Youth work and quality development

in Sweden and KEKS

Youth Work in Sweden

•  No national legislation for open youth work •  Local parliament decides •  Financed by municipality – paid staff •  Big variation in aims and work •  Youth Centres

Youth Work in Sweden

•  Tradition focus on “leisure” •  Focus on activities as such (not as “means”) •  “Leisure time – leaders” (2-year vocational training) •  “Meaningful leisure time activities” But at the same time: •  “Boys in street corners”, segregation, poverty, … •  Unemployment, school drop-outs, …

Youth Work in Sweden

•  A “double agenda” •  “Activities without a cause” Ø  Weak identity/professional role Ø  Low status Ø  Small resources

Background KEKS

Started in Mölndal Lacking: •  A coherent idea of youth work •  Clear and measurable aims •  Reliable follow-up Had difficulties with: •  Staff working in different directions •  Unclear professional identity •  No follow up

Youth centres should be the arena where young people get possibilities and support to fulfil their needs: •  Of feeling secure •  Of fellowship •  Of having an own

identity •  To express themselves

•  Of experiencing positive expectations

•  To influence / make a difference

•  To take responsibility •  To experience justice

KEKS 2005

Three municipalities that wanted to: •  Create clear and measurable aims

•  Aims that where applicable in everyday youth work •  Aims that focused on the effects on young people •  Aims that took target group and costs into account

•  Speak with a common voice •  Learn from each other Ø  Develop youth work together!

KEKS 2015 •  Network of 42 municipality departments •  Financed by membership fees •  Governed by a board (one seat for each member) •  Common…

o ”idea” on youth work and “quality” o goals/aims o system for documentation, follow up and evaluation o work on the development of competence and new

methods

Our idea of youth work

Our over all aim of youth work is to support the personal and social development of young people through non-formal learning.

In order to do this, our “idea of youth work” is that youth work should:

“Stimulate and support activities that are based on and requires the active engagement and responsibility of young people.”

KEKS

We also… •  Engage in research projects •  Cooperate with “youth worker educators” •  Support our members in doing international youth work •  Arrange open conferences on youth work •  Take active part in the (inter-)national discussion on

youth policy and youth work •  …

Quality development (according to KEKS)

The purpose of a quality system is: to make sure that work is at all stages and continually knowledge based, planned, outcomes focused/effective and evaluated and that the result of the evaluation is used to improve work.

Quality development

Quality system? •  A set of combined tools designed for gathering and

handling knowledge on how different ways of work (pre-settings and processes) corresponds with different outcomes in a way that enables adequate support actions to be taken.

Quality development

Is trying to make our operations more functional in relation to our aims

Quality development

In order to learn from our successes and mistakes and gradually improve our work we must be able to compare •  how different ways of work corresponds with •  Different outcomes

Ø A comparison based on facts, not on speculations

Quality assesment KEKS quality assurance system has four different parts •  “The logbook” – our web based system for

documentation •  An annual meeting place survey •  A group survey •  A form for key figures

Documentation •  The Logbook •  A web based documentation system that today has over

300 users •  Tool for documentation •  Tool for planning of groups / group activities •  To help communication and reflection •  Ground for analysis

The Logbook

What is being documented? •  Hours of activities (open/groups) •  Number of visitors •  Activity hours produced by youth •  Number of producers •  What happened during this shift •  Analyse of the shift

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hoursofactivities hoursproducedbyyouths

Hoursofactivities

September October

Groups What is being documented? •  Basic information about the group (upload doc) •  Description (Target group, purpose, activity) •  Planning •  Follow up •  Meeting statistics (Hours, number of participants)

Date 2016

common system for documentation of youth work

The Logbook

•  Romania–HunedoaraCountyDirectionforSportandYouth•  Ireland-CityofDublinYouthServiceBoard•  Sweden–KEKS•  Estonia-AssociationofEstonianOpenYouthCentres•  Theobjectiveisthedevelopmentofaninternationalyouthwork

documentationsystembasedonKEKS’Loggboken•  StrategicPartnershipErasmus+•  Jan2015–Dec2016

The Logbook SystemfordocumentationofYouthWork

•  Webbaseddocumentationsystem•  Easyaccessthroughcomputerandsmartdevices•  Documentationofworkdonetogeitherwithyoungpersons•  Gatherinformationtouseforfollowupanddevelopmentofyouth

work•  Makecommunicationbetweenyouthworkerseasier•  Internationalsystem–improveyouthworktogether–thesamecore

principleofyouthwork

Phase1(Jan–May2015)Howisdocumentationbeeingdoneinthedifferentcountries?Commonneedsfordocumentationofyouthwork.Phase2(June–September2015)Agreeonhowthesystemshouldfunctionandcreateasketchforit.Phase317Nov-Firstmockupofthesystem-FeedbackfromRISEatDublinmeeting15Feb-Firstversionofthesysteminfourlanguagesavailable

