Findings from the survey of young people, youth workers and youth organisations. This research was conducted by People Dialogue and Change on behalf of IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany. The survey was conducted as part of the UK-German cooperation under the umbrella of UK-German Connection.
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Findings from the survey of young people, youth workers and youth organisations
Research
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Acknowledgements This research was conducted by People Dialogue and Change on behalf of IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany. The survey was conducted as part of the UK-German cooperation under the umbrella of UK-German Connection. IJAB strengthens and shapes international youth work and international youth policy cooperation across Europe and around the world. We promote international exchanges and programmes with the aim of creating greater mutual understanding, offering international learning opportunities, enabling more participation, and combating xenophobia, racism and violence.
We would like to thank all of the stakeholders, research participants, and contributors to this research including:
Steering group members Sabine Brodesser, Project Officer International Youth Policy Cooperation, IJAB Christina Gerlach, Head of Department International Youth Policy Cooperation, IJAB Ute Paetzig, Director, UK-German Connection Shannon West, UK Schools Lead Education, British Council
Resonance group members UK members Annette Callan, YouthAction Northern Ireland Elsa Cardona, British Youth Council
Liz Green, YouthLink Scotland Shannon Lacy, Youth Cymru Mary McGrath, Educational Authority Northern Ireland Hannah McMullen, Youth Focus North West Michele Meehan, Youth Scotland Leigh Middleton, National Youth Agency Kari Morgan, Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs (BGC) Wales Sophie Richardson, British Youth Council Manon Williams, Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services (CWVYS) German members Annemarie Benke, Deutsche Beamtenbund-Jugend NRW (dbb jugend nrw) Jasmin Kampa, Stadt Hamm, KUBUS Jugendkulturzentrum Mayka Kleine-Hering, aktuelles forum e.V.
Nadine Möltgen, Jugendrotkreuz, Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Landesverband Nordrhein e.V. Ferdinand Rissom, Deutsche Sportjugend im Deutschen Olympischen Sportbund e.V. (DOSB) Lea Sedlmayr, Bayerischer Jugendring (BJR) Michael Vieth, Bundesstadt Bonn, Amt für Kinder, Jugend und Familie, Jugendpflege, Jugendschutz Rolf Witte, Bundesvereinigung Kulturelle Kinder- und Jugendbildung e.V. (BKJ)
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Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Foreword
Table of contents
resulting from the UK’s exit from the EU, the impact of the pandemic and changes in the cost of living. This research identifies significant hurdles the youth sector is facing to do international activity well and do it inclusively so that those young people who are least likely to experience international work are able to. As a result of the pandemic, many young people have not experienced international activity in person in the last few years and the prospect can seem daunting and out of reach. Having not experienced it as young people themselves, many early career youth workers are also less experienced than they might have been before. Changes in the cost of living make many assume that international experiences are financially out of reach. Additionally, youth workers and senior managers are faced with the difficulties of navigating more complex administration: visas, passports, and ensuring a safe environment. Despite these challenges, the message from respon dents in both countries is clear. There remains a good level of international expertise to draw on in the sector. Increasing the quantity and quality of international work is possible, so long as the right kind of financial and capacity building support is available. This support needs to be not only for the direct costs of taking part in an exchange, but also for the indirect costs. None of this is insurmountable, but it does require a different design than may have been previously on offer. This research provides a refreshed insight we can combine with our many years’ experience to inform and encourage greater UK and German youth contact. We look forward to using these insights to deliver deeper connections together with our youth sectors, youth workers and young people in the UK and Germany.
