Project Title: UPGRADING DIGITAL YOUTH WORK: AN INNOVATIVE PROGRAMME TO EQUIP YOUNG PEOPLE WITH ADVANCED DIGITAL SKILLS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE LABOUR MARKET – DIGITAL@YOUTH WORK
Project Reference: 2018-3-DE04-KA205-017182
Program: Key Action 2 Cooperation for Innovation and Exchange of Good practice
Website: http://digital-youth.work
Summary of the Digital @ Youth Work Project: The demands of the labour market are shifting rapidly, in part due to the digitalisation of many corners of life, and the current approaches to education lands us with a digital skills gap that impacts young people’s access to the labour market and their ability to navigate our digitalised democracy.
Youth workers and youth organisations are uniquely placed (concerning their knowledge of and access to young communities) to be the catalyst for synergies at the local level between young people, youth workers, municipalities, SMEs, educational institutions and further stakeholders, to stimulate an interest in the implementation of digital skills education that would enable YP to access quality employment and engage as critical digital citizens. This KA2 first researched the disjuncture between the demands of the labour market and the digital skills focused on in each partner countries’ 2nd-level education systems. It then used this research to identify the digital skills gap and to create pilot courses on these topics. Finally, it produced a publication, ‘Vectors’, aimed at local youth workers, that is seen as a one-stop-shop for local YWs looking to create opportunities for digital skills education at the local level.
The Future is Digital – Are Youth and Youth Workers?
This KA205 project is nearing its conclusion, and as such we are running multiplier events in each partner country. In Germany, on the 18th & 19th of June, we hosted two multiplier events; the 18th focused on the role of youth workers in digital skills education and day two explored the role and opportunities for young people regarding digital skills education. Overall, these events served as an opportunity to:
- Launch our publication: Vectors: Multimedia-Ratgeber für Jugendarbeiter*innen zur Gründung eines Deep Tech Clubs // Multimedia Guidebook for Youth Workers establishing Deep Tech Clubs.
- Network local stakeholders in digital skills education, from youth workers, to local social media influencers, and young people.
- Connect the project to European-level stakeholders, with the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe inputting to the project, alongside the European Youth Forum.
- Gather data from participants on the status of digital skills education in Thuringia and the opportunities for education here for young people.
Vectors, our multimedia guidebook, is the product of the experience of the D@YW consortium and seeks to support youth workers to create digital skills education opportunities at the local level, through connecting stakeholders of many forms, from schools, to municipalities, to young people and EU-level organisations. Vectors can be accessed in a digital version here.
