Field visits

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Field visits on Wed 20th Feb

CENTRE OF EXPERTICE FOR OUTREACH YOUTH WORK AT YOUR SERVICE

The Centre of Expertise for Outreach Youth Work (CEOY) seeks to increase social empowerment of young people as a part of the national network of Youth Work Centres of Expertise. These Centres develop and promote competence, expertise and communications in the youth sector. CEOY operates nationally, supporting and developing the methods, processes and competences in the field and collecting and disseminating information with other outreach youth work organisations, workers and partners. CEOY’s objective is to further define the framework in which outreach youth work operates, increase knowledge and networking within the field, find common principles, and improve the processes and management of outreach youth work locally, regionally and nationally. This includes mapping the existing competences, providing training for the workers and management, and sharing information about the competences needed in the field with the youth work educational institutions.

 

DIAKONIA COLLEGE OF FINLAND AT YOUR SERVICE 

The Diakonia College of Finland is a nationwide private education provider. We train professionals for the social, health, beauty, humanities, education and catering sectors, as well as providing leadership training. We offer a Youth Leader’s upper secondary education qualification. We also organise pre-vocational programmes, coaching and services for individual paths for training and employment, and provide general education. We provide further training for professionals and offer the services of our apprenticeship office. In addition, we provide general adult education for organisations and individuals, free of charge. Project and development cooperation is implemented jointly with businessesand educational institutions.

The integration of migrants into society has improved in Finland. Migrants are finding both training and work faster than before. Diakonia College is one of the leading colleges creating and giving opportunities for students from different cultures. We have methods to support students from migrant backgrounds who wish to study in the fields of humanities and education and acquire a vocational qualification in Youth and Community Instruction. Finland’s educational policy objective is to guarantee equal educational opportunities for each individual.

 

FINNISH SCOUTS AT YOUR SERVICE

 The main purpose of the Centre of Expertise of the Guides and Scouts in Finland is to develop tools, methods and operating models to identify and recognise competencies in educational institutions, working life and voluntary activities. The main goal of this Youth Work Centre of Expertise is to present a draft digital “competence disc” for demonstrating what kind of skills young people have learned in volunteering. In Finland, almost a third of the population, 1.4 million people, frequently volunteer. This is nearly 170,000 work-years in total. That’s a lot of experience and a huge amount of skills we should make visible and take into account. More than one in three Finns would like to have volunteering as an official learning environment in formal education and 78% of students would choose volunteering as a part of their studies if it was possible.

Employers, youth organisations and NGOs should promote and help the identification and documentation of learning outcomes in non-formal settings. Also, education and training providers should help students access formal education and training on the basis of the learning outcomes they have acquired in non-formal settings.

 

KOORDINAATTI AT YOUR SERVICE  

Koordinaatti is a National Centre of Expertise for Youth Information and Counselling that is appointed and funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Our task is to developand promote competence, skills and expertise for the youth sector’s national and international cooperation. We aim to strengthen the workers’ skills in youth information and counselling by producing and offering quality training, both offline and online. We train hundreds of youth workers yearly. During this visit, we will introduce the Competence Map, a Finnish quality management tool for evaluating competence and skills in youth information and counselling.As a member of the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA), we provide and adapt training from theERYICA Training System. One example is cooperation with the Estonian Youth Work Centre for educating qualified trainers in Estonia and Finland.

 

YOUTH ACTIVITY CENTRE HAPPI AT YOUR SERVICE

First field visit: At youth activity centre Happi you’ll find many different activities: Theatre Narri, Helsinki Freedom Records with its 3–4 different music studios, Street Art Office, Young Voice Editorial Board, Signaalimedia, cameras, lights and other equipment available for lending, and help for young people with photography, video filming, blue wall and internet radio stations. Happi also provides outreach youth work and has dance and sport coordinators working with a dance studio. NGOs are free to use the spaces and the equipment. Happi employs unemployed young people in media-related work. You will learn more about how we use the media as a tool in youth work, what it requires from the youth workers and how they have improved their own skills to deliver better youth work with the media as their tool.

 

 THE BOYS’ HOUSE AT YOUR SERVICE

The youth division of the City of Helsinki and the Boys’ House of Loisto Settlementti (NGO) provide sexual sensitivity and rainbow activities in youth work. The Boys’ House’s intended audience is boys and young men aged 10–28. The session includes an introduction to sexual sensitivity and work with boys, HBTLQ youth and the idea of manhood, what the work requires from the youth workers and how they have improved their skills and acquired knowledge to do their work even better. The session also provides an introduction to the Boys’ House services, group activities, individual and sexual advice and counselling, and activities from chess games to yoga for men, psycho-social activities and many others depending on the young people involved.