List of graphs and tables
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International experiences are a foundational opportunity for young people to build skills, knowledge and positive attitudes to collaborate, engage and work in a more globalised world. Even short trips where participants are directly meeting peers are found to have a positive impact: building confidence and resilience; broadening perspectives and aspirations; and developing a world view. This research is timely. It is being published as international work involving in-person encounters between young people is starting to recover after the impact of the global pandemic. The purpose of this research is to better understand the views of youth and youth workers in the UK and Germany about international exchange – both in general, and between our countries. In particular, this insight will be used to inform the design of the offers of UK-German Connection – a flagship Schools and Youth initiative funded by the UK and German governments. However, the conclusions and insight from this research will have resonance for international youth work between other countries. The voices from the youth sector in both countries give us much encouragement. Interest in UK-German collaboration and exchange among young people and their youth leaders is strong. While there may be some differences in the need for support in each country, there is no doubt that the appetite to engage is there – if the design of the support and opportunity is right. Respondents tell us that there is great flexibility in the themes they wish to engage in, how they travel and where they might stay. We can also see clear preferences for more group experiences over individual and shorter- term over longer-term visits. However, at the same time as this recovery of international work is happening, youth and youth workers are grappling with compounding challenges
Terminology and acronyms
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Executive summary: Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
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Chapter 1: Research background
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Chapter 2: Research methodology
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Chapter 3: UK-German youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
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23 34 38 44
Youth exchange formats
Youth exchange topics
Youth exchange outcomes and benefits to young people
Conclusion: Youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
Chapter 4: Barriers and enablers for young people when taking part in UK-German youth exchanges 46 Young people’s level of interest in UK-German youth exchanges 47 Barriers affecting young people 48 Enablers for young people 52 Conclusion: Barriers and enablers for young people when taking part in UK-German youth exchanges 56
Chapter 5: Barriers and enablers to UK-German youth exchanges within the youth sector
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59 67 75
Youth worker barriers and enablers
Organisational barriers and enablers
Conclusion: Enabling the sector to engage in UK-German youth exchanges
Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations
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Annex 1: Survey participant backgrounds
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Daniel Poli Director IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany
Shannon West UK Schools Lead, Education British Council
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Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
List of graphs and tables Chapter 3
Graph 5.7 Graph 5.8
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Graph 3.1 Graph 3.2 Graph 3.3 Graph 3.4 Graph 3.5 Graph 3.6 Graph 3.7 Graph 3.8 Graph 3.9 Graph 3.10 Graph 3.11 Graph 3.12 Graph 3.13 Graph 3.14 Graph 3.15 Graph 3.16 Graph 3.17 Graph 3.18 Graph 3.19
23 24 25 25 26 27 28 28 29 30 31 31 33 35 36 37 39 39
Youth workers – Levels of interest youth worker exchange topics (DE)
Young people – Length of stay of interest, by country group
Youth workers – In your view, how relevant are youth exchanges between the UK and Germany to the work of your organisation? By country group Youth workers – In your view, to what extent are the following things barriers to your organisation becoming more involved in UK-German youth exchanges? By country group Youth workers – Organisational access to information, support, and partners, by country group Youth workers – In your view, how much would the following things encourage your organisation to become more involved in UK-German youth exchanges? By country group
Youth workers – Length of youth exchange considered suitable, by country group Young people – Group sizes of interest, by country group Youth workers – Group size considered suitable, by country group Young people – Transport types of interest, by country group Youth workers – Transport considered suitable, by country group Young people – Interest in type of accommodation, by country group Youth workers – Accommodation considered suitable, by country group
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Graph 5.9
69 71
Graph 5.10 Graph 5.11
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Graph 5.12
Youth workers – In your view, how much would the following things increase your organisation’s ability to become more involved in UK-German youth exchanges? By country group 73
Young people – Level of digitalisation, by country group Youth workers – Level of digitalisation, by country group Young people – Organisers of interest, by country group Youth workers – Organiser considered suitable, by country group
Annex Graph A1 Table A1 Table A2 Table A3 Table A4 Table A5 Table A6 Table A7 Table A8 Table A9
86 87 88 88 89 90 90 91 92 92
Age distribution of youth survey participants
Residence of youth survey participants compared to general population (DE) Residence of youth survey participants compared to general population (UK)
Youth workers – Roughly what proportion of the young people that you work with are from vulnerable or marginalised groups? By country group
Education and employment status of youth survey respondents
Young people – Exchange topics wanted (DE) Young people – Exchange topics wanted (UK)
Past experiences of youth exchanges
Youth worker survey participants by job role and country Youth worker survey participants by organisation type Working locations of German youth work participants Working locations of UK youth work participants
Youth workers – Exchange topics considered suitable, by country group Young people – Appeal of different benefits of UK-German youth exchanges (DE) Young people – Appeal of different benefits of UK-German youth exchanges (UK) Young people – Elements of other country’s culture that are of interest to participants when taking part in a UK-German youth exchange, by country group Youth workers – Outcomes for young people sought from exchanges, by country group
41 42
Previous involvment in exchanges
Graph 3.20
Terminology and acronyms
Chapter 4 Graph 4.1
47 48 49 49 50 53 53
Young people – Level of interest in youth exchanges (DE) Young people – Level of interest in youth exchanges (UK) Young people – Barriers to UK-German youth exchanges (DE) Young people – Barriers to UK-German youth exchanges (UK)
DE / Germany – The Federal Republic of Germany IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany Local authority – This term is used in the UK to refer to local government and is comparable to the term ‘municipality’. Marginalised groups – Refer to groups of people which are experiencing social exclusion (e.g., people in poverty, disabled people). No specific definition of which groups this applies to was used within this research. Various other terms were also used by research participants and stakeholders (e.g., vulnerable young people, young people at risk). UK / The United Kingdom – The United Kingdom of Greater Britain and Northern Ireland. The four UK nations – Refers to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Youth organisation – Refers to any structure or body which delivers youth work or related services. This includes both public, state, and local authority services as well as civil society and voluntary sector organisations. Bundesländer / federal states – Germany is a federal republic consisting of 16 federal states. According to the German Constitution, some areas, such as foreign policy and defence, are the exclusive responsibility of the federal government (i.e., the federal level), while others are the joint responsibility of the federal states and the federal government. This includes the area of youth work as well as culture, which in Germany encompasses most forms of education and vocational training.
