The organisation and practice of local youth work needs …

to document and make visible young people’s non-formal and informal learning outcomes, i.e. knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, achieved through youth work and to support the validation of achieved competences.

Equally important to talking about learning objectives is that the learning that has taken place is documented and recognised. Making the learning that has taken place visible will, in itself, strengthen it and at the same time make it possible for the young person to show his/her abilities to others.

Being able to show that young people develop new competencies through taking part in youth work will also strengthen the recognition and position of youth work.

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

In the EU Council conclusions on the contribution of quality youth work to the development, well-being and social inclusion of young people (2013), member states are invited to “Promote, through quality youth work opportunities and programmes, experiential learning and skills development, including transferable skills for young people, and the recognition and validation of such skills and competences.”
Two well-recognized tools for documenting young people’s learning are Youthpass and ELD.