 

HUMAK UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES AT YOUR SERVICE

What can you learn about NGOs and youth work at a Master’s level? What happens when you reflect practical on-the-job learning in the light of academic theories? At HUMAK University of Applied Sciences you will learn what it means to be a student in the Master’s degree programme for Community Education, specialising in NGOs and youth work. The interactive session gives you an opportunity to become acquainted with one of the only Master’s programmes focusing on NGOs and youth work in Europe. Do you have questions about the contents, pedagogical approaches and areas of expertise in the program – come and ask!

 

VAHVISTAMO AT YOUR SERVICE

Welcome to the Centre of Expertise for Mental Health Promotion and Substance Abuse Prevention in Youth Work. We are called Vahvistamo. This Centre is a consortium of three organisations administered by the Finnish Association for Mental Health. The two other organisations are the Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention and the Youth Mental Health Association. Promoting young people’s mental health and wellbeing is the best way to prevent mental health problems and substance abuse. Gaming and gambling belong to our themes in addition to alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse prevention. Our Centre of Expertise offers tools for promoting young people’s mental health, life management and youth workers’ participation in this important work. Courses and materials are offered to youth work professionals in different fields.

 

KANUUNA AT YOUR SERVICE

Kanuuna, the Centre of Expertise for Municipal Youth Work, is a municipal youth work developer and trustee facilitating youth work services in all municipalities and cities. Kanuuna arranges more than 1,500 training days every year, with 300–350 participants who take part annually in thematic development network meetings and trainings. In the meetings, youth workers are the experts in various methods, sharing both experiences and good practices among their peers. Kanuuna’s experts are often invited to come along and present their vision to enrich the events. In two hours, we will demonstrate a two-day training for you, and introduce some of the themes of our development networks, such as Leadership network, Youth work in shopping centres and +16 network.

 

UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE AT YOUR SERVICE

Studying Youth Work Through Research: a charismatic personality and a social personality type are not enough for a modern youth worker. The complexities defining young people’s living conditions demand considered educational activities. Besides individual characteristics, contemporary youth work should be based on scientific knowledge.

The University of Tampere is offering a Master’s degree in Youth Work and Youth Research. During this field visit, you will meet members of staff from Tampere. We will introduce the general aims and structure of the Youth Work and Youth Research specialisation in the Master’s programme in Social Sciences. Course examples will demonstrate how serious scientific inquiry is integrated with learning at the Master’s and Bachelor’s level. At the University of Tampere, a multidisciplinary research project ALL-YOUTH (www.allyouthstn.fi) has an active role in teaching, and during our field visit you will see how teaching and research in youth issues can be powerfully combined (through the Youth Groups and Group Guidance course and through Bachelor’s and Master’s theses).

 

YOUTH RESEARCH NETWORK – FINNISH YOUTH RESEARCH SOCIETY AT YOUR SERVICE

The Finnish Youth Research Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1988, for the purpose of promoting multidisciplinary youth research in Finland. The Finnish Youth Research Society conducts its own research activities through the Finnish Youth Research Network, founded in the beginning of 1999. The Youth Research Network is a community of researchers which works together with universities, research institutes and various professionals in the field of youth work and youth policy. The operations of the Finnish Youth Research Network are based on high-quality academic and social activities. The network produces multidisciplinary research information and actively participates in discussion in society, offering perspectives for practical work with young people and for the fields of administration and politics.

 

FINNISH NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL – THE FINNISH YOUTH COOPERATION ALLIANSSI AT YOUR SERVICE

The Finnish Youth Council – Allianssi is a national service and lobbying organisation for youth work. It has 130 national youth and educational organisations as members. Allianssi was founded in 1992, and the 25 person staff work with young people, youth organisations, municipal youth work and other partners working in the youth work field. We advocate for young people and youth field, promote justice, equality, equal treatment, participation and tolerance.

 

Allianssi organises trainings and annual youth work events with thousands of participants. We promote mobility and arrange exchange programmes abroad for young people and youth workers. We support youth participation and organise youth (shadow) elections. We also work for immigrants and disseminate information. The focus of Allianssi is on improving well-being for the young, reinforcing their participation, improving their employment and equal treatment, and safeguarding the funding of youth work. Our main goal is to ensure the well-being of the Finnish youth and make sure youth are heard in decision making, both on the national and international level. Allianssi represents the Finnish youth work in Finland and in international forums. We are a member of European Youth Forum, EYCA, ERYICA and various networks in Finland. Allianssi is also the responsible body for the EU Youth Dialogue in Finland.