The Talking Youth Work Podcast

Employability revisited with Maria-Carmen Pantea and Dunja Potočnik, season 2 episode 9

Hello dear listeners,

In this episode we talked with Maria-Carmen Pantea and Dunja Potočnik, members of the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR) who did important research in the field of youth employability and entrepreneurship for the Youth@Work Partnership.

Our conversation covered some of the tensions that the youth field faces regarding youth employability.

Although the younger generation is more educated, they are at a bigger risk of becoming impoverished or socially excluded, due to job market dynamics. Society expects a leading role from the youth field when it comes to developing young peoples' soft skills and professional competences, but sends conflicting messages by not listening to their opinions and experiences  - as well as the opinions of those who work directly with young people - when drafting the employment policies that will affect their future.

 

"Only less than ⅓ of NGO's working in the areas of youth and employment get consulted when it comes to policy development in these areas."

 

On one hand, policymakers need to put greater trust in the capabilities of young people and NGO's in the youth field regarding their inputs to employment and entrepreneurship policies. On the other hand, youth workers also need to question their position regarding these topics.

As youth workers, where should our focus be? In helping young people navigate the job market? Or advocating for more inclusive and fair employment policies?

We sure learned a lot about this topic, and we invite you to listen and learn also.

Let's talk about youth work!

 

The Youth@Work’s book:

“Employability revisited. Mapping the role of youth work in the field of youth employability and entrepreneurship”

Short link: https://bit.ly/3jM9ooW  

 

The book published by Maria-Carmen Pantea in 2019:

Precarity and Vocational Education and Training. Craftsmanship and Employability in Romania

Short link: https://bit.ly/3g8oGCr

 

The  “Young people, entrepreneurship & non-formal learning: a work in progress” book edited by Maria-Carmen Pantea and published by the SALTO-YOUTH Participation Resource Centre (Belgium) in 2014

Short link: https://bit.ly/3jJ5mhc

 

Below are the Youth@Work contacts. You can be part of this initiative.

Facebook: @YouthatWorkPartnership
Instagram: @youthatworkeu
Twitter: @euyouthatwork
Youtube: YouthatWork Partnership

LinkedIn: YouthatWork Partnership

 

 

The Youth@Work partnership is delivered with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union". The European Commission's support for the production of this podcast does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

Any ideas, comments and suggestions, email us at talkingyouthworkpodcast@gmail.com.

First published on Monday Jul 27, 2020

Women's entrepreneurship in Youth Work with Angelica Perra and Barbara Földi, season 2 episode 8

Hello dear listeners,

In this episode, we talked with two very interesting women entrepreneurs: Angelica Perra and Barbara Földi, who are part of the Pool of Trainers of the Youth@Work Partnership that has placed women's entrepreneurship and economic empowerment among their 9 priorities - https://youthatworkpartnership.org/priorities/.

Angelica is one of the co-founders of TDM, an Italian NGO with a simple and ambitious idea: to help young people from all over Europe to meet and collaborate on the common ground of intercultural dialogue and active citizenship. Barbara Földi is the the owner of ReCreativity, a social enterprise, based in Budapest Hungary, that provides programmes to promote creative solutions for sustainable lifestyles.

We talked about what it means to be a woman entrepreneur caring out initiatives in the field of youth work. They shared the challenges they faced and the advice they have for other youth workers who want to either start their own projects or help young people in that process.

They gave us excellent, honest advice based on their experiences and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

 

Angelica Perra links:

https://www.tdm2000.org/

https://it-it.facebook.com/associazionetdm2000/

https://tdm2000international.org

 https://www.facebook.com/TDMInternational/

 

Barbara Földi links:

http://recreativity.net/en/home/

https://www.instagram.com/tinyecoambassadors/ 

https://www.facebook.com/recreativityforyou/?ref=bookmarks 

  

Below are the Youth@Work contacts. You can be part of this initiative.

Facebook: @YouthatWorkPartnership
Instagram: @youthatworkeu
Twitter: @euyouthatwork
Youtube: YouthatWork Partnership

 

 The Youth@Work partnership is delivered with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union". The European Commission's support for the production of this podcast does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

Any ideas, comments and suggestions, email us at talkingyouthworkpodcast@gmail.com.