Graph 4.2 Graph 4.3 Graph 4.4 Graph 4.5
Young people – How much do you agree ... I would need close support from someone I trust, like a youth worker or mentor, to take part in a youth exchange (by country group) Young people – Extent to which various factors enable participation in youth exchanges (DE) Young People – Extent to which various factors enable participation in youth exchanges (UK)
Graph 4.6 Graph 4.7
Chapter 5 Graph 5.1
Youth workers – Evaluation of own competences to engage in youth exchanges, by country group Youth workers – How much would training in the following areas improve your ability to organise or support UK-German youth exchanges? (UK) Youth workers – How much would training in the following areas improve your ability to organise or support UK-German youth exchanges? (DE) Youth workers – Enablers to own ability to take part in UK-German youth exchanges (UK) Youth workers – Enablers to own ability to take part in UK-German youth exchanges (DE)
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Graph 5.2
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Graph 5.3
62 64 64 65
Graph 5.4 Graph 5.5 Graph 5.6
Youth workers – Levels of interest youth worker exchange topics (UK)
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Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Background
Executive summary:
› 26 key informant interviews with youth workers in the UK and Germany, › Consultation workshops with young people in margi- nalised circumstances run by youth organisations in the UK, › An analysis of UK funding sources suitable for youth exchanges to Germany, › A project resonance group composed of youth workers from the UK and Germany who had either extensive experience of UK-German youth exchanges, and/or played a key strategic role in the youth sector in their country and/or internationally. The role of the resonance group was to inform the design of research methods, and to support interpretation of results. The research findings will create a basis for encouraging the development of UK-German youth exchanges. With the help of the results of the research, youth exchange offers to young people in both countries as well as the underlying structures are to be further developed. The research will be used to inform the development of UK-German Connection’s youth offer and should inform other UK-German youth activity and organisations engaging or wishing to engage in bilateral youth exchanges.
To this end IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany, in cooperation with UK-German Connection and the British Council, initiated research with young people, youth organisations, and professionals in international youth work within both countries. A project steering group of representatives of IJAB, UK-German Connection, and the British Council was responsible for the technical coordination of the project, the coordination of conceptual issues regarding the respective UK and German working contexts, as well as the coordination of the respective stakeholders. IJAB contracted People Dialogue and Change to undertake the research as part of a project grant from the German Federal Foreign Office. The aim of the research was to gain in-depth knowledge of the needs, opportunities, and challenges of the various stakeholder groups with regard to the services offered in the context of UK-German youth exchanges. The research was conducted between June and December 2023. It was based on: › An online survey in Germany and the UK with 903 young people (age 16 to 26) and 142 youth workers,
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
The governments of the UK and Germany wish to increase and enhance UK-German youth exchange activity by strengthening and developing the offer and services provided by UK-German Connection.
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Executive Summary: Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Conclusions
Interest and motivation for UK-German youth exchanges In both countries there is sufficient interest from both young people and youth workers in developing UK-German youth exchanges. Lack of interested stakeholders is not likely to be a barrier to any future initiatives.
recognised that effective youth exchanges typically require partners working with similar target groups on both sides. This enables exchanges to bring together young people with common interests, lived experiences, and learning needs in order to increase the potential of the exchange. It will likely be more challenging to find and match potential exchange partners between exchanges working with broader groups of young people. Collaboration around exchanges that include a high level of young people in marginalised situations may be favourable, taking into account the policy and funding landscape on the UK side. A participatory, group work based, reciprocal exchange is understood to be central to a quality youth exchange experience. This was seen to be a crucial part of maximising young people’s learning. Youth workers in the research outlined that a core part of the youth exchange experience is developing and planning exchanges with two groups of young people, one in each country. Through this young people are supported by youth workers to take the lead on designing the exchange trip, working collaboratively with the alternate group to realise a common project. Ideally, this process would then be repeated with the second group undertaking an exchange back to the first group. Follow-on activities from youth exchanges are also important. This can include reflective processes and activities which enable young people to identify how their learning from the exchange might lead them to different attitudes or choices when back at home, including further digitally based activities between participants in both countries. Whilst this approach can be achieved with a variety of formats and groups sizes, it can be understood that working with groups of up to 25 participants or less and stays of up to 14 days is a commonly envisaged model.
