Symposium youth work in Europe

Lifelong learning and the development of key competences have always been topics of European policy. Particular focus is placed on youth work, both at national and international level.

All the more surprising is the variety of interpretations, what youth work means, how it should be implemented, what resources should be available for it and what skills should have in the youth work.

Two international projects (the project "ORA: CAPACITY BUILDING TO GENERATE INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN YOUTH WORK") and the project "Creating a framework and developing contents for tomorrow's youth centers" have set themselves the task of bringing together and promoting different approaches to youth work in Europe analyze. We would like to present and discuss the results with the aim of enriching one's own work. The event will be attended by at least 10 international organizations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and of course Germany.

For this we will perform a Symposium on May 28, 2018 in the time from 9 - 17 clock in the Audimax Alice Salomon University. In doing so, we will present the different frameworks and characteristics of youth work in Europe, introduce them into different tools for learning outcomes, and present handbooks containing collected methods of youth work from Europe. For each of the blocks there is the possibility of consultation and discussion. Finally, institutions can introduce themselves and find partners for joint international projects.

The symposium will be conducted bilingually in English and German. A simultaneous translation is organized.

Registration for seminar

Agenda symposium

9:00 am                 arrival

9:15 am                 Welcoming comments Prof. Dr. Bettina Völter, Prorektor ASH-Berlin and Martin Kleinfelder, „Roter Baum“ Berlin

9:30 pm                introductory lectures 
Prof. Dr. Elke Josties: "Importance of youth work for young people and recognition of youth engagement in social practice" (using examples from youth culture work)

10:30 am              Youth work in Europe
This panel presents the different framework conditions and characteristics of youth work in Europe. Here we focus on the methodological orientation.
Youth work in Europe is very diversified. Everywhere there are different ideas of what that is, how and with what framework it should be implemented. This is particularly evident in the very different interpretation of the term "youth center".
Speakers:
• Aleix Barerra / Georgeta Ion (Universitat Autonomia de Barcelona), created a research on youth work in Europe through interviews
• Robert Celec (director RIS in Rakican, Slovenia)
​​​​​​​ • Mihai Adrian (President of the Timis County Foundation)

12:00 noon           lunch / buffet

12:45 am              Awareness and recognition for youth work
This panel is about how different levels can develop and work out an awareness of the (learning) successes of youth work. For the adolescents, it is important to recognize the learning outcomes in order to make them useful. For those working in youth work, it is an important step to measure what has been achieved, to further develop and value one's own work. But it is also important to highlight the value of youth work, so that the political leaders have the resources available.
​​​​​​​Speakers:
• Tanja Boromisa (Educational Director of the Bosnian Association "Zdravo da Ste")
• Yves Reuchamps (IPEPS, youth work) lecturer on training as a "youth worker" 
• N.N. political dimension

2:30 pm                International Method Collections
During two international projects, participants of which participate in this symposium, publications were created that contain concrete methods for youth workers.
Speakers:
• Mario Serrao (project coordinator for the development of the "ORA youth work handbook")
• Mihai Adrian (Projektkoordinator “Creating a framework and developing contents for tomorrow’s youth centers”)

4:00 pm                Final round with final demands

4:30 pm                Association Fair 
​​​​​​​We want to organize an association fair. On the one hand, all participants have the opportunity to present their own work and projects, on the other hand, they can get to know the others and, if they are interested, arrange partnerships.

5:15 pm                end