Talking Youth Work

In this episode, we had a conversation with Mark Postema, an EduScrum trainer who also teaches English and Physics. Edu what? You might say. EduScrum is a framework that comprises tools and ceremonies aimed at creating a user-centered learning experience. It involves learners and a facilitator working together to achieve this goal, with the framework built on four pillars: transparency, adaptation, review, and trust. During our discussion, Mark emphasized the significance of trust, which we believe is a fundamental aspect of both formal and non-formal learning experiences. Without trust, we cannot perform at our best. We also explored the boundaries between formal and non-formal learning, ultimately realizing that there will come a day when we will discuss learning in a broader sense. This recognition is key to personal growth, regardless of age, whether we are 14, 30, or 70 years old. Collaboration is a crucial element within the eduScrum framework, highlighting that learning is a collective effort. There i

Hello dear listeners, In this episode, we had the privilege of speaking with Vika Matuzaitė, a non-formal education trainer and facilitator, who enlightened us about the concept of Queer Youth and how youth workers can support Queer young people. In today’s world, there can be significant confusion surrounding this topic, where gender, identity, and sexuality are often erroneously treated as interchangeable terms. It also happens with other terminology. While the LGBTQI+ acronym encompasses certain aspects, the term ‘queer’ transcends gender and sexuality, encompassing a broader spectrum. Unfortunately, queer young individuals encounter numerous challenges stemming from the lack of understanding they often face, particularly within their own families and social circles. Society bombards them with messages suggesting that deviating from the norm is ‘wrong,’ leaving them feeling inadequate, isolated, and excluded. Tragically, the queer population faces a higher risk of homelessness, addiction, and suicide. The

Dear listeners, In this edition, we had the pleasure of conversing with Jan Lai, an expert in international youth mobility, non-formal education, youth work, digital literacy, and online learning. Jan is a passionate and restless soul who enjoys a good challenge. During our chat, Jan shared how he initiated an e-sports team with a group of young people in his hometown, Cagliari, with a modest budget. In addition to playing games, the youngsters were tasked with assembling the computers they would use to play. This undertaking was a unique learning experience for all involved, as they had to learn how to work together as a team to build computers from scratch. The project is recent but already a success, and the young people learned valuable skills such as teamwork, patience, and technical know-how. Video games can be an excellent tool to engage young people in learning experiences that may not otherwise pique their interest when presented in a formal educational setting. Furthermore, gaming can serve as a pl

  Hello dear listeners, In this episode, we talked to Snežana Bačlija Knoch, an educational consultant in the European youth field and a facilitator of learning for nearly two decades. She loves to create encouraging and inviting learning environments, facilitate action-oriented value-based learning, and experiment with (and sometimes create) different educational tools and approaches. We started by trying to understand what creates enriching learning environments. Is it the people? Is it the physical space? It’s a combination, for sure, but it's interesting to explore how the environments influence the group and vice-versa. It’s not the same thing to discuss diversity with a non-diverse group of people in a plain white room or having a diverse group that goes into town to explore and talk to people on the streets.  As mentioned in our episode about learning experience design, it’s important to “start with the learners in mind. Who are they? What do they know already? And how can we help them learn something

Hello dear listeners, This time our conversation was with Michael Kimming, an intercultural trainer, coach, online instructor and facilitator. Michael and other colleagues published an eBook called “How to Talk About War – Facilitating Learning in the Face of Crisis”, which became the topic of our conversation. Michael was facilitating a workshop when the war in Ukraine began. Some of the participants were from the involved countries, so there was a real need to address the situation. Michael explained how he felt and how there were no tools to deal with this topic initially. His advice for you if you ever face a similar situation is to simply stay there and feel what you feel in this moment of uncertainty. Don’t worry about not having any tools. The tools come a little later. First, look inside yourself and start from there. And then help participants express their own emotions in a clear and helpful way. Although some people feel the urge to act, Michael suggests that action can come afterwards, first its

Hello dear listeners,  In this episode, we talked with Paul Kloosterman, a youth worker and author of several publications for youth workers and facilitators. We heard Paul’s story of how he got involved in youth work, but the main topic of our talk was Self-Directed Learning. As the name implies, self-directed learning it’s a process where individuals take responsibility for planning, continuing and evaluating their learning experiences. The role of the learner here is to be curious and find the support needed from fellow learners, facilitators of the learning experience or other resources. One can say all learning is self-directed because learning is an individual and personal process. We cannot force learning, it’s something that happens within us as a response to external or internal stimuli. The desire to advance in our careers, the need to change something in us or the world around us, the curiosity of exploring connection and wonder, or whatever compels us to start a new learning journey. Learning doe

Hello dear listeners, After more than a year, Talking Youth Work is back. We did miss you. A lot!  We hope you are doing well and are curious to learn about Youth Work with our guests. This time we spoke with Niels Floor, a pioneer of the concept of Learning Experience Design. Niels is a designer himself, and he brought the curiosity and problem-solving abilities of designers to the learning space. How do we create a better learning experience? By putting together some exercises and group dynamics? According to Niels, Learning Experience Design starts with the learners in mind. Who are they? What do they know already? And how can we help them learn something new? Learning requires changing how we view the world. Through learning processes, we add, subtract and rearrange information to the map we have of our experience of the world. The learning design process should be fueled by curiosity and empathy. It aims to create the conditions for learning to take place.  It’s a holistic approach,