The principal attraction for young people is to travel, interact with other cultures and make friends. They are interested in a relatively wide range of project topics, formats, and outcomes. This suggests quite some flexibility in the types of exchanges that could be offered. For both youth workers and young people, there is a strong value placed on personal development through intercultural learning and being within new environments. Experiencing a new environment, learning to interact within it, as well as with local culture, provides a transformative learning opportunity for young people. According to youth workers, the topic or theme of an exchange is best understood as a methodology through which intercultural learning can be delivered. Topics and themes should therefore be led by the specific participants’ interests and determined at project level. Within this context there are still, however, some approaches that are less widely supported: › Digital only formats (e.g., virtual exchanges), though it is accepted amongst both young people and youth workers that digital tools will be used during prepara- tion and follow-on activities. › Individual exchanges. Although these are of interest to young people, especially in Germany, this format is not motivating for the youth sector in either country. There is a preference in the UK youth sector for targeting young people in marginalised circumstances, driven by the policy and funding landscape in the UK. UK youth provision has a significant cohort of young people in these circumstances accessing it. In the German youth sector youth work is open to all with a commitment to inclusion of marginalised groups. There are also German organisations specialising in work with marginalised groups (“Jugendsozialarbeit”), although they are less likely to be actively involved in youth exchanges. It is
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Executive Summary: Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Enabling the youth sector When it comes to funding for UK-German exchanges, there are barriers presented by the challenging UK funding environment. Though the situation is not the same in all four of the UK nations, overall, UK youth organisations have a very minimal range of possibilities to access funding for international exchanges. The UK youth sector is also struggling to resource its existing youth work provision. This makes developing new international work extremely challenging for the majority of the sector. It is very unlikely the sector as a whole can commit significant amounts of its own resources to youth exchanges. To some extent Wales is an exception to this, where dedicated funding through the Taith scheme, and a favourable policy environment is currently enabling youth exchanges to Germany. On the German side, this barrier manifests itself as a lack of UK partners and a perceived lack of interest from the UK youth sector. It is generally still expected that German youth organisations will want external funding to support youth exchanges. However there are a range of organisations actively seeking to develop exchanges, who would be well placed to begin developing them with the UK. It is clear that without a dedicated funding programme which covers the full costs of exchanges (including staffing) there will be no significant increase in the number of UK-German exchanges. Alongside financial resources, competences and experience of youth workers and youth organisations may also be an inhibiting factor in both countries. In the UK, there is concern that many youth workers, particularly those newer to the profession, have limited experience of international or residential (overnight) work, and may want training and support to develop this. There is a desire for very practically focused training which supports new youth workers to understand how to organise and deliver youth exchanges in a safe manner. Opportunities for newer youth workers to develop their competences through experiential learning, e.g., by working alongside more experienced workers are also sought. In Germany, there is a similar desire to better train and support young leaders to take on greater roles when organising exchanges – but it is understood that these young volunteers may have limited capacity to undertake extensive training.
Whilst this is a barrier to those young people, attempting to fulfil this need contradicts the recruitment approach sought by youth workers and youth organisations. In order to deliver participatory group-based approaches, youth workers outlined a desire to work with pre-existing groups of young people who were already accessing a local youth provision. In this way, a youth exchange is initiated by dialogue between a youth worker and young people, and the participants behind developing the exchange for themselves. This youth worker based recruitment approach has potential to generate interest amongst those young people who are not actively seeking exchanges. However, young people who are not involved in youth provision, would not have access to exchanges with this method. These young people may be more likely to be reached through online information platforms. Communication activity should therefore focus on directing and referring them to group-based youth provision or exchange opportunities through schools.
Finances seem to be the overriding influence affecting young people’s concerns about UK-German youth exchanges. Concerns about money * was the most commonly identified barrier by young people and financial support during a youth exchange was the most highly rated enabler. Within both countries young people in weaker financial circumstances were significantly more likely to identify that concerns about money would prevent them taking part in a youth exchange than those in stronger financial circumstances. Access to financial support, such as removing participant fees, and providing support for costs for example, passports or luggage, will be important features to making youth exchanges attractive and accessible especially to young people in marginalised groups. The survey suggests that there are some young people actively seeking to ‘register’ for UK-German youth exchanges, using the internet as their principal tool to find them and then being unable to find opportunities.
