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Open youth centers and open youth work

Open youth centers and open youth work. Pål Isdahl Solberg Ungdom & fritid POYWE Tallin June 2013. Child welfare system. Cultural Schools. Youth information. Outreach work. School Kindergarten. NGO Sports. Youth centers Self-organized sports Open youth work. Cultural work.

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Open youth centers and open youth work

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  1. Open youth centers and open youth work Pål Isdahl Solberg Ungdom & fritid POYWE Tallin June 2013

  2. Child welfare system Cultural Schools Youth information Outreach work School Kindergarten NGO Sports Youth centers Self-organized sports Open youth work

  3. Cultural work In-formal learning Non-formal learning Social work

  4. Key Figures • 722 Youth centers • About 15% of all young people between 10-18 years are regular users (once a month or more) • About 1 200 000 single visits a year • 44,7% has a majority of boys • 49,2% has a balance between boys and girls • 6,2% has a majority of girls

  5. Youth at risk • Reaches all social layers, but «youth at risk» is slightly overrepresented • Social indicators (books at home, own a car, vacations last year, has their own bedroom and so on) • Slightly more boys than girls • Immigrants boys • Reduces alcohol and drug use • High level of trust between the youth workers and the youth (friends, mother, father, youth worker) • School drop outs stay in youth centers for a period after dropping out of school • Development of social and emotional skills show a better long-term effect than symptomatically targeting «at risk»-behavior

  6. National policy framework • No national policy on open youth work or youth centers, But several specific policy areas regulate the field: • Convention of the Rights of the child (§12 and §31) • Poverty-plans, big-city issues • Participation • Inclusion • Cultural law (kulturloven) • Prevention – drugs, bullying, drop out, healthy lifestyle • Public health

  7. Local policy framework • Municipalities develop their own local strategies. Top down or bottom up? • Well adapted to local needs • Decisions are made as close to the youth as possible • Flexible solutions that easily can adapt to changing trends • Random development, hard to build knowledge • Hard to implement national strategies • Vulnerable to changing level of participation • Under-financing can have a negative impact!

  8. Cross-sectorial cooperation Weak vertical policies, demands strong local horizontal cooperation • Social Work (SLT) • Police • School • Child welfare system • Health services • Outreach work / street workers • Youth information centers • Cultural work • Culture- and hobby schools • Local artists (musicians, dancers, film-makers) • Sports activities

  9. Key competencies • Participation, also as a method • Methodical approach (A to B) • Coaching • Social and cultural work • Youth knowledge (gender, group dynamic, conflict resolution, psychology) • Management, planning and strategy • Legal issues • Communication skills • Ethical framework

  10. What is the role of youth work?

  11. QWERTY • Can todays structures answer tomorrows questions? • Work life: Flexibility, creativity, teamwork, empathy, self-control, multitasking, understand complex scenarios • Youth: Resilient, growing number of possibilities and choices

  12. Trends • Self-organized sports and lifestyle sports are growing (organized sports loose youth at young age) • Technology has made the creation of music, film, photo and so on more accessible. Youth define and create their own culture • the divide between online world and «analog» world is breaking down. (Do we need new ethics for new media?) • Informal learning and non-formal learning gets more important • Inflation of education • How do we measure youth work? Evidence based youth policy development

  13. Summary • Strong local foundation, national support • Clear expectations, clear mandate • Concrete strategies and goals • Have the right competence • Participation as a method in youth work • Focus on positive activities, and building the competencies of the youngsters. Prevention is an effect, not an activity • There must be enough resources to be able to do a good job

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