Dear listeners,   We spoke with Paavo Pyykönen who is a senior program advisor for the Finnish National Agency for the Erasmus+ Youth Program, an european funding line that supports youth work related projects.   Paavo talked about the importance of international youth exchanges, where youngsters can meet peers from other cultures, pursue their interests and grow together as individuals and as citizens. The job of the adults involved is to empower the young people and not treat them like little kids that can't solve problems by themselves. Youth workers should trust that young people can figure things out, and that they know things and have skills that the adults might miss.   We all hope the new funding line will create better opportunities for organizations in the field of youth work to create long lasting and meaningful learning experiences. Besides of the novelties in the new programme that we talked about, Paavo had a good advice for all that want to design projects: people should design projects

In this episode, we travel to Madeira's island to explore a new and exciting project: the Digital Nomad Village. We talked to Gonçalo Hall - the founder of the project - who had the project's idea while on an Erasmus+ project in Italy.   Gonçalo discovered digital nomadism six years ago, fell in love with remote work and became a remote work consultant. He also hosts a podcast called Remote Work Movement and started a few businesses around remote work.   Digital nomadism allows global communities to have a positive local impact. When people travel to stay and work in various local communities, they bring their experiences and connections to where they decide to live. This can help rehabilitate abandoned rural areas or revive local economies in regions most affected by the pandemic crisis.   We talked about the future of work and what skills young people need to acquire to adapt to new work forms. Gonçalo believes that writing will be an essential skill to thrive in the future because of the communication im

Hello dear listeners, First of all, we wish you a super 2021, as this is our first episode this year. To lighten up things we talked to Carmine Rodi, a trainer and standup comedian. Sometimes humor is the best way to bring awareness to certain topics, and youth work has some particularities that Carmine explored in a very humorous way. In the work kit that youth workers and trainers use, comedy and humor can be very useful tools to engage and connect with others, to create bridges, to allow further engagement and deepen hard subjects. The practice of using humor can develop the competences of reading a room, being attuned to the effects of the humor being used and being conscious of the power that words can have in others. This can enhance the ability of public speaking, of being more at ease and connected to the energy in the group and to step up clear boundaries. We talked about the very thin line between making jokes and offending someone, and as Carmine explained very well context is key in this, al

Hello dear listeners, In this episode we talked with Pedro Fabião, an international clown, actor, director, trainer, and psychologist. ​He directed the biggest professional clown organisation in Portugal (www.narizvermelho.pt), where he worked for 16 years. The conversation was about the Art of Clowning and how it can help people develop empathy and self-awareness. Clowns have had a function throughout the ages, as those that push the boundaries, that bring a different perspective. Their power is a counter power. As Pedro pointed out during our conversation there is loads of diversity in the type of people that go to clowning workshops. It’s a wonderful tool to explore our creativity, to connect with our bodies, and mostly: to connect with others. The principles of clowning can be useful in creating a “transitional field”, a place without real consequence and yet inscribed in reality. A reversible moment of exploration and endless possibilities. Clowns are experts in making mistakes, looking foolish o

Hello dear listeners, In this episode we go green. We talked to Antonio Jovanovski, a trainer, an activist and a social entrepreneur. He is a member of the Pool of trainers of Youth@Work partnership (www.youthatworkpartnership.org) and the founder of a youth environmental NGO (www.gogreen.mk) where he works on training and policy development related to youth eco-activism, education for sustainable development and social inclusion through the green economy.  Antonio wrote a very interesting article about the upside of going green in job creation, and the cost of not doing so. You can find the article here. (https://bit.ly/32RUqan) We are in a time to make decisions and - as Antonio pointed out during our conversation - decisions need reflection, visions of what the future could be like, and the awareness that the decisions we take should ensure a sustainable future. Economic growth has been the measure of progress, and it has become an addiction, but it impairs the decisions that need to be made. It’s a d

Hello dear listeners,   We are joined in this episode by Elin McCallum, one of the co-founders of Bantani Education, a non-profit organisation supporting entrepreneurial and creative learning. Elin is also a member of the Youth@Work Pool of trainers. One of the topics of our talk was how to measure impact in youth work, from the example of the Youth@Work Partnership. We also talked about a model of entrepreneurial competencies (Entrecomp), and the immediate connection that most people make that entrepreneurship is about creating your company or being a founder of a startup, but Elin explained quite well  that being entrepreneurial is the ability to act, to create value. Once again, we talked about the need to understand risk, to be adaptable and flexible in fast paced times, and the role youth work and youth workers have in helping young people to develop those skills. We discussed something we find very relevant, and that is the need of the youth work field to understand the real value that it is bring