Phase4(February15th–April2016)TestphaseusersineachcountrytestthesystemandgivesfeedbackPhase5(May–August2016)Improvethesystem-feedbackfromthetestusersPhase6(September–December2016)Disseminationevents

Annual meeting place survey •  CA 35 questions about:

o Gender, age, background, school results, etc o Safety and treatment (in relation to staff and visitors) o Attractiveness and accessibility o Influence and taking active responsibility

•  2015 - 6000 answers from 140 meeting places/youth

centres

Group survey •  Answered at the end of each semester/project •  CA 20 questions about

o Gender, age, background, etc o What “steps” they have been active in (planning,

preparations, etc.) o How they have perceived the process (“ownership”, etc.) o Learning

Process of participation •  Idea •  Planning •  Preparation •  Realisation •  Follow up The more steps that you are a part of, the higher level of participation.

Youth participation

A perception of different feelings during the process •  Being met with respect •  Being a resource •  Being responsible •  Being part in a democratic group •  …

Ø  And the stronger your perceptions are, the higher is the degree of participation

Form for key figures Is filled in every year, reporting

o Staff hours o Staff costs o Activity costs o Number of young people living in the area

Every year… the figures from “The logbook”, results from meeting place survey, results from group surveys and the key figures •  Are compiled to a total result

o For each youth centre o For each municipality/member

•  Presented variable by variable and divided on boys/girls o In relation to the results from previous years o In relation to the KEKS average o In relation to the “Good enough” – levels

The Youth Centre Goal KEKS Result

Divia%onfromequalgenderbalance(TheLogbook) 10% 16% 12% 1,04

IndexSafetyandTreatment(mpsurvey) 90% 91% 91% 1,00

Indexinfluenceandresponsibility(mpsurvey) 50% 53% 56% 1,02

Shareofproducers(TheLogbook) 30% 25% 27% 1,23

Divia%onfromequalgenderbalance(Surveys) 10% 6% 13% 0,95

Shareofac%vity%meproducedbyyouth(TheLogbook) 60% 29% 24% 0,96

Indexpar%cipa%on(groupsurvey) 75% 75% 68% 0,96

Indexlearning(groupsurvey) 85% 70% 81% 1,07

These results… are then analysed in different settings (e.g. staff, young people, politicians) and used as a basis for •  Setting goals for the coming year (what figures/indexes

should be improved) •  Development of competence (seminars, courses, etc.) •  Development of work methods •  Further research •  Showing the effects of youth work

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Documentation in the Logbook

Youth Work

Actions

Analysis and reflection

Follow-up surveys

… staff … youth

Development of: •  Competences •  Methods •  Organization

Idea/Aims

Better understanding…

This made it possible to pinpoint the crucial factor for successful youth work:

The active participation of young people And to set common goals / “Good enough – levels”

Goals/Aims

We argue that participation leads to positive effects on: •  Health •  Resilience •  Non-formal learning

Which in turn leads to: •  Better school results •  Better access to the labour market •  A better life

Common aims – “Good enough – levels”

Genderbalance 40 % Index, Safety and treatment 90 % Index, Influence and taking responsibility 50 % Share of young people that produces activities 30 % Share of activity time produced by young people 60 % Index, Participation (among “Producers”) 75 % Index, Learning (among “Producers”) 85 % Average answer on survey (1 – 5 scale) 4,3 Total relative key figure (including economy) 1,0

Quality assurance systems

Makes a difference

We can see •  that our old members deliver higher quality youth

work than our newer members •  that our members strengthen their identity and

position in relation to others

Some tendencies

•  More projects and group activities – less “drop-in youth centres”

•  Fewer, but bigger youth centres •  Focus on inclusion and norm criticism •  Focus on gender issues

Success criteria

•  A common idea on youth work •  Common measurable aims for youth work •  The ability to deliver a meaningful “receipt” on the

outcomes of work in relation to costs •  Networking on all “levels” (politicians, heads of

office and staff) and in different constellations

Success criteria

•  We work (not just talk) together in a common system

•  A “strong” system that corresponds with the idea •  A (self-)critical approach and strong focus on

development •  … not “in defence of…”

Recognise learning�a method for �

communication and reflection�www.eldkompetens.se�

Experience�Learning�

Description

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ELD Process

Documentation�

Introduction

ELD talks�

Excercises�

List of competence

Thank you! Jenny.andersson@keks.se