You(th)r work and Erasmus+?

Themes of the seminar: Youth work: professional or voluntary work? – sharing different realities. What makes youth work professional work? – exchanging good practices local and international level. Who is youth worker, what kind of competences, values, experiences a youth worker have to have? What type of activities, methods and tools we can use as youth workers in order to reach, motivate, involve, develop and improve young people according to their needs? Quality aspects of youth work: competence development through non – formal and experiential education. The overall aim of the seminar is to provide space for youth workers as professional and voluntary based from EU, SEE and EECA countries to share their realities, challenges and good practices as youth workers and define who can make youth work. Exchange experiences, ideas and suggestions regarding to competence development and different roles of youth workers and how to improve youth work field generally and voluntary work specifically. Learning objectives of the seminar are: - To define the competences and roles of youth worker; - To assess the political, cultural, economic and geographical aspects of youth work and voluntary work. - To exchange good practices of youth work activities, tools and methods and assess why they work with young people successfully. - To recognise the importance and core elements of non – formal learning in youth work. - To prepare a proposal for quality standards of youth work; - To raise the quality aspects of youth work through sharing and inventing new local and international projects based on competence development of young people with fewer opportunities. The methodology of the seminar: The seminar is based on the methodology of non – formal education. It provides place for participants to share, exchange, present, invent, discover and explore. The programme is learner – centred and focuses on self – directed learning of participants. Participants will have different backgrounds and experiences concerning our themes, so there is a great opportunity to recognise mutual patterns in youth work, learn from each other’s point of views and experiences then built a partnership together in order to practice the learning outcomes of the seminar in local and international level. The seminar will be facilitated by experienced trainers and youth workers. Some example for methods what they will use in order to achieve the aims of the project: individual work, pair work, mixed small group work, work in national teams, debate, role play, open space methodology, exchange good practices, thought shower, etc. Theoretical part of the seminar: - The political, cultural, economic and geographical aspects of youth work and voluntary work in the represented countries; - European Youth workers’ portfolio by Council of Europe; - 8 key competences of LifeLong Learning and Youthpass; - Roles and tasks of youth workers as trainer, coach, mentor, facilitator, etc. - Non – formal learning and experiential learning; Practical part of the seminar: - Exchange good practices of youth work activities, tools and methods; - Raising quality aspects of local and international youth activities, tools, methods and projects: challenges and good practices; - Preparing a proposal for quality standards of youth work; - Idea and project development. Who can participate in the seminar? - Professional youth workers older than 18 and directly working with young people in general and especially young people with fewer opportunities; - People who have youth work experiences in voluntary base, e.g. out of school activities, leading youth clubs, supporting informal group of young people, etc. - Ready to take part in the whole seminar; - Have organizational support for further activities; - To be able to communicate English language. Eligible countries: EU countries and EECA countries