Dear listeners,  Hope summer treated you well. We did miss you, and we hope you are all doing well. In this episode we talked to Nik Paddison from the UK, a trainer of trainers, youth workers and activists in the European youth field. For the last few years he has been working as a full time freelance trainer, writer and consultant. The main topic was Facilitation of Learning and how it is a process that has to engage the learner if we want real learning to take place. We discussed that the idea of learning as the receiving of information is a misleading and incorrect one, learning must be an active experience where everyone is involved, interested and responsible for their own growth. The facilitator needs to observe the group carefully to understand the group dynamic and support each individual on their needs. In this process, the power of reflection is sometimes overlooked, and if we want to have deeply engaging and rich learning experiences we need to have time to reflect on what message was communi

Hello dear listeners, In this episode we talked with Maria-Carmen Pantea and Dunja Potočnik, members of the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR) who did important research in the field of youth employability and entrepreneurship for the Youth@Work Partnership. Our conversation covered some of the tensions that the youth field faces regarding youth employability. Although the younger generation is more educated, they are at a bigger risk of becoming impoverished or socially excluded, due to job market dynamics. Society expects a leading role from the youth field when it comes to developing young peoples' soft skills and professional competences, but sends conflicting messages by not listening to their opinions and experiences  - as well as the opinions of those who work directly with young people - when drafting the employment policies that will affect their future.   "Only less than ⅓ of NGO's working in the areas of youth and employment get consulted when it comes to policy development in these a

Hello dear listeners, In this episode, we talked with two very interesting women entrepreneurs: Angelica Perra and Barbara Földi, who are part of the Pool of Trainers of the Youth@Work Partnership that has placed women's entrepreneurship and economic empowerment among their 9 priorities - https://youthatworkpartnership.org/priorities/. Angelica is one of the co-founders of TDM, an Italian NGO with a simple and ambitious idea: to help young people from all over Europe to meet and collaborate on the common ground of intercultural dialogue and active citizenship. Barbara Földi is the the owner of ReCreativity, a social enterprise, based in Budapest Hungary, that provides programmes to promote creative solutions for sustainable lifestyles. We talked about what it means to be a woman entrepreneur caring out initiatives in the field of youth work. They shared the challenges they faced and the advice they have for other youth workers who want to either start their own projects or help young people in that proce

With this episode we are starting a special season powered by Youth@Work, a Partnership on Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship of Erasmus+ National Agencies . In this episode we talked to Raluca Diroescu, the coordinator of Youth@Work. Raluca likes to call herself a youth work supporter. A person that supports youth work like a fan that wants the team to win. Her love for youth work started during a youth exchange and we talked about the importance these projects have as they create in young people the willingness to participate in the construction of shared European values. We talked about the events that Youth@Work promotes, as platforms that enable entrepreneurial learning through knowledge sharing, capacity building and networking. In these events - that gather representatives from different sectors - the idea is to connect, to find points of contact, but also to challenge all the participants to see their own issues through different lenses. Youth work and entrepreneurship as concepts are tho

  Hello dear listeners,  In this episode we talked to Laimonas Ragauskas, a Lithuanian trainer and consultant in the field of Education, who has been involved in innovative online projects like  Cities of Learning, Trainers Appraisal and Badgecraft.  We are living a particular time with the COVID-19 pandemic and all the lockdowns around the world, so it made sense to talk about the digital acceleration that all of us had to undertake, and the tools that Laimonas is involved are very attuned to the current situation we’re in.  We talked about possible solutions using what we know and what we can do, because, let’s face it, we have a lot of tools right now, and things aren’t going back to the previous “normal” anytime soon, so we focused on solutions and future scenarios. On what we can do.  This time is a very good opportunity to try new tools, experiment and trust that progress will be made regarding alternative – probably blended - ways to learn.  Youth work can have an important role in supporting thi

Hello dear listeners, "To create community, we need channels where different stakeholders share their points of view.” Mark Taylor  Here is another episode that was a lot of fun to record. This time with Mark Taylor, editor of the only European online magazine focused on youth work: Coyote Magazine. We wondered if youth workers live too much in their own bubble. This view - of youth work as a closed system - generates a dual thinking regarding youth work: on one hand the sector wants and needs more resources but, on the other hand, it doesn't always want to open up to the world. Coyote Magazine as a channel of communication closes some gaps between actors inside youth work but also aims at opening youth work to the outside, by having writers from the political sphere, researchers and practitioners that work in the field, who share their stories, their experiences, their knowledge and their insights. Coyote Magazine plays an important role at European level, in creating a place for ideas to spread, a pl

First of all is good to be back! In this episode we talked with Jo Claeys, a youth worker and a trainer who together with Denis Morel and Simona Molari, developed the training "The Power of Non Formal Education". We tried to better understand what is non formal education, how it relates to other types of education, the contact points with formal education, schools and what makes this type of learning so powerful. Jo has a lot of experience and a curious point of view, as someone that is eager to explore all the potential of non formal learning. This open approach to learning can help a lot of people that have difficulties with more formal types of trainings and education, it can become an exploratory experience where we take what we need instead of just passively accepting what is presented to us. Where the freedom – and the responsibility – for learning is really in our hands.   Here are some resources that Jo shared with us, so that we could share with all of our listeners. Video tutorials for les