Youth work is a dynamic field and there are many themes in contemporary youth work on which we could have chosen to focus. In making our decisions we considered the practice and policy context of youth work across Europe and the wider world choosing to prioritise those that are particularly relevant right now:
» Communicating Youth Work
» Youth Participation and Non-formal Learning in Youth Work
» Ethics and Human Rights in Professional Youth Work
» Youth Work in Diverse Societies
» Youth Work in the Digital World
The Modules
Each of those five themes relates to a module consisting of three units. Each unit consists of an interactive video along with downloadable material you can access from a variety of devices. All videos are subtitled in English. Each video is approximately five minutes if you watch it through without the interactivity and in the region of 20-30 minutes with the interactivity and about five minutes if you watch the original video straight through without the interactivity. Both options are available below.
While each video is informative in its own right, the interactive dimension invites you to engage more deeply with the topic, to ‘watch, read, reflect and act.’ The downloadable resource in pdf* format delves deeper again and provides additional information and resources on each unit’s topic. In this way, the module promote the practice of self-reflection in all learning activities. Time for reflection is important to integrate new knowledge and insights in your youth work work context and a core aspect of reflective practice.
While we suggest that your learning will be deeper if you engage with each unit sequentially over a period of time, it is entirely up to you how you engage with youthworkandyou. You are welcome to dip in and out, look at an individual video or check out a single pdf resource document in any order, at any time and we believe you will find something of interest.
* You will need a pdf ‘reader’ to read the downloadable resources. You can download a free Adobe Acrobat Reader for a PC here or mobile apps for Android or Apple devices here.
How we Worked
Maynooth University took the lead on developing the ‘Communicating Youth Work’ module and was supported in that by Tallinn University in Estonia. Tallinn University took the lead in the ‘Youth Participation and Non-formal Learning’ module and was supported in that by Victoria University in Melbourne Australia. Victoria University took the lead on the ‘Human Rights and Ethics in Youth Work’ module and were supported in that by Ulster University in Northern Ireland. Ulster University took a lead on the ‘Youth Work in Diverse Societies’ module and was supported in that by Humak University of Applied Sciences in Finland. Humak University then took the lead on the ‘Youth Work in Digital Youth Work’ module and was supported in that by Maynooth University in Ireland.
An Invitation.
Given the dynamic nature of youth work, we know that themes will continue to emerge and we would be delighted to host other modules in the future so please get in touch with us at ywelp@mu.ie to discuss any ideas you have.
Click on an image below to access the modules
