6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa

4 Definitions of Youth Work
To describe the nature and scope of youth work in Europe it is first of all necessary to stress
that there is no consistent definition of youth work either in all European countries or even in
any single country. Youth work is a summary expression shaped by different traditions and
by different legal and administrative frameworks, and it is used for a wide range of activities.
Regarding the legislative conditions of youth work the following overview can be given:
Table 4: Traditions and frameworks of youth work
Legislation
at national
level
Additional
legislation
at state
level
Definition
within the
legislation
Austria Estonia Germany Greece Ireland Italy Netherlands Norway Romania Spain
Federal Act
on the
promotion
of Youth
Youth
Work Act
Children
and Youth
Service
Act
Endorsed
in various
laws
Youth Work
Act
Endorsed
in various
laws
Youth Care
Act, Social
Support Act
Child
Welfare
Act
Romanian
Law on
Youth
No No Yes No No Yes No No No No
No No Yes No Yes No No No Yes No
Endorsed
in other
(labour
market)
legislation
Youth work is not regulated by law or by a specific Youth Work Act in every country. Austria,
Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Romania have specific legislation that establishes a
framework for the provision of youth work. In Greece, Italy and Spain, youth work is
endorsed in various laws, mainly in legislation regarding youth employment and education. In
the Netherlands youth care is regulated by law, while leisure-time-oriented youth work is
traditionally less exposed to the influence of the state and thus remains less regulated. In
general it can be stated that youth work is part of both the welfare and the educational
system, and in some countries, such as Italy, Greece and Spain, there are also intersections
with the employment policy sector and – in Italy and Greece – also with the health system.
Although in some countries youth policy is shaped at state level or in autonomous regions,
only Germany and Ireland have the possibility of regulating youth policy by law at that level.
These two countries also define youth work within the legislative framework. In Germany
youth work was defined in 1991 within the Children and Youth Service Act with the aim of
strengthening its status as an independent work field. In Ireland the definition has to be
understood against the background of transformation of the landscape of youth work, with
the state moving towards becoming the key stakeholder.
Some of the reasons for the inconsistent definition of youth work may be on the one hand the
traditional absence of youth policy in some countries and on the other hand the tradition of
self-determination and process-related development of the youth work sector in some other
countries. In addition, the growing necessity to deal with socio-economic changes in society
and to address problems of social exclusion has constantly influenced the development and
adaptation of youth work.
21