Young people face uncertainties about their future, as a result of technological change, demographic trends, discrimination, social exclusion & their exposure to the fake news & increasing populism, with yet unknown effects on jobs, skills or the way our democracies work. Despite the temporary economic upturn in the European economies, leading to lower unemployment across the countries, the emergence of the pandemic is enforcing a deepening recession, which leads to heavy & long persisting inequalities, including between generations. For the first time since the Second War, there is a real risk and serious possibility that today's young generation will end up less well-off than their parents. In line with the EU Youth Strategy 2019-27, the GenY/Z-SCOODLE project recognises the need to enable young people to be architects of their own lives, build their resilience & equip them with life skills to cope with a changing world; to encourage them to become active citizens, agents of solidarity & positive change for communities across Europe and, ultimately, prevent youth social exclusion. Youth workers, mentors & coaches act and are perceived as role models & therefore need to show that they are lifelong learners, active citizens & innovators, in order to promote similar attitudes in their youth constituencies. 7 partners from 5 countries- Greece, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Portugal-aim to build, pilot and validate sustainable solutions, in order to upgrade the capacity of youth organizations through state-of-the-art second chance education (“SCE”) methods and practice and by deploying the European legacy & know-how in this field. Specifically GenY/Z SCOODLE aims to support the capacity building of youth workers and other professionals by developing & sharing effective methods in reaching out to marginalised youth, especially those with fewer opportunities (including NEETs) with particular emphasis on those at risk of marginalisation, with a migrant background, ex-offenders, former addicts etc. The project recognises the diverse competences needed for the youth worker to deliver the multi-faceted role of the "mentor" & aims to extend, develop, recognise & validate SCE Mentor’ s Competences by developing: • “Youth SCE Tutor” (professional) Competence Framework - to strengthen the professional awareness & identity of youth stakeholders by identifying and recognising the areas of competence (knowledge, skills & attitudes) that underpin the youth professional's diverse & multifaceted role • “Youth SCE Tutor (professional) Competence Development Courseware” - to provide a diverse offer of professional development opportunities specifically developed to meet the needs of youth professionals • “GenY/Z SCOODLE Learning Hub” online platform - to encourage the establishment & further development of cross-European networks of youth professionals to strengthen professional identity, providing access to the - • “Gen Y/Z - SCOODLE Transferability Toolkit”, embedding terms of quality reference to the “Youth SCE Tutor Competence Framework” & “Youth SCE Tutor Accreditation Scheme”, the learning design of the “Youth SCE Tutor Competence Development Courseware”, coupled with the “Youth SCE Tutor Courseware Quality Framework” (accrediting “Youth SCE Tutoring” Courses). Objectives are: • To promote and recognise the professional development of youth workers deploying second chance education practice - by building Competence Framework and modules for on-going CPD & piloting & validating solutions at community level in four EU Member States, with the participation of 15-20 Youth workers & the engagement of some 40-50 young people in need of support for social inclusion • To produce high quality tools & resources that promote equity in learning, by working with youth professionals, mentors, coaches & teachers of second chance education experts & tutors to adapt existing tools & develop new ones to local contexts so that they reflect the needs of marginalised youth; • To sustain a European online, federated “resource centre” for youth professionals populated with relevant & transferable tools - through open access to an on-line repository of tested good practices with explanatory media-based guidelines • To build a European community of youth professionals - by setting up local networks in partner countries & working with European networks. These communities enable youth professionals to meet, exchange knowledge & experience, & join forces to promote their collective interests. Youth professionals will reflect on their own practice, develop, adapt & test tools and work collaboratively both at local & European level to share good practice. The impact will ultimately be the enhancement of methods & effectiveness of rehabilitation/ re-engagement practice, through the provision of high-quality learning experiences for marginalised youth resulting from improved professional development of youth practitioners.
In order to deliver upon the afore-mentioned lines and provide with solutions in terms of capacity building, the project “Generation Y/Z – SCOODLE” aimed at a) enhancing and recognizing the outcomes of professional development of youth workers, mentors and second chance education teachers b) facilitating the engagement of young people in rewarding learning processes by validating resources and high quality data, through c) establishing an online “Learning Hub”, for those professionals working with youth and this way facilitating the sharing of good practice in the field among the members of the European community of the youth and second chance education professionals. This has been delivered by a partnership of 7 entities, in 5 countries (Greece, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Portugal), which has built, piloted and validated sustainable learning solutions for upgrading the capacity of youth workers and other professionals in organisations dealing with young people and share effective methods in reaching out to marginalised youth or those at risk of marginalisation and with fewer opportunities (including NEETs).
The main needs taken into consideration when applying for this project were the problems that young people face, especially those uncertainties about their future, the discrimination and the risk of unemployment as well as of imminent social exclusion they have to deal with. All these potential risks were magnified under the COVID 19 pandemic years. The driving concern has been that young people are facing persisting inequalities and the strong possibility to end up less well-off than their parents for the first time after World War II. Also, in line with the EU Youth Strategy 2019-27 the GenY/Z-SCOODLE project adopted the approach of enabling young people to be architects of their own lives, to build their own resilience and equip themselves with life skills to cope with a changing world; become active citizens, agents of solidarity and positive change for communities across Europe and, ultimately, prevent their marginalization and their social exclusion. In order to achieve this, the project worked on the capacity building of youth workers, mentors & coaches, who are perceived as role models and being important for them to act as life-long learners, active citizens and innovators, thus promoting similar attitudes of young people.