Youth report Baden-Württemberg 2003

Youth report Baden-Wuerttemberg 2003

In 2002/2003 IRIS e.V. produced (together with colleagues from the University of Tuebingen) the part-report „Youth work“ within the 2nd Youth Report in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

The aim of the IRIS-part was to explain the structure of children and youth work in Baden-Wuerttemberg but also its resources and perspectives, especially related to ist relevance for „formation“ and „education“.
Some of the most important aspects are:

• One of the main resources of children and youth work is ist richness and variety in practical experiences with very different target groups.
• Children and youth work is a self-evident fact of social infrastructure in communities.
• Children and youth work is able to activate a high number of voluntaries with a high potential of experiences with an effect also e.g. to enterprises.
• Children and youth work has developed a variety of co-operation relationships durign the last years e.g in relation to youth employment services or youth services, school system and the economic system.

In the last children and youth works was involved in several interesting discourses, e.g.:

• Participation in processes of decisions concerning subject with direct relevance and the participation in the societal development is a basic principle for children and youth work.
• Gender relations in the meaning of specialized services for young women or men (girls and boys) and as co-educative offers in other sitations have to react to the specific needs of children and youth.
• Formation and education is a central aspect in children and youth work. Social education is added by political and social education, forms of adventure orientated and cultural pedagogics etc.

An important strength of children and youth work is to have a broad knowledge about experiences and methods araound informal learning processes with differentiated target groups, also with so called disadvantaged groups of young people.
In the results of interviews with experts, reviews and analysis of material could be shown that the resources of children and youth work are often underestimated. Especially by members of the school system but also by youth services or youth administration system. But there is also a problem „inside“ children and youth work to present their potentials adequately. A chance to improve reflection and to get aware of the own strengths is to be engaged in new forms of co-operations e.g.in the debate around new school systems (full-time school). By this could be reached a revaluation of children and youth work in education und culture policies.

Overview: Youth report Baden-Wuerttemberg, Volume „Children and youth work“.
Regional survey by expert interviews, group discussions, Analysis of technical literature.

Initiator: Land Baden-Wuerttemberg, Ministery of Social Affairs
Contractor: Research co-operation (University Tuebingen, Social pedagogics, IRIS e.V.)

Time: January 2002 – December 2003.
Product: Youth Report

Download: http://w210.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/dbt/volltexte/2005/1783/pdf/Landesjugendbericht-2005-Internet.pdf

Contact person at IRIS: Gebhard Stein