UK-German youth exchange formats, topics, outcomes, and benefits
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
“Personally, I always say that not every organisation has to reach every target group. But all organisations together have to reach all target groups in our country. Therefore, it should be their right [as an organisation] to be able to say they only specialise in this particular field and thus only reach this group of young people. ... All of us [organisations] together, we are responsible to be able to provide services to all children and young people and this is possible, I am
target groups, and good interpersonal exchanges were stressed. These were said to improve quality and lead to repeated exchanges between organisations.
Interviews with youth workers also emphasised the importance of good partner matching between German and UK youth organisations. Partnerships based on good understanding between organisations, common
The difference in emphasis on marginalised groups is also seen in data from the youth worker survey (Graph 3.13). UK youth workers were significantly 2 more likely to indicate their work was focused on marginalised young people than German respondents. Over half of UK youth workers (53.1%, n=26) identified that a large amount or a very large amount of the young people they worked with were from marginalised backgrounds, compared to one third (33.7%, n=29) of German youth workers.
Target groups and recruitment of young people Amongst youth worker interviewees in both countries, there was a desire that recruitment of participants to youth exchanges took place in a participatory manner, with pre-existing groups of young people developing their own exchanges. This was described as a group of young people already accessing a youth organisation (or similar) expressing an interest in youth exchanges to their youth worker. The youth worker would then support them to develop, plan and undertake that exchange as appropriate to the young people’s needs. This contrasts to an organisation designing a youth exchange without participants in place, before advertising for young people to take part in the specific exchange. “It would be nice if we had more opportunities to develop the
stems from the wider context of youth work delivery in the UK. There are strong political, policy and funding drivers which prioritise groups of young people most in need for many parts of youth work delivery. “I think youth work has a real place in offering the opportunity [for international travel] to young people
who may not be able to ever see outside of the UK [otherwise].”
convinced of it.” German youth worker
UK youth worker
Graph 3.13 Youth workers – Roughly what proportion of the young people that you work with are from vulnerable or marginalised groups? By country group
“Families, depending on their income, will make a choice about where their children go ... Families with more income at their disposal might choose to pay for drama lessons or something. A lot of our youth provision will still be linked to areas where we’ve got [housing] estates with lots of social housing and lots of diversity or low- income families ... So, I think [we would offer youth exchanges for] young people who wouldn’t have those opportunities to sort of broaden their horizons and also offer them unique opportunities.” UK youth worker
programme together with the young people. This is however only possible if you have a fixed group.” German youth worker This recruitment approach leads to emphasis on different target groups of young people between countries, as it draws exchange participants from those young people youth organisations are already working with. On the German side, interviewed youth workers suggested this means their exchanges would be open to all young people, with a commitment to making them inclusive and accessible to young people in marginalised situations. This is reflective of German youth work practice and understanding of who youth work is delivered to. On the UK side, there is a stronger imperative to prioritise or target young people in marginalised circumstances. UK youth workers talked about creating exchanges for young people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to take part in international travel, or those who were identified as most in need of youth work support and help. The emphasis on marginalised groups
50%
UK (n=49) DE (n=86)
40.7
40%
28.6
28.6
30%
25.6
24.5
20.9
18.4
20%
12.8
10%
0
A small amount (0-25%)
A moderate amount (25-50%)
A large amount (50-75%)
A very large amount (75-100%)
2 X 2 (3 df, n=135) = 9.255, p=0.026
32
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