Barriers and enablers to UK-German youth exchanges within the youth sector
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
formal education sector. It is possible for local authorities (and in the case of Northern Ireland, the Education Authority) to utilise their core youth work funding to support youth exchanges. The extent that this occurs is not quantifiable, there is considerable autonomy for local authorities in how they use funding. However, the interviews and funding analysis indicate this only occurs to a notable extent within Northern Ireland and Wales, often as matched funding to exchanges resourced by the two grant schemes named above. Notably, funding for youth work from local authorities in England and Wales has declined by 70% between 2010 and 2020. 23 “I think there is such a big thing about the availability of grants or something else to make it possible. Because there are so many things it feels like you’re always fighting to maintain. And if I had a magic money tree, I’ll be making sure that I got a dedicated youth work team [rather than a youth exchange].” UK youth worker “So, if there is any money available for youth exchanges, it has to come with a ring fence, so it has to be spent on that. Without that, any additional funds would get subsumed into [paying debts or preventing cuts to services].” UK youth worker These severe limitations in resourcing in the UK manifest themselves as a lack of potential partners for German organisations. German interviewees described a perceived lack of interest from UK partners, difficulties making new contacts, as well as having to end regular exchanges with established UK partners, who experienced cuts to their core funding.
With regard to funding regulations and complexities, interviewees in both Germany and the UK described the complexity of Erasmus+ youth applications as burdensome and were keen to avoid a bureaucracy in any new schemes. German participants in particular were keen for funds that gave flexibility to youth organisations on the basis of them being trusted experts. Many felt that funding guidelines from existing schemes were too strict about how exchanges should be structured and their content. This was said to lead to a tendency to artificially design exchanges to fit the funding guidelines, which might then fail to meet the identified needs of the target audience. Therefore, it was said that funding should be more open and flexible. During interviews, navigating safeguarding and risk assessment procedures was also seen as a barrier with regard to complex requirements on the UK side. Most UK interviewees saw this as necessary and not something removable. But it was acknowledged, particularly by German interviewees, that it created an extra level of administration and a barrier to collaboration. During the youth worker survey, participants were asked if they agreed that their organisation could find and develop international partnerships and exchanges if it had the resources to do so (partnership ability) and if their organisation had access to support and information on developing UK-German youth exchanges (access to infrastructure support) (Graph 5.10). On the UK side 84% (n=38) of participants agreed or strongly agreed their organisation had the ability to develop partnerships, but only 57% (n=26) of participants agreed or strongly agreed they had access to infrastructure support. On the German side, participants were also confident in their organisation’s partnership ability , with 66% (n=50) agreeing or strongly agreeing their organisation had this ability, and 60% (n=45) agreeing or strongly agreeing their organisation had access to infrastructure support.
Graph 5.10 Youth workers – Organisational access to information, support, and partners, by country group
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly agree
UK - Access to infrastructure support
15.6
26.7
40.0
17.8
UK - Ability to develop partnerships
8.9
6.7
44.4
40.0
DE - Access to infrastructure support
5.3
6.7
28.0
41.3
18.7
DE - Ability to develop partnerships
9.3
24.0
49.3
17.3
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Valid % (UK n=45, DE n=75)
infrastructure support delivered by youth work bodies. The situation in Wales was different to the rest of the UK, where the support offered by the Taith programme for international exchanges was seen to be positive and well connected to the sector through its sector Champions model. Within Germany, interviewed youth workers focused on the desire for infrastructure to help find suitable UK partners. They identified that many youth workers did not know where to start building UK contacts, especially in the non-school sector. It was said that youth workers often do not know what structures currently exist to encourage cooperation with the UK, or whom they can approach to begin building contacts. However, it was understood that there were still a range of infrastructure bodies providing support for international work, though some were focused on supporting exchanges to countries other than the UK.
Within the interviews UK youth workers described that they have highly limited infrastructure support for UK-German youth exchanges and for international work in general. UK youth workers described their organisations being unsure what opportunities and possibilities were available for international work or working with Germany, and that they would naturally turn to youth sector infrastructure bodies if they were looking for this. However, it was identified that the youth work infrastructure (e.g., The National Youth Agency, Youth Link Scotland) were not currently resourced to provide support around international work but were keen to do so. Several interviewees described non-existent or weak relationships with the organisations outside of the youth sector currently providing support (British Council, UK-German Connection). However, some interviewees also had positive relationships with these bodies. There were concerns that these organisations were not youth work focused, and interviewees had a preference for
23 Cf. YMCA, 2020, Out of Service: A Report Examining Local Authority Expenditure On Youth Services In England & Wales
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