas
A Youth Exchange needs content – behind the content there are tools. This training course helps to explore tools around group processes, (intercultural) learning, involvement of young people and how to facilitate these tools during a youth exchange.
The overall aim of TYE - Tools for Youth Exchanges - is for youth leaders and youth workers to explore, share and adapt tools that can be used to improve their Youth Exchanges.
Further TYE is designed according to the following objectives:
> To increase awareness of group processes and tools that facilitates group development during Youth Exchanges.
> To explore tools that focus on learning processes and intercultural learning.
> To explore different tools that motivate young people to be actively involved in Youth
Exchange activities.
> To develop competences in designing and facilitating educational workshops for youth
exchanges
> To gain understanding and experience of how to develop effective tools for dissemination.
The training course brought together 32 participants from 17 countries.
The training course is designed for voluntary and professional youth workers, working directly with young people and who have one from the following experiences with ERASMUS+: Youth in Action:
> Have experience in organising and/or participating as a team member in international youth
exchange;
> Have applied for a youth exchange project funding and are waiting for an answer or just
about to implement a youth exchange;
> Have applied for a youth exchange project and has been rejected (and are planning to
apply again).
Further participants are expected to have a direct contact with young people who are already involved or want to get involved in an international youth exchanges.
The group of participants matched the expected profile of participants very well. Only 4 participants indicated that they did not have previous experience of international youth exchanges. Only 3 participants do not work directly with young people.
The group of participants were diverse in the level of the experience of organising international youth exchanges and they were diverse in age, none of them felt excluded or mentioned difficulty in finding their place in the group. The participants were from 17 countries and this created many opportunities for networking.
The TYE course programme is built on the past experiences of participants and offers variety of workshops, info-sessions, activities to improve youth exchange practices of using tools and methods. Attached is the provisional programme of the course.
The highest impact on learning of participants can be observed in the areas of awareness of the group development processes in a youth exchange (see graph 4.1) and knowledge of tools to facilitate group development process (see graph 4.2). At the beginning of the course 44% of participants indicated being less aware of the group development process (choose between 1 to 3 in the scale from 1 – lowest to 6 – highest). At the end of the course 100% of participants indicated having high awareness of the group development process. Similar can be observed in increase of participants’ knowledge of tools to facilitated group development process.
Knowledge of tools to support intercultural learning increased among participants from 56% of them indicated good knowledge at the beginning of the course to 100% of participants indicated good knowledge at the end of the course.
“There has been so much to learn. Still processing most of it. The box of tools and materials we get is amazing. I will use time to finish the badges so I can deepen the learning process.” Participants of TYE-Iceland course
“I truly believe that this TC was useful not just for the implementation of a youth exchange, but also for local activities. It was really well organised. <...> I recognise going real and practical, how much I learned in this course.” Participant of TYE-Iceland course
Trainer