European Academy on Youth Work workshop: The Futures of Youth Work - From Survival to Shaping the Future

Introduction

The world seems to become increasingly divided, led by and navigating opposing perspectives, systemic inertia, and very rapid societal shifts. As with many other fields, youth work is heavily impacted by these dynamics.

Too often, youth work seems to be caught between having to constantly react (to changes, to challenges, to crises, to imposed priorities, etc.) while defending its core purpose and the current ways of working (the current leading practices, structures, and assumptions that shape youth work today). How can youth work make a shift towards proactively shaping its futures that reflect the changing needs and aspirations of young people and the world around us while remaining truthful to the core purpose and identity of youth work? What needs reviewing, and what needs co-creation?

Youth work has always been about empowering young people, fostering engaged and active citizenship, and promoting participation in society with a critical mind and a commitment to living ethics and values. However, because of growing complexity and increasing challenges, the futures of youth work will need to be based on a long-wanted shift from the individual to the idea of more interconnectedness, global awareness, and a sense of wholeness. Youth work must develop to recognise and strengthen the links between personal development, communities, and the wider world.

Building on the Futures of Youth Work research conducted by the European Academy on Youth Work and drawing on the ideas of systemic change, this workshop invites youth workers to reflect upon the notions of ‘what is’ (looking from the future) rather than ‘what should be’ (looking at the future). Comprehending better the complex and interconnected dynamic of youth work’s present (and to a certain extent, past) will support sensing and shaping a sustainable youth work that remains a driver of empowerment, connection, and social transformation.

However, the workshop will not be just a ‘conversation space’ about the futures of youth work. It is also an opportunity to experiment and explore the trends that emerged in the research report and try out some tools developed around it.

The intentions of the workshop are:

• To take the ‘Futures of Youth Work’ research a step further
• To explore emerging trends and their relevance in youth work contexts today and the future
• To propose hands-on experience with tools that stimulate working with futures
• To explore the evolution of the purpose of youth work in the future

The workshop will be organised around key questions, such as:

• Is youth work ‘stuck’ in survival mode?
• What conditions are needed for youth work to become future-ready and forward-looking?
• How can youth work move beyond the focus on the individual and embrace interconnectedness?
• Why does youth work often feel threatened, and how can we overcome this?

Preparation

Besides reading the Futures of Youth Work research report, participants will be encouraged to perform a few ‘pre-workshop tasks’ that will mostly consist of having conversations connected to the state of the world and what that means for youth work in the future. More detailed information will be shared with the selected participants.

Profile of participants

This workshop targets experienced youth workers or other practitioners working with young people in the field of youth work.

Participants should have a keen interest in reflecting, discussing and contributing to innovative and forward-looking initiatives and developments, to further develop youth work or frameworks for youth work in their own context.

We welcome participants in former activities organised in the frame of the EAYW as well as “newcomers” to this project.

Further information

Join us in the Slovenian mountains for inspiring reflections, discussions and activities!

The workshop will take place over 3 days, from 17-19 June 2025. Participants are expected to arrive on 16.06 and depart on 20.06.

The workshop will be facilitated by Gisele Evrard and Darko Marković. 

With this activity, we are starting the 4th cycle of the European Academy on Youth Work. The outcomes of the workshop will be channeled into the preparatory process of the 4th EAYW event, which will take place from 5 - 8 May 2026.

What is the European Academy on Youth Work (EAYW)?

The EAYW aims to promote the development of quality youth work and to support its capacity to react to current and future developments. To this end, it focuses on supporting innovation in youth work, as a response to the trends, challenges and uncertainties faced by young people in today’s fast-changing societies.

The EAYW offers a platform for reflection, exchange and knowledge gathering on trends and developments in and with relevance to the youth field in Europe, and on innovative youth work responses to these trends and developments. In this way, it contributes to a European youth work ecosystem that supports quality development and innovation in youth work.

The EAYW is a strategic cooperation of National Agencies of the Erasmus+ programme, youth field, and the European Solidarity Corps[1] and SALTO-YOUTH Resource Centres. It targets youth workers, professionals in areas with relevance for the youth field and representatives of youth policies and public services, National Agencies and other staff working in youth work structures, from NGOs, science and research. Geographically, the EAYW addresses stakeholders from the broader European context, including Europe’s neighbouring countries South of the Mediterranean.

More information: www.eayw.net.

[1] National Agencies of Austria, Belgium-FL, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.