If an emphasis is placed on working with marginalised groups in any new initiatives, there may be a value to supporting German youth workers on increasing competencies for this. Linked to this, safeguarding and risk assessment requirements of their UK partners are seen to be high. Practical advice and guidance within both countries on navigating this may be needed. The desires in relation to organisation support are notably different between countries. On the UK side there is a desire for intensive infrastructure support by an organisation, institution or agency well connected to the youth sector. Such support might provide in-depth advice on the development of exchanges, enable access to funding, and generally act to encourage the sector to engage in international work. This recognises that many UK youth organisations have limited experience of international work and want close support and encouragement to become involved in their first exchanges. German youth organisations primarily want assistance with identifying partners within the UK and accessing funding for UK-German exchanges. They seek an arms-length approach from infrastructure support and funders, which trusts their organisations to design and undertake good quality exchanges. Development of partnerships between UK and German youth organisations is fundamental to the delivery of exchanges. At a basic level there is a need to establish and make available contacts between organisations in both countries, which can be facilitated through some sort of infrastructure support working in partnership between the two countries. Finding and developing appropriate partnerships also requires the possibility for youth workers in both countries to meet and connect outside of the delivery of youth exchanges. There is strong interest in youth worker exchanges as a tool to address this. These can also play a role in the training of youth workers. Youth workers in both countries identified opportunities for collaborative learning and professional development by learning from each other’s practice.
* Text passages in italics represent terms and phrases from the original survey.
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Executive Summary: Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Recommendations
Infrastructure support is required to enable and encourage youth organisations and youth services in both countries to engage in UK-German youth exchanges. Within the youth sector there is a desire to:
Based on the findings of this research, a series of recommendations on actions needed to foster greater UK-German youth exchanges were developed by the project resonance group:
Any new or updated funding, policy actions or initiatives to enable UK-German exchanges should enable the youth sector to:
10. Provide national points of contact in each UK nation which are embedded within the existing youth sector support bodies and provide intensive support and information for UK-German youth exchanges. 11. Enable a central point of contact to better provide information and partner matching for UK-German youth exchanges.
1. Develop youth exchanges which are accessible and affordable to young people.
2. Develop youth exchanges which involve young people from marginalised backgrounds.
3. Develop youth exchanges that are group-based and enable pre-existing groups of young people to actively participate in planning their own exchanges. 4. Utilise a range of different youth exchange formats and topics whilst maintaining a core focus on personal and social development, and intercultural learning.
Such infrastructure may then act to support the youth sector by:
12. Providing a brokering role that helps identify and match potential exchange partners between countries.
5. Ensure youth exchanges are high quality, well planned, and well supported by youth work.
13. Delivering or co-ordinating capacity building activities between the UK and Germany.
It is necessary to increase financial resources available to the youth sector for UK-German youth exchanges and to:
14. Facilitating longer-term partnerships between UK and German youth organisations and services. 15. Raising awareness of funding opportunities for UK-German youth exchanges through information and publicity campaigns.
6. Develop a grant-based funding programme for UK-German youth exchanges which covers the full costs of exchanges to organisations, including staff costs.
16. Within the UK only, provide 1 on 1, mentoring style support for youth organisations.
7. Utilise a flexible funding approach which gives autonomy to applicants.
8. Offer a range of different funding routes to support UK-German exchanges including,
It is also necessary to build competences and confidence of youth workers to run UK-German youth exchanges. To achieve this there is a desire to:
a. An open funding stream, b. A specialised funding stream for youth exchanges with marginalised groups of young people, c. A funding stream for networking, partnership building and youth worker exchanges, d. A small-scale, rapid access ‘kick-off’ fund.
17. Enhance training for the youth sector in both countries on delivery of youth exchanges.
18. Develop a bilateral network of youth workers focused on UK-German youth exchanges.
9. Increase resources available to the youth sector in general.
19.
Develop youth worker exchanges.
20. Develop a suite of best practice resources and practical tools for organising UK-German youth exchanges.
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Research background
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
1 Research background
› Identify the needs of stakeholders (young people, professionals, and organisations) pertaining to UK-German youth exchange and cooperation. › Identify challenges currently faced by organisations interested in youth exchange between the UK and Germany. › Identify opportunities for and barriers to active participation in youth exchange between the UK and Germany. › Identify the reasons for participating in international youth work and exchanges and the expected impact and outcomes. The research was conducted between June and December 2023. The aim of the study is to create a data-based foundation for cooperation between Germany and the UK in the youth sector. With the help of the results of the research, youth exchange offers to young people in both countries as well as the underlying structures are to be further developed. The research will be used to inform the development of UK-German Connection’s youth offer and should inform other UK-German youth activity and organisations engaging or wishing to engage in bilateral youth exchanges.
