Strategic Partnership for Youth. Competence Development of Youth Workers & Youth Trainers to promote Social Inclusion
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices.
Action: Strategic Partnerships. Field: Strategic Partnerships for youth.
Main objective: Development of Innovation.
Project identification/ contract number: 2016-3-CY02-KA205-000876
Project duration: 01/03/2017- 28/02/2019
Partnership
SEAL CYPRUS, Cyprus (Coordinator), https://sealcyprus.org/about-us/
YSBF- YOUTH IN SCIENCE AND BUSINESS FOUNDATION, Estonia, http://www.ysbf.org/
SALVATI COPIII- FILIALA ARGES, Romania, http://www.salvaticopiii.ro/
FUTURE IN PERSPECTIVE, Ireland, http://www.fipl.eu/
Project Description
ARTSQUAD aims at the Professional Development of Youth Workers & Youth Trainers. The project will develop, test and pilot innovative tools for youth professionals who wish to work with:
Digital Media
Storytelling
Drama
Music
ARTSQUAD is the abbreviation of the title “Competence development of youth workers & youth trainers who work towards the social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities”.
The project proposes a new approach to key competence building in youth work environments which is based on a youth-centered design approach. The choice of the Latin word “QUAD” in ARTSQUAD is reflecting the four creative disciplines that the project proposes as powerful tools in youth practice: Digital Media, Storytelling, Drama and Music. ARTSQUAD will equip youth professionals with practical tools to use in their everyday work with the young people– especially the disadvantaged ones. It will also support them to work in non-conventional environments and will enhance their employability, their reputation, professionalism and standing even if they now work in completely different educational settings.
Background
According to the report “Working with young people: the value of youth work in the EU” (European Commission- EACEA, 2014), there is a high risk of unemployment for youth professionals while there is also a lack of support measures for their professional development. In our daily practice we have witnessed that the youth professionals are not always ready to respond to the emerging needs of disadvantaged youth. Given that one third of young people in the European Union are at risk of social exclusion, we want to want to address the urging need for continuous competence development to those working with young people with fewer opportunities.
The EU Youth Strategy recognises the relevance of youth work to mitigating the effects of social exclusion amongst young people. The end beneficiaries of ARTSQUAD are going to be young people with disadvantaged backgrounds and / or fewer opportunities due to disability, educational difficulties, economic obstacles, cultural differences (immigrants or refugees/ asylum seekers), health problems, social obstacles, or geographical obstacles.
Proposed solutions
Consortium partners believe that there is a gap in the provision of training for professionals working with marginalized young people where the use of creative disciplines is concerned. To address this deficit, the project will develop, test and pilot innovative tools to introduce youth professionals to the use of digital media, storytelling, drama and music for the development of key competences. These tools include a suite of train-the-trainer materials, an E-Learning Portal, a full suite of modules for a train-the-trainer curriculum and a suite of 8 prototype tools developed using the above artistic disciplines.
With the use of these tools the youth professionals can reduce disparities in learning outcomes affecting learners with disadvantaged backgrounds and we can support them to acquire social, civic, digital, intercultural competences and media literacy.
The partners will follow an innovative, integrated enquiry-based learning approach based in non formal education methods and tools. ARTSQUAD proposes a new approach to key competence building in youth work environments which is based on a youth-centered design approach. The course-ware supports free agent learners allowing youth professional and young people the opportunity to learn in new, exciting and engaging ways. For many disadvantaged youth, formal education approaches have failed to deliver the learning outcomes required in todays economy and the creative arts can be a more effective teaching method to acquire basic and transversal skills such as social and civic competence, digital competence, cultural awareness and expression, entrepreneurship and critical thinking.
Impact
ARTSQUAD will equip the youth professionals with practical tools to use in their everyday work with disadvantaged youth. It will also support them to work in non-conventional environments and will enhance their employability, their reputation, professionalism and standing even if they now work in completely different educational settings. This way the youth professional will become more efficient in supporting the social inclusion of disadvantaged youth to formal education or employment and their progression as valued and contributing members of European society.
Ultimately, the project will impact the impact and recognition of youth work.
Official website of the project
Facebook Page of ARTSQUAD
See the publication of the project in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform
Read the newsletters of the project:
ARTSQUAD_1st newsletter
ARTSQUAD_2nd newsletter
ARTSQUAD_3rd newsletter
ARTSQUAD_4th newsletter
The project was financed with the support of the European Commission. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the publisher and the European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information.