The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for digital learning opportunities in the youth work sector. Many education providers lacked the knowledge and tools to offer effective digital learning environments. With this project, we aimed to strengthen digital competences in youth work education by preserving existing knowledge, promoting good practice, and supporting the sustainable integration of digital tools. Our goal was to collect practical examples from youth work organisations in Austria and Greece that already use digital learning tools. Based on these findings, we developed a manual on digital tools and didactics and tested it in pilot workshops with youth work trainers in both countries. The course material and resources were made accessible to other trainers through online platforms. Through this project, we aimed to build the digital skills of trainers, promote good practice, and facilitate mobility in non-formal youth worker education. In addition, we supported organisations in preserving digital knowledge and advocated for the advantages of digital learning such as flexibility and accessibility. The project also contributed to the recognition of youth work and highlighted innovative learning approaches.
Through consulting, aufZAQ and HYWA learned that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a short-term increase in digital educational activities in the youth sector. It became clear that the necessary digital competences were often only developed temporarily and rarely integrated sustainably into the structures of organisations. This is where our project came in: we aimed to systematically collect, prepare, and make existing digital learning formats and tools accessible to a broader audience. At the same time, existing knowledge and developed skills were to be anchored in organisations in the long term, and the digital competences of trainers strengthened in a targeted manner to prevent this expertise from being lost. Another key need relates to the lack of formal recognition of youth work in Austria and Greece. There are hardly any standardised educational pathways for youth workers, meaning organisations depend on external support for knowledge transfer and the exchange of good practice. Our motivation was to provide sustainable impulses for the professionalisation of youth work through this project – in particular by developing high-quality, low-threshold digital learning opportunities for both full-time and voluntary youth workers.