"VAN" (Europe Bureau - Aleksey Vesyoliy) :: The public narrative surrounding young people still tells a negative story of high unemployment, crime, drug and alcohol use, poor educational attainment and teenage pregnancy. However, if you look across a range of factors, it quickly becomes apparent that many of the challenges that faced large proportions of young people in previous generation are diminishing and a new set of challenges are coming to the fore. Today’s generation of young people are staying in education longer and have more academic qualifications to their name than any generation that came before them. While progress has been made on a number of these traditional issues facing young people, a range of challenges emerging.
Young people face challenges in life that are new to all generations. The pressures this generation of young people face also extend to their mental health. Opportunities and support that young people need are diverse and changing. Youth field professionals and volunteers are working to create those opportunities and provide the support needed. Youth work has an important role to play and expectations are increasing.
Education and training of youth workers is an area that has developed differently across Europe, but the importance of investing in the development of youth work competencies is rising throughout.
Estonia, Finland and United Kingdom are among the countries where youth work education has long traditions both in formal education and in training. Since 2016 three countries have been sharing experiences and discussing approaches, challenges and opportunities in modern youth work education.
However, the issues of what is important for young people, how to be relevant for today’s life, but also for future challenges of youth and how to listen to and understand young people are essential for any professional working with and for youth. On 20th September 2019 a one-day international conference on education and training of youth workers was held in Tartu University Narva College (Narva, Estonia).
The conference gathered up to 150 participants – trainers, educators, officials, students etc. connected with youth work but also other professional fields of work with and for youth from different countries. The Conference program included speakers from Australia, UK, Finland and Estonia. The aim of the conference was co-create an experience that inspires new ideas for development of training and education for youth workers, but also other specialists working with youth.
The project is funded by Archimedes Foundation Youth Agency from Erasmus+ Program
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