First published on Friday Jul 03, 2020

Entrepreneurial competencies with Raluca Diroescu, season 2 episode 7

With this episode we are starting a special season powered by Youth@Work, a Partnership on Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship of Erasmus+ National Agencies .

In this episode we talked to Raluca Diroescu, the coordinator of Youth@Work.

Raluca likes to call herself a youth work supporter. A person that supports youth work like a fan that wants the team to win. Her love for youth work started during a youth exchange and we talked about the importance these projects have as they create in young people the willingness to participate in the construction of shared European values.

We talked about the events that Youth@Work promotes, as platforms that enable entrepreneurial learning through knowledge sharing, capacity building and networking.

In these events - that gather representatives from different sectors - the idea is to connect, to find points of contact, but also to challenge all the participants to see their own issues through different lenses.

Youth work and entrepreneurship as concepts are thought by some to be at odds with each other. For Raluca, these two ideas can coexist and even thrive when combined to reach a common goal: youth empowerment. If we can equip young people, especially those with fewer opportunities, with real-life opportunities, an entrepreneurial spirit and competences, maybe they can start to look for ways to rise above those inequalities.

Below are the Youth@Work contacts. You can be part of this initiative.

Facebook: @YouthatWorkPartnership
Instagram: @youthatworkeu
Twitter: @euyouthatwork
Youtube: YouthatWork Partnership

Let’s Talk Youth Work!

 The Youth@Work partnership is delivered with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union". The European Commission's support for the production of this podcast does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

Any ideas, comments and suggestions, email us at talkingyouthworkpodcast@gmail.com.

First published on Wednesday May 27, 2020

Youth Work after COVID-19 with Laimonas Ragauskas, season 2 episode 6

 

Hello dear listeners,

 In this episode we talked to Laimonas Ragauskas, a Lithuanian trainer and consultant in the field of Education, who has been involved in innovative online projects like  Cities of Learning, Trainers Appraisal and Badgecraft.

 We are living a particular time with the COVID-19 pandemic and all the lockdowns around the world, so it made sense to talk about the digital acceleration that all of us had to undertake, and the tools that Laimonas is involved are very attuned to the current situation we’re in.

 We talked about possible solutions using what we know and what we can do, because, let’s face it, we have a lot of tools right now, and things aren’t going back to the previous “normal” anytime soon, so we focused on solutions and future scenarios. On what we can do.

 This time is a very good opportunity to try new tools, experiment and trust that progress will be made regarding alternative – probably blended - ways to learn.

 Youth work can have an important role in supporting this new reality, youth workers are where young people are, and online is one of those places. A long conversation that we enjoyed very much, pointing to hope and possibilities amongst the challenging times we are facing and that we will face in the near future.

 Stay home and talk youth work with us!

 Cities of Learning platform www.citiesoflearning.eu 

Trainers’ professional development platform www.trainersappraisal.com 

Badgecraft - a platform to design recognition systems www.badgecraft.eu

Any ideas, comments and suggestions, email us at talkingyouthworkpodcast@gmail.com.

First published on Monday May 04, 2020

Coyote Magazine with Mark Taylor, season 2 episode 5

Hello dear listeners,

"To create community, we need channels where different stakeholders share their points of view.” Mark Taylor

 Here is another episode that was a lot of fun to record. This time with Mark Taylor, editor of the only European online magazine focused on youth work: Coyote Magazine.

We wondered if youth workers live too much in their own bubble. This view - of youth work as a closed system - generates a dual thinking regarding youth work: on one hand the sector wants and needs more resources but, on the other hand, it doesn't always want to open up to the world.

Coyote Magazine as a channel of communication closes some gaps between actors inside youth work but also aims at opening youth work to the outside, by having writers from the political sphere, researchers and practitioners that work in the field, who share their stories, their experiences, their knowledge and their insights.

Coyote Magazine plays an important role at European level, in creating a place for ideas to spread, a place for different actors to discuss, collaborate and create a movement to make things move forward.