To this end IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany, in cooperation with UK-German Connection and the British Council, initiated research with young people, youth organisations, and professionals in international youth work within both countries. A project steering group of representatives of IJAB, UK-German Connection, and the British Council was responsible for the technical coordination of the project, the coordination of conceptual issues regarding the respective UK and German working contexts, as well as the coordination of the respective stakeholders. IJAB contracted People Dialogue and Change to undertake the research as part of a project grant from the German Federal Foreign Office. The aim of the research was to gain in-depth knowledge of the needs, opportunities, and challenges of the various stakeholder groups with regard to the services offered in the context of UK-German Youth Exchanges. The following objectives for the research were set by the project steering group: › Identify needs and opportunities for UK-German cooperation in youth exchange.
The governments of the UK and Germany wish to increase and enhance UK-German youth exchange activity by strengthening and developing the offer and services provided by UK-German Connection.
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Research methodology
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
2 Research methodology
Online survey An online survey was distributed in Germany (DE) and the UK between July and September 2023. It was available in German, English, and Welsh. The survey was targeted at young people (age 16 to 26) and youth workers, with different questions to each group. There were 903 (n=197 UK, 706 DE) valid responses from young people and 142 (n=52 UK, 90 DE) valid responses from youth workers. Survey distribution was undertaken by IJAB, UK-German Connection and the British Council, using their existing publicity channels. The sampling method was intentionally opportunistic and is not formally a representative sample. Like any sample of this nature, results should be interpreted with caution. In the youth section of the survey the German sample size was reasonably large, well matched by geography, and included young people from a range of educational, employment and financial backgrounds. The UK youth sample was smaller, reasonably well matched by geography, and included young people from a range of educational, employment and financial backgrounds. Known limitations within the sample are: › A likely over-representation of both youth workers and young people with previous experience of youth exchanges or an interest in youth exchanges. This is
likely to lead to an overestimation of positive attitudes toward youth exchanges as well as youth workers’ level of competence to support exchanges. › A likely over-representation of young people on the UK side interested in languages and language exchange being overemphasised in the results. The UK young people’s sample had a notable number of participants previously involved in UK-German Connection pupil exchanges focused on language. › A smaller than optimum response rate in the UK from young people, reducing reliability of results in this area. In both countries there is a substantial over- representation of young women compared to young men (74.6% female, 21.7% male, 3.65% other or not disclosed). However, comparison of results between males and females revealed few significant differences and this may not have affected results overall. A measure of subjective financial wellbeing linked to living circumstances was used to make comparisons between young people in weaker financial circumstances (n=14 UK, 76 DE, 10.4%) and stronger financial circumstances (n=166 UK, 613 DE, 89.6%) throughout the study to explore differences in economic backgrounds of participants.
This research was undertaken using an applied research approach, emphasising gathering usable and useful intelligence to inform the development of future policy or programme initiatives. Five distinct methods were used.
See the annex for further details on the survey sample.
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Research methodology
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Key informant interviews Online, semi-structured interviews (n=26) were conducted with youth workers in Germany and the UK in both German and English languages. Participants were selected based on their ability to provide insight into the youth sector as a whole, with a focus on those in job roles or with exchange experiences that enabled this. They were recruited via the professional networks of the project steering group, and through sign up during the online survey. Consultation workshop tool Within the UK, a workshop tool to deliver consultation activities to young people was developed and distributed to interested youth organisations on request. The workshop tool was designed to enable youth workers to run consultations with young people who may not want to or be able to take part in the survey, especially those from marginalised backgrounds. It utilised non-formal education methods and creative discussion techniques. Two youth organisations took part, both of whom ran the consultation workshop with young women aged 14-17 (n=21). The youth organisations both described their respective participants as being from lower income backgrounds and having no previous experience of UK-German youth exchanges.
Analysis of UK funding sources In response to the initial research findings, an analysis of potential UK funding sources for UK-German youth exchanges was undertaken. Various grant search engines were used by a sector expert to identify open access grant funds which matched all of the following criteria: › Funds that are targeted at youth organisations / youth services to apply to deliver youth work and youth activities. › Funds that give more than ten grants a year of £10,000 each or over. › In the case of England, Scotland and Wales, funds that cover more than one local authority area, or in the case of Northern Ireland, funds that cover all of Northern Ireland. › Funds that are open or, if closed, are likely to re-open. › In Germany, the federal government’s Child and Youth Plan 1 is a nationally accessible funding instru- ment for exchanges with the UK. Resonance group Two meetings were held with a project resonance group (see Acknowledgements section) composed of youth workers from the UK and Germany. The role of the resonance group was to inform the design of research methods, and to support interpretation of results. Participants had either extensive experience of UK-German youth exchanges, and/or played a key strategic role in the youth sector in their country and/ or internationally. They were recruited by invite from the project steering group.
