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ENTER OUT - Open Outdoor Education for Youth Workers

2021-1-AT01-KA153-YOU-0000074722021Mobility of youth workersfinalized
Countries: AT|LV|PL|DE|CZ|PT|HU|SK|NL|IT · Grant: €27,384.4
Development of training coursesInitial and continuous training for teachers, trainers and other education staffNew learning and teaching methods and approaches

Objectives

People need the possibility to participate fully in the living of their society if they are to prosper and achieve their developing. But certain groups are systematically excluded from opportunities that are available to others because they are discriminated against on the basis of their race, belief, gender, social class, age, disability, or another social identity. Social exclusion has always been a large dilemma of society, which especially affects the young generation. It is an ongoing process, where individuals or groups of people, are prevented from their fundamental needs as citizens. Even if it is against the law and countries constitutions, people are segregated, or even taken over by force from the society. This puts them away from the opportunity to get high paid job and education as well as community life and activities. Indeed, this discrimination might fully deregulate the employment market, in terms of employability or even by vanishing completely any possible proper jobs. They almost don't have access to power and decision-making authorities and often feel powerless because they are unable to take control of the decisions that affect their lives. Social exclusion is often a cause of poverty, conflict, and insecurity. This issue demands particular attention from the youth field, especially if producing deeper and a long-term damage to the living social conditions, economic participation, psychological life, and health status of young people. The youth with fewer opportunities and special needs (physical and/or mental disability), between other ways of exclusion, could suffer from learning difficulties, geographical, social and economic mobility. These results, in an immoral cycle, where socially excluded young people who are increasingly surface a fundamental goods deprivation, public and emotional harm and especially the health issues that will present them to a persistent lockout. When trying to gear the social exclusion of young people, it is critical to bear in mind that being excluded is not merely due to one or two solitary incidents, it is the mixture of policies, systems, structures, attitudes and behaviors that effect in some individuals being fully excluded, left behind. Youth work, via youth projects, can better reply to the social exclusion and/or needs by improving young people lives, such as skills; motivation; rebound; behavior; attitudes and surroundings. However, if just including people with fewer opportunity in activities of organizations is not enough. It is also vital to stand by both as the youth as youth workers to handle the various results of social inclusion. That is why we come up with the idea of “ENTER OUT - Open Outdoor Education for Youth Workers” project. These 7 days training course was designed for youth and social workers, facilitators, trainers and people, who work with youth with special needs. The objectives of the project were: - To discover outdoor activities and experiential learning, their perspective, principles, and models; - To explore, share experience and build skills in the field of outdoor and experiential learning; - To develop participants’ reflective and critical, innovative skills, creative and challenging outdoor learning contexts and their application on site; - To understand and handle risk and safety in outdoor settings; - To develop participants’ competencies in designing, planning, implementing and evaluating outdoor and experiential learning activities; - To raise awareness on the issues faced by individuals living mental and physical disorders in their daily life; - To create new educational tools and learning methods aimed at developing behavioral and social competencies, pursuing a social inclusion of the people with special needs through outdoor activities - To develop methods of empowering people with diverse needs; - To promote outdoor activities accessible to people living with different disabilities. The main goals of this training course were: - To train youth workers on how to use outdoor education for addressing current challenges, of nowadays, in youth work such as the exclusion of young people with special needs, conflicts, and general frustration. - To discuss and try out the potential of outdoor to tackle such topics as conflict transformation, efficient and peaceful communication, appreciation of diversity, creating a team spirit in very diverse groups. - To present practical methods on how to involve people with special needs in outdoor activity and how to integrate them in the group

Project partners (10)