It's very important to have different points of view to create a broader and more inclusive image of what youth work is, and what it could be

 If you want to read Coyote Magazine here are the links:

Coyote website https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/coyote-magazine/home

Coyote Archive since 1999 https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/coyote-magazine/previous-editions

Like and follow Coyote youth work magazine on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CoyoteYouthWorkMagazine/

Any ideas, comments and suggestions, email us at talkingyouthworkpodcast@gmail.com.

First published on Tuesday Apr 07, 2020

The Power of Non Formal Education with Jo Claeys, season 2 episode 4

First of all is good to be back!

In this episode we talked with Jo Claeys, a youth worker and a trainer who together with Denis Morel and Simona Molari, developed the training "The Power of Non Formal Education".

We tried to better understand what is non formal education, how it relates to other types of education, the contact points with formal education, schools and what makes this type of learning so powerful.

Jo has a lot of experience and a curious point of view, as someone that is eager to explore all the potential of non formal learning.

This open approach to learning can help a lot of people that have difficulties with more formal types of trainings and education, it can become an exploratory experience where we take what we need instead of just passively accepting what is presented to us.

Where the freedom – and the responsibility – for learning is really in our hands.

 

Here are some resources that Jo shared with us, so that we could share with all of our listeners.

Video tutorials for less experienced in NFE

A approach on explaining the differences between formal, informal and non formal education

A comprehensive description of NFe with plenty of links to usefull educational resources

Any ideas, comments and suggestions, email us at talkingyouthworkpodcast@gmail.com.

First published on Wednesday Mar 11, 2020

Dragon Dreaming with Virgílio Varela, season 2 episode 3

We are joined in this episode by Virgílo Varela, a consultant in Social and Community Innovation that talked to us about one of his main skills and passion: Dragon Dreaming.

Dragon Dreaming is a systemic design process, a philosophy and a methodological framework, to create collaborative and sustainable projects, something that a lot of youth workers struggle with. For some, it's difficult to have everyone dreaming in the same direction, and for others it's hard to make the projects sustainable. Many times, both.

The process is composed of four steps: Dreaming, Planning, Doing and Celebrating.

We talked about the importance of celebration: if we don't celebrate, our energy and motivation starts to get depleted, and we lose heart, we fall out of love, we start doing, for the sake of doing, and the output is much less creative, energizing, and innovative that could be otherwise, if we would make celebration as much as a priority as doing, or planning.

It was a really a wonderful conversation, hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Give us your feedback to the email talkingyouthworkpodcast@gmail.com

http://www.dragondreaming.org/

First published on Monday Dec 16, 2019

Embodied learning with Sandra Gojic, season2, episode 2

In this episode we talked to Sandra Gojic, an educator passionate about movement and creating spaces where young people can express themselves.

The way Sandra explores this is through Embodied Learning: an educational method that has been around for a while.

In our conversation our guest shared her story, how is it was difficult for her to express herself through her body, something many of us can probably relate to.

There is a tendency to talk about feelings, thoughts and emotions, from our heads, we rationalize. Yet, we all have had times that our bodies, through our senses, helped us understand more about the world. Maybe ignoring our bodies’ wisdom doesn't serve us very well.

Embodied Learning shows us that we can learn more and better about ourselves and how we relate to the world around us if we use ou body as a multi-sensorial platform of perception.

While working with young people there are a lot of benefits of this approach, and it doesn't have to be complicated, our bodies can serve as tools to navigate all the information that is being throwned at us, by paying attention to it, by contacting with all the sensations that run through us.

Amazing conversation about the advantages of being in our bodies, the most present and grounded place we can be.

Links and books, and resources mentioned in the podcast:

The Embodiement Conference

Embodied Change, KA2 project

Embodied Facilitator

The Embodiement Podcast

The Art of Somatic Coaching: Embodying Skillful Action, Wisdom, and Compassion by Richard Strozzi-Heckler

The Embodied Teen by Susan Bauer

Moves: a sourcebook of ideas for body awareness and creative movement by Katya Bloom and Rosa Shreeves

Dance Improvisation: Warm Ups, Games and Choreographic Tasks by Justine Reeves

First published on Monday Nov 04, 2019