1 Child and Youth Plan of the Federal Government | Information System Child and Youth Services in Germany (kinder-jugendhilfe.info)
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UK-German youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
3 UK-German youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
Youth exchange formats
Length of stay Short stays up to 14 days were the most popular length of stay, according to young people in the survey. These appealed to more than three quarters of young people in both countries. Nearly three quarters (69.3%, n=478) of young German participants were interested in long stays (14+ days) and only around one third (39.0%, n=248) of young German participants were interested in very short stays (3-4 days) . This was not the case with the UK where both very short stays and long stays appealed equally to around half of UK young participants (Graph 3.1). The results were similar for youth workers in the survey (Graph 3.2). Responses were also compatible for youth workers in both countries. Short stays up to 14 days was the most popular option considered suitable, followed by very short stays (3-4 days) . There was relatively limited support amongst youth workers for long-term stays (14+ days) . Discussion in the interviews and with the resonance group identified that the capacity of youth workers to support long stays was limited.
Interviews with youth workers and discussions with the resonance group suggested a strong interest in reciprocal (two-way) exchange, where two groups of participants took it in turns to stay in the other’s country. Non-reciprocal exchanges were still considered viable to youth workers, but bilateral reciprocal exchange was assumed as the default. “Ideally, there’ll be lots of shared experiences and it will be about learning from other people ... it’s the issues that they’re facing and the struggles that they’re having in common. So, I think in an ideal, it would be something that would be quite a regular sort of connection between two places.”
UK youth worker
Graph 3.1 Young people - Length of stay of interest, by country group
Results from the survey with young people and youth workers, supplemented by interviews with youth workers as well as resonance group discussions.
51.0% 39.0%
80.9% 82.6%
52.1% 69.3%
Very short stay (3-4 days)
Short stay (<14 days)
Long-term stay (14+ days)
Valid % multiple answers possible
UK (n=194) DE (n=690)
22
23
UK-German youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
in marginalised circumstances are understood to require higher levels of support and therefore benefit from exchanges with a higher ratio of youth workers to young people.
The importance placed on working with marginalised groups by UK youth workers (see Chapter 5) may also explain their preference for working with small groups compared to their German counterparts. Young people
Graph 3.2 Youth workers – Length of youth exchange considered suitable, by country group
Graph 3.3 Young people – Group sizes of interest, by country group
100%
UK (n=194) DE (n=690)
45.7% 35.4%
82.6% 86.1%
19.6%
7.6%
82.2
80%
73.2
72.9
66.5
Very short stay (3-4 days)
Short-term stay (up to 14 days)
Long-term stay (14+ days)
60.0
60%
Valid % multiple answers possible
41.2
40.2
40%
30.0
UK (n=46) DE (n=79)
20%
0
Group size For group exchanges, the sizes of groups desired by young survey participants in both the UK and Germany were similar. Small group (less than 10 people) was the most popular format, closely followed by mid-sized group (11-25 people). Large group (25+ people) exchanges appealed to only around a third of young people in both countries. There was a much greater interest in individual exchanges within Germany than there is in the UK. Nearly three quarters (72.9%, n=503) of German participants are interested in this compared to less than half of UK participants (40.2%, n=78) (Graph 3.3). The results from youth workers were comparable to the results from young people, apart from much less support for individual exchanges from youth workers. Youth workers' preferences on group sizes were similar between countries (Graph 3.4). Small groups and mid- sized groups were the strongest two preferences, but UK participants exhibited a stronger preference for small groups , and German participants saw both sizes as near equally favourable.
Individual
Small group (up to 10 people)
Mid group (11-25 people)
Large group (25+ people)
The interviews with youth workers provided some context to these responses. Although youth workers did see a value in individual exchanges, their primary interest was in developing opportunities for group work. Group work was identified as a core part of youth work practice and therefore a core part of youth exchange. For nearly all youth workers in the interviews a youth exchange was an opportunity to provide group-based learning experiences, lasting over an extended period of time. “For me, it's simply the classic group size of 20 people, where at some point a group dynamic can develop so that everyone can easily integrate and complement each other in the group and take on different roles.” German youth worker
Graph 3.4 Youth workers – Group size considered suitable, by country group
80%
UK (n=46) DE (n=79)
71.7
58.7
60%
57.0
58.2
40%
19.6 19.0
20%
15.2
10.1
0
Individual
Small group ( up to 10 people)
Mid group (11-25 people)
Large group (25+ people)
24
25
UK-German youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Method of travel used during youth exchanges The large majority of young survey participants in both countries were open to most forms of travel, with the exception of bicycle which still appealed to around half of young people (Graph 3.5). Amongst German participants, there was a preference for using sustainable modes of public transport during UK-German youth exchanges – train, bus and ship were favoured by over 4/5ths of young German survey participants. Young survey participants from the UK did not share the same preference, train, plane, and bus are the three most popular modes of transport, and car use is ranked fourth, still favoured by nearly three quarters (73.7%, n=143) of young people.
