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)
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