An International Working Group on Higher Education in Youth Work
The Working Group on Higher Education in Youth Work is a closed group that brings together academics involved in the university education of youth workers, youth work researchers and policy makers. Bringing these three perspectives together – training, practice and policy – allows us to reflect jointly on youth work and on the young people it serves.
The group aims to offer a shared space for reflection and for the exchange of experiences, concerns and knowledge. In particular, it seeks to:
The group is conceived as an informal space for connection and dialogue. Within this framework:
Where did this all start? The first Expert Meeting on Higher Education in Youth Work was held with more than 40 participants at Humak, Finland in the autumn 2022 to which those teaching youth work at the universities and the representatives of ministries in the youth work field or education were invited. The participants stated that there is a need to continue to work together after this opening.
We are working in online meetings.
The access to the meetings can be gained through registration in our moderated mailing list. Access to the list can be found at our DFN mailing list at: www.listserv.dfn.de/sympa/info/working_group_on_higher_education_in_youth_work
The group is coordinated by:
Weaponized Neutrality: Invocations of Neutrality as a Means of Delegitimization in the Fields of Youth Work
Jana Sämann, University of Siegen (DFG Research Training Group “Consequences of Social Assistance”)
For years, “neutrality” has surfaced as a contested buzzword in German education debates. Some actors in particular invoke an alleged neutrality imperative to pressure actors in youth work, especially those pursuing emancipatory approaches. They do so despite legal and professional assessments rejecting “neutrality” as an appropriate label for social pedagogy. Drawing on an interview study with youth work professionals, this contribution examines how these interpellations of neutrality affect professional self-understanding and educational practice.
The findings show three patterns:
These patterns point to strategic discourse manipulation by political actors. Repeated invocations of neutrality discredit individual organisations and projects and, as discursive interventions, delegitimise professional working methods as such.
About the speaker. Jana Sämann studied Social Work (B.A.) and Educational Science (M.A.). She is a research associate in the DFG Research Training Group “Consequences of Social Assistance” at the University of Siegen. Her research explores civic education in youth work, with a particular focus on the interpellation of neutrality in education. She also lectures in the B.A. Social Work programme at the University of Applied Sciences Bremen.
Introduction of the results of the PD4D project (Professional Development for Diversity) at Tallinn University, which researched how youth work is taught in higher education: Link to the PD4D project
The last part of the meeting will be an open exchange on what we want this working group to be. We will discuss:
Topics of interest: which topics participants would be interested in working on in future seminars.
Let´s continue to talk about youth work and how to teach youth work on higher level education.
We´ll have the next opportunity for a joint talk on Thu 20th November 2025 from 14:30-16:30 CET (15:30- FIN, 13:30- UK).
Today, we are going to have two presentations to encourage our discussions.
Lara Morcillo (PhD-student from the University of Girona): Youth voices in youth participation: Towards new forms of youth participation.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Thimmel (University of Applied Sciences Köln): The fact and the question?
How can we build up an academic and theoretical knowledge based discussion - and not only an research discourse - about youth work, about European youth, global youth work. How strong are our on theoretical thoughts depended from our national discourse / thinker about nonformal education and youth in the context of the national social / welfare politics.
Have we common ground by speaking about concepts like - participation, democracy, emancipation.... and all the expressions in the policy paper ? Can we have youth work in authoritarian countries?
In this meeting, we follow the topic of how to position youth welfare and youth work within the climate crisis.
Prof. Dr. Christian Spatscheck (Hochschule Bremen, Faculty of Social Sciences): Ecosocial Work and the Climate Crisis - Challenges and Approaches for Child and Youth Welfare
Prof. Dr. Christian Spatscheck is a Professor for Theories and Methods of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Hochschule Bremen, City University of Applied Sciences.
Thank you for being part of this meeting.
- Welcome and nice to meet you after two years
- The concept of the small scale presentations or lectures in the field of teaching youth work in HEI´s
Louise Sheridan (University of Glasgow): Paulo Freire in relation to youth work and youth participation /
Eeva Sinisalo-Juha (Humak University of Applied Sciences): Development from the youth research to the studies, to a compulsory course of the curriculum
Joanne Cassar (University of Malta): The mental health of the students
Barnabás Gulyás (Eötvös Loránd University Budapest): Strategic cooperation in Education and Training of youth workers (EAT SNAC)
Time to discuss the possible coming meetings: How to continue – the next meeting, the topics, density, the best days….