The history of youth work in Europe - Volume 3
Filip Coussée, Howard Williamson and Griet Verschelden (eds.)
Following on from the first two volumes of History of youth 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-prolonged contribution: to learn from history and to engage in intercultural exchange and learning.
This publication 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.
Council of Europe, 2019. 978-92-871-8965-3
Why have political, social or environmental causes often been behind the origin and evolution of youth organisations? Have other ideas been influential too? Why have some organisations expanded well beyond their countries of origin? To what extent have they held firm to their original values and purpose, and to what extent have they adapted and evolved in changing circumstances? How have they related to youth policy or youth work agendas? How vulnerable have they been to ideology, context or political influences? Which of their characteristics have persisted over time? These are some of the questions that are explored in this book, which draws on contributions from the last seminar on the history of transnational youth organisations and their relation to youth work today.
This book has three parts. The first explores the evolution of transnational youth organisations and movements over the past 100 years. The second adds two more country histories of youth work to the body of knowledge already established in earlier volumes in the series. The third and final part focuses on 12 “trilemmas” and reflections that have emerged from the 10-year History of Youth Work in Europe project. This anchors an invitation to the youth work community to consider and debate each trilemma, independently and in relation to each other, in the context of both the local environments of youth work delivery and across the wider European youth policy context, in anticipation of the 3rd European Youth Work Convention.