The History of Youth Work in Europe
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ID 73811 The history of youth work in Europe – Volume 3 Volume – in Europe work historyThe of youth Youth The history of youth work in Europe – Volume 3 Relevance for today’s youth work policy ollowing on from the rst two volumes of History of youth # 16 F work in Europe, each of which was based on international seminars, the Belgian Presidency of the European Union held an international and interdisciplinary conference on the history of youth work. This third volume presents the work of this conference, which widened the scope of study from national histories to questions concerning the historical evolution of youth work methods, theories and targets. The 1st European Conference on the History of Youth Work made a two-pronged contribution: to learn from history and to engage in intercultural exchange and learning. This publication Relevance policy work youth today’s for is intended to build bridges between past and future, east and west, north and south – and to inform contemporary debate on youth work and youth policy in Europe. http://youth-partnership-eu.coe.int [email protected] www.coe.int The Council of Europe has 47 member states, covering virtually the entire continent of Europe. It seeks to develop common democratic and legal principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals. Ever since it was founded in 1949, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the Council of Europe has symbolised reconciliation. The European Union is a unique economic and political partnership between 27 democratic European countries. Its aims are peace, prosperity and freedom for its 500 million citizens – in a fairer, safer world. To make things happen, EU countries set up bodies to run the EU and adopt its legislation. The main ones are the European Parliament (representing the people of Europe), the Council of the European Union (representing national governments) and the European Commission (representing the common EU interest). The history of youth work in Europe ISBN 978-92-871-7244-0 Volume 3 http://book.coe.int Relevance for today’s €29/US$58 Council of Europe Publishing youth work policy The history of youth work in Europe Relevance for today’s youth work policy Volume 3 Edited by Filip Coussée, Howard Williamson and Griet Verschelden Council of Europe Publishing The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the European Commission or the Council of Europe, their member states or the organisations co-operating with the institutions. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic (CD-Rom, Internet, etc.) or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Directorate of Communication (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex or [email protected]). To receive further information about the Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth, please visit our website at http://youth-partnership-eu.coe.int or contact us by e-mail at [email protected]. Cover photo courtesy of the Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth Cover design: Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP), Council of Europe Layout: Jouve, Paris Council of Europe Publishing F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex http://book.coe.int ISBN 978-92-871-7244-0 © Council of Europe and the European Commission, November 2012 Printed at the Council of Europe 13 3 Contents Reflecting on the historical sensation of youth work and youth policy in Europe Jan Vanhee and Hanjo Schild 5 Historical and intercultural consciousness in youth work and youth policy – a double odyssey 1 Filip Coussée 7 Youth in the life course – a history 2 Hugh Cunningham 13 The relevance of the concept of “being young together” for youth research, youth work and youth policy 3 Greetje Timmerman 23 Youth care, youth organisation and the youth movement in Flanders, 1850-1975 4 Walter Baeten 31 Aimé Bogaerts and his travelling holiday camp, Gentse Volkskinderen: a soft socialist propaganda tool on the road (1898-1915) 5 Bruno Vanobbergen and Frank Simon 43 Youth holiday camps at the Belgian seaside, 1887-1980 6 Martine Vermandere 57 A Finnish perspective: features of the history of modern youth work and youth organisations 7 Juha Nieminen 65 History of youth work and youth policy in Austria 8 Manfred Zentner 75 The history of youth work and its relevance for youth policy in Serbia today 9 Zora Krnjaic´ 83 Developmental psychology, youth sociology and social pedagogy – three perspectives on youth work and youth work policy 10 Juha Hämäläinen 93 History of European youth policies and questions for the future 11 Lasse Siurala 105 From social education to positive youth development 12 Tony Taylor 117 Youth cultures and youth work: perspectives from the south of Europe 13 Carles Feixa 129 Society and youth cultures – interpretations and conclusions for youth work 14 Christian Spatscheck 141 The quest for peace, democracy and sociocultural development 15 Niels Elberling 155 Geopolitics of youth policy in post-war western Europe, 1945-67 16 Giuseppe Porcaro 163 The origins and development of open youth centres and their operating characteristics in Flanders 17 Willy Faché 167 Youth work, professionalism and professionalisation in Europe 18 Maurice Devlin 177 History of youth information in Europe 19 Mark Boes 191 The early years of innovative approaches to youth information and counselling 20 Willy Faché 201 The history of youth work with girls in the UK – targets from below? 21 Janet Batsleer 215 The development of black youth work in England 22 Diane Watt 225 A tale of two histories: a brief look at youth work in the United States 23 David Hansen, Li Chen and Michael J. Crawford 235 Youth policy: a historical essay 24 Herman Balthazar 245 Youth work, an oxymoronic practice between service and association 25 Filip Coussée, Howard Williamson and Griet Verschelden 253 Appendix – History of youth mobility in Europe Pascal Lejeune 263 List of contributors 269 1 5 Reflecting on the historical sensation of youth work and youth policy in Europe Jan Vanhee and Hanjo Schild This publication comprises the contributions of guest speakers at the 1st European Conference on the History of Youth Work and Youth Policy. Some 250 conference participants (youth workers, youth researchers, youth policy makers and officials) took part in this conference, held from 5 to 7 July 2010 in Vooruit in Ghent under the Belgian EU presidency. Two earlier workshops on “History of Youth Work and Youth Policy” in 2008 and 2009 in Blankenberge (Belgium), co-organised by the Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the Field of Youth and the Internationaal Jeugdbeleid, Agentschap Sociaal-Cultureel Werk voor Jeugd en Volwassenen of the Flemish Community of Belgium, focused on the history of youth work in different countries and their comparison, revealing the social, pedagogi- cal and political nature of youth work. The subsequent conference organised by the Belgian EU presidency added certain new perspectives to the content of the expert workshops, focusing on regional differences, and on methodological and thematic questions. The conference’s final declaration contains the following: There are many histories of youth work in Europe as well as a more recent history of Euro- pean-level youth work. It is characterised by diversity, tension and development. It has been informed and led in many different ways – through social movements, youth organisations and associations, by faith groups, the non-governmental sector and national, regional and local youth policy. It has engaged with different groups of young people, often distinguished by social class, religious belief, political affiliation, or cultural interests. It has been organised in different ways, at times led by adults, at others co-managed or self-managed by young people themselves. Youth work is both complex and often misunderstood on account of that complexity. Put simply, however, it does two things. It provides space for association, activity, dialogue and action. And it provides support, opportunity and experience for young people as they move from childhood to adulthood. In today’s Europe, it is guided and governed by principles of participation and empowerment, values of human rights and democracy, and anti-discrimination and tolerance. It is informed by a range of policies and research knowledge. It is delivered by both volunteers and paid workers. It is established through a voluntary relationship with young people. It is financed and managed in a variety of ways. It is quintessentially a social practice, working between young people and the societies in which they live. For these reasons, it has had to accommodate and deal with a range of tensions generated by this relationship. These include reconciling youth research, policy and practice, making sense of different youth policy agendas (European, national, regional and local), establishing a position in cross-sectoral activity, dealing with issues of training, competence and recognition, as well as furthering pedagogical, relational and methodological approaches to youth work practice. This publication should be seen as important because it allows us to understand his- tory, enabling us to build on past successes and avoid committing similar mistakes. The various overviews of developments in Europe’s “youth land” have presented all of us with a host of new and interesting insights. It not only sharpens our histori- cal consciousness but also helps us better grasp the present. This development is Reflecting on the historical sensation of youth work and youth policy in Europe 6 particularly interesting because of the sensation of the past, or as the famous Dutch historian Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) calls it, “a historical sensation” (Huizinga 1970).