The EU Council Resolution on
Youth Work and its Implications
for “Priorities for Youth”
Maurice Devlin
Jean Monnet Professor
Centre for Youth Research and
Development
NUI Maynooth
Background
Legal basis for EU action on youth:
 ‘joint programme for the exchange of young
workers’ (Treaty of Rome, 1957)
 ‘youth exchanges and exchanges of socioeducational instructors [youth workers]’ (Treaty of
Maastricht, 1992)
 ‘encouraging the participation of young people in
democratic life in Europe’ (Treaty of Lisbon, 2009)
White Paper: A New Impetus for
European Youth (2001)
Four themes, all relating to ‘active citizenship’
 Participation
 Information
 Voluntary services
 Better understanding of youth
Use of OMC (Open Method of Coordination) for youth
sector
European Commission Strategy Proposals Investing and Empowering (2009)
Eight fields of action clustered under three headings:
 Creating more opportunities in education and
employment
 Improving access and participation
 Fostering solidarity between society and young
people
A new role for youth work:
‘Youth work contributes to all fields of action and
their identified objectives.’
Council Resolution for Renewed Cooperation
in the Youth Field 2010-2018
Two overall objectives:
 Create more and equal opportunities for all
young people in education and in the labour
market;
 Promote the active citizenship, social
inclusion and solidarity of all young people
Council Resolution for Renewed Cooperation
in the Youth Field 2010-2018
Eight fields of action:
 Education & training
 Employment and entrepreneurship
 Health and well-being
 Participation
 Voluntary activities
 Social inclusion
 Youth and the world
 Creativity and culture
Council Resolution for Renewed Cooperation
in the Youth Field 2010-2018
‘Under this framework of cooperation, supporting
and developing youth work should be regarded as
cross-sectoral issues…Youth work belongs to the
area of “out-of-school” education, as well as
specific leisure time activities managed by
professional or voluntary youth workers and youth
leaders and is based on non-formal learning
processes and on voluntary participation.’
Council Resolution for Renewed Cooperation
in the Youth Field 2010-2018
Renewed Framework to be implemented through
3-year work cycles
Thematic priorities for each 18-month period
EU Youth Report at end of each cycle
Council Resolution for Renewed Cooperation
in the Youth Field 2010-2018
Structured Dialogue with Young People [first introduced in 2005
resolution]
• ‘The themes of the structured dialogue should be aligned with the overall
objectives of European cooperation in the youth field and the priorities for
each work cycle…The dialogue should be as inclusive as possible and
developed at local, regional, national and EU level and include youth
researchers and those active in youth work.’
Member States encouraged to establish National Working Group
representing constituencies within the sector
Council Resolution on Youth Work 2010
Arising from and/or influenced by
• EU Strategy & Renewed Framework
• Other EU resolutions, recommendations and decisions on youth,
mobility, volunteering, poverty, social inclusion, unemployment
• Youth policies of the Council of Europe
• 1st European Youth Work Convention, Ghent (Belgium), July 2010
Guiding principles
• Reference to ‘gender equality and combating all forms of
discrimination’, EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, ‘universal values
regarding human rights, democracy, peace, anti-racism, cultural
diversity, solidarity, equality and sustainable development’
Council Resolution on Youth Work 2010
Nature of youth work:
‘In all the Member States, countless children and
young people, youth workers and youth leaders
coming from different backgrounds, participate in,
benefit from or are active in a rich and diverse
range of youth work activities. These activities can
take place in many contexts addressing different
issues that affect their lives and the realities in
which they live.’
Council Resolution on Youth Work 2010
Nature of youth work (continued):
‘Youth work takes place in the extra-curricular
area, as well as through specific leisure time
activities, and is based on non-formal and informal
learning processes and on voluntary participation.
These activities and processes are self-managed,
co-managed or managed under educational and
pedagogical guidance by either professional or
voluntary youth workers and youth leaders and
can develop and be subject to changes caused by
different dynamics.’
Council Resolution on Youth Work 2010
Nature of youth work (continued). Varies according
to:
 context (community, history, society, policy)
 concern to include and empower all young people
 Role of paid/volunteer youth workers
 types of organisation (govt/non-govt; youth/adultled)
 method and approach
 role of local and regional authorities
Council Resolution on Youth Work 2010
Contribution of youth work:
• Provides ‘comfortable, safe, inspirational and pleasant environment’
• Creates space for young people to ‘express themselves, learn from
each other, meet each other, play, explore and experiment’
• Promotes participation, engagement, active citizenship
• Strengthens community building and civil society at all levels
• Develops creativity, awareness, entrepreneurship and innovation
• Provides opportunities for social inclusion of all; reach those with
fewer opportunities
• Complements formal education; contribute to other youth-related
policy areas
• Supports economic development, create employment
Council Resolution on Youth Work 2010
Invites action on part of
• Member States (sustainable support; implement renewed framework;
involve relevant actors and authorities)
• European Commission (study youth work; support NGOs; enhance
quality, capacity and mobility; develop tools and platforms for
research, policy and practice)
• Both MSs and Commission (create better conditions; raise awareness;
develop quality and capacity; promote employability, mobility and
recognition of qualifications and skills; promote research and
information, exchange and cooperation; develop systematic assessment
of skills and competences for training.
• Civil society (accessibility, diversity of training, evaluation,
innovation, cooperation and networking)