The quality development of local youth work needs …

clear procedures for continuous updates on new national and international research, trends and methods in the field of youth and youth work.

There is a constant flow of new information relevant to youth work. Youth work is high on the political agenda and new research projects are being launched, new expert groups are being established and new policy documents are being adopted. A lot of interesting developments are also going on on local level and through cooperation within EGL. Very much of this is highly beneficial to local youth work and can bring added value when developing the quality of both policy and practice. Being updated helps youth work to be both knowledge-based and relevant. You will find much useful information in the change makers kit library.

Discuss & assess
Here you find the questions you need to ask yourself to know if you need to develop and the assessment function
Set objectives
Here you describe what you want to achieve.
Needs
Here you describe what you need to acquire, develop or change.
Actions to take
Here you describe the actions you plan to take.

Remember! Development is far from always a linear process! It needs to start with discussions, but the first ‘Action to take’ might be to gather more knowledge before setting aims for development and deciding on further actions to take. Dare to be both flexible and to take one step back before taking two steps forward!

References & tips

Developing digital youth work – European Commission 2018
Developing Youth Work Innovation. E-handbook – HUMAK, University of applied siences, Finland
Important sources for the gathering of knowledge are the European Pool of Youth Researchers, PEYR, and the Youth Wiki.