6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa
6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa
6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa
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2 Introducti<strong>on</strong><br />
“<strong>Youth</strong> activities and youth work play a central role <strong>in</strong> foster<strong>in</strong>g knowledge and commitment<br />
to civil society”. This idea is often reflected and has meanwhile ga<strong>in</strong>ed full recogniti<strong>on</strong> with<strong>in</strong><br />
European <strong>in</strong>stituti<strong>on</strong>s and policy. In the c<strong>on</strong>text of the life-l<strong>on</strong>g learn<strong>in</strong>g strategy and the<br />
Lisb<strong>on</strong> Agenda to make Europe the most dynamically competitive, susta<strong>in</strong>able knowledgebased<br />
ec<strong>on</strong>omy <strong>in</strong> the world, the Council of Europe and European Commissi<strong>on</strong> published a<br />
jo<strong>in</strong>t text <strong>on</strong> Pathways towards Validati<strong>on</strong> and Recogniti<strong>on</strong> of n<strong>on</strong>-formal and <strong>in</strong>formal<br />
learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the youth field, which highlights the value of youth n<strong>on</strong>-formal learn<strong>in</strong>g towards<br />
the development of learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the knowledge society and civil society renewal. In this<br />
c<strong>on</strong>text youth n<strong>on</strong>-formal learn<strong>in</strong>g is centrally positi<strong>on</strong>ed with<strong>in</strong> the Third Sector.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce 2003 the research strand of the Partnership <strong>on</strong> <strong>Youth</strong> between the European<br />
Commissi<strong>on</strong> and the Council of Europe (http://www.youth-partnership.net) was given am<strong>on</strong>g<br />
others the objective to work towards <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g the visibility and recogniti<strong>on</strong> of youth work<br />
and to further elaborate the significance of youth work with<strong>in</strong> the Third Sector. Today the<br />
Recogniti<strong>on</strong>, quality and visibility of youth work and tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
Hence <strong>in</strong> April 2004 a sem<strong>in</strong>ar with the title ‘The <strong>Youth</strong> Sector and N<strong>on</strong>-formal<br />
Educati<strong>on</strong>/Learn<strong>in</strong>g: work<strong>in</strong>g to make lifel<strong>on</strong>g learn<strong>in</strong>g a reality and c<strong>on</strong>tribut<strong>in</strong>g to the Third<br />
Sector’ was organised and it’s results published 1 . The sem<strong>in</strong>ar reiterated the need for a<br />
mapp<strong>in</strong>g of the youth sector to ga<strong>in</strong> a better understand<strong>in</strong>g of the range and occupati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
aspects of youth work. Further evidence of the associated socio-ec<strong>on</strong>omic value was<br />
required to satisfactorily show the youth sector’s c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> to the 3rd sector as a whole.<br />
Follw<strong>in</strong>g these recommendati<strong>on</strong>s, a literature review was commissi<strong>on</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> 2005 to establish<br />
the feasibility for carry<strong>in</strong>g out the present study “The Socio-ec<strong>on</strong>omic Scope of <strong>Youth</strong> <strong>Work</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
Europe”.<br />
The study hopes to provide a quantitative overview and analysis of<br />
14<br />
� the sectors of specific and related youth activities;<br />
� the m<strong>on</strong>ey and time <strong>in</strong>vested <strong>in</strong> them;<br />
� the number of people employed and<br />
� the young people participat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> these activities.<br />
It thus hopes to enhance knowledge and understand<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> youth activities.<br />
1<br />
Chisholm, Lynne, Bry<strong>on</strong>y Hosk<strong>in</strong>s (2005): Trad<strong>in</strong>g up - Potential and performance <strong>in</strong> n<strong>on</strong>-formal learn<strong>in</strong>g, Council of Europe<br />
Publish<strong>in</strong>g, Strasbourg