6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa

In general we can state that in all countries youth work is defined as a domain of ‘out-ofschool’
education and thus linked to non-formal or informal learning. Only in Italy, where
youth policy was traditionally non-existent or reduced to dispersed local initiatives, is youth
work defined more exclusively in terms of the formal education and labour market sectors.
We can see that most of the definitions contain two basic orientations reflecting a double
concern: to provide favourable (leisure time oriented) experiences (of social, cultural,
educational or political nature) in order to strengthen young people’s personal development
and foster their personal and social autonomy, and at the same time to offer opportunities for
the integration and inclusion of young people in adult society by fostering societal integration
in general or preventing the exclusion of disadvantaged groups. Complementing the
definitions with the aims of youth work, we can state that those countries that face greater
problems to integrate their young people into an economical, residential and family-oriented
independent life have definitions that are more exclusively focussed on the socialising aspect
of youth work.
Regarding the target groups we can state that in all countries youth work addresses young
people in general as well as disadvantaged or socially excluded groups. Although there are
certainly different priorities in general youth services and targeted services, it can be argued
that the aspects of participation and protection are given in all countries.
Table 6: Target groups and age groups of youth work
Target
groups
Austria Estonia Germany Greece Ireland Italy Nether-
lands
All young
people as
well as
disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups
All young
people as
well as
disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups
All young
people as
well as
disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups
All young
people as
well as
disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups
All young
people as
well as
disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups
All young
people
included
disadvantaged,
socially
excluded
and regionallymarginalised
groups
Disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups as
well as all
young
people
Norway Romania Spain
All young
people as
well as
disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups
All young
people as
well as
disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups
Disadvantaged
and
socially
excluded
groups as
well as all
young
people
Age 11-25 years 7-26 years 14-27 years >30 years 10-25 years 15-36 years >23 years >26 years 15-35 years 15-29 years
There are nevertheless great disparities in the definition of the age groups. Indeed, each
country has its own definition of this span of life. While in Greece, the Netherlands and
Norway the minimum age is not defined, in Estonia young people are defined from age 7
upwards, in Ireland from age 10 upwards, in Austria from age 11, in Germany from age 14
upwards and in Italy, Romania and Spain from age 15 upwards.
In the Netherlands the definition of youth includes young people until the age of 23. In Austria
and Ireland young people under 25 are included in the definition. In Estonia and Norway
youth is defined as ending at 26, in Germany at 27. In Spain, Greece, Romania and Italy we
find the broadest definitions, with age ranges extending until 29 to 36 years.
The reasons for these disparities seem to emerge from the concept of youth work in each
country. In Greece, the Netherlands and Norway, where the idea of social inclusion is one of
the explicit aims of youth work, children are part of the target groups of youth work. In
23