The history of youth work in Europe, Vol.5 – Autonomy through dependency – Histories of co-operation, conflict and innovation in youth work

Since 2008, the European Union – Council of Europe youth partnership has regularly organised debates and discussions on the history of youth work policy and practice in various countries in Europe, in co-operation with its partners. The results have been published the Youth Knowledge Series.

Volume 5 of the series was published in 2016. It addressed questions like: How have government policies and administrative practices over the past few decades affected youth work? What kind of strategies has youth work developed to react to them and to create a positive space for work with young people? Can educational approaches of youth work, like social pedagogy, help mediate between young people in their ever-changing lives and society? Co-operation between youth policy, youth research and youth work has been called 'the Magic Triangle' – but is the magic still there?

This publication discussed these and other topics from a variety of perspectives. The authors came not only from Europe, but also from the USA, Australia and South Africa, providing a refreshing, comparative reflection on youth work issues and opportunities, which was revealed to be global in nature. They also had diverse and varied backgrounds in youth research, youth work, youth policy making and youth worker training. This comparative historical perspective puts some of the pieces of the 'youth work puzzle' together, while many were left unconnected. It also became apparent that there was an element of randomness in the historical development of youth work. Many structures, policies, approaches and methods are not 'historically necessary'. Rather, many things could have come out differently. This volume on the history of youth work provided many readings: it provided a rich collection of national youth histories to complement and build upon the four earlier volumes, and histories and analyses of youth work for readers to compare with their own experience, sharpen their critical view and inspire their thinking.

• Primary Source

Council of Europe / European Union: Democracy: Youth Partnership https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/youth-partnership/home

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