Graph 3.6 Youth workers – Transport considered suitable, by country group
Youth workers in the interviews and resonance group were primarily interested in the most cost effective and practical forms of travel, which took priority over sustainability considerations. Cost effectiveness meant taking into account the monetary costs of travel, and also staff time. This made slower sustainable travel methods like overnight trains less viable. In the survey, UK youth workers rated plane travel higher than their German counterparts (Graph 3.6). Plane travel from the UK is typically cheaper and faster than road or rail travel for most parts of the UK outside of the South of England and London.
100%
DE (n=46) UK (n=79)
91.3
82.6
80.4
77.2
80%
69.6
63.3
63.0 64.6
60%
32.6
20%
19.0
13.0 13.9
0
Train
Bus
Ship
Plane
Car
Bicycle
Graph 3.5 Young people – Transport types of interest, by country group
100%
96.8
DE (n=706) UK (n=197)
93.3
90.0
87.1
84.6
84.0
73.7
Accommodation during youth exchanges The majority of young participants in both countries were open to all possible forms of accommodation suggested in the survey. Within both countries, youth hostel, hotel, and stay with host family, appealed to close to three quarters or more of young people and camping appealed to around half (Graph 3.7). Through the open text box, a number of participants also suggested use of shared apartments with other exchange participants. Feedback from the consultation workshops indicated young people in weaker financial circumstances may be concerned about hosting exchange partners in their family home, as they did not have the means to do so. Within the survey 80.5% (n=70) of young participants in weaker financial circumstances expressed an interest in staying with a host family compared to 85.0% (n=645) of young participants in stronger financial circumstances , however this difference was not statistically significant.
80%
68.6
68.1
61.3
59.6
In the survey youth workers had differing attitudes from young people regarding accommodation type (Graph 3.8). There was a stronger preference towards the use of youth hostels and less interest in camping amongst youth workers than amongst young people. Comparing youth workers in between countries, preferences on accommodation were generally similar. Only attitudes to the use of hotels were notably different; just under two thirds of youth workers in the UK (60.9%, n=28) identified hotels as suitable, compared to just under one third (32.9%, n=26) in Germany.
46.9
60%
20%
0
Train
Bus
Ship
Plane
Car
Bicycle
26
27
UK-German youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Digital, hybrid and in-person formats Surveyed young people were substantially more interested in in-person exchanges than virtual exchanges or hybrid formats. The same was true for youth workers. Trends were generally comparable between young people and youth workers, and between countries. Interviews with youth workers identified clearly that face-to-face exchange is a core part of the exchange experience, though use of digital tools such as video calls during preparation and follow-on can be an effective supplement. This is supported by the survey results from young people on the benefit of youth exchanges, which stress the opportunity to travel as a key benefit (see Youth exchange outcomes and benefits to young people, this chapter). Some youth work interviewees were interested in developing digital formats such as virtual reality exchanges, though these were considered experimental.
Graph 3.7 Young people – Interest in type of accommodation, by country group
“I think the hybrid is the best approach. I do think there’s something really valuable about using the digital. We have to help young people to build up to a physical exchange and then actually get the most out of it afterwards. I do think it could explain things. I think using virtual reality would probably be the most exciting way to do that. It’s not accessible for everybody. But I think doing something like that could be quite exciting, quite fun, and young. People might feel like they’re getting something out of the norm.” UK youth worker
UK (n=194) DE (n=690)
100%
92.0
86.5
80.4
79.4
80%
72.2
71.4
60%
54.2
47.4
40%
20%
0
Youth hostel
Guest family / home stay
Hotel
Camping
Graph 3.8 Youth workers – Accommodation considered suitable, by country group
Graph 3.9 Young people – Level of digitalisation, by country group
100%
87.0
82.3
80%
UK (n=46) DE (n=79)
62.0
60.9
54.3
91.2% 95.1%
36.1% 44.1%
8.2% 7.4%
60%
37.0
32.9
24.1
In-person
Virtual
Hybrid
20%
Valid % multiple answers possible
0
Youth hostel
Guest family / home stay
Hotel
Camping
UK (n=194) DE (n=690)
28
29
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