Barriers and enablers to UK-German youth exchanges within the youth sector
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Conclusion: Enabling the sector to engage in UK-German youth exchanges
Example of infrastructure support: Taith Champions 24
youth organisations primarily want assistance with identifying partners within the UK and accessing funding for UK-German exchanges. 2. Training for youth workers – On the UK side, many youth workers, particularly those newer to the profession have limited experience of international or local/national residential (overnight) work. There is a desire for very practically focused knowledge and skill building over opportunities like training courses, which can support new youth workers to organise and deliver youth exchanges in a safe manner. On the German side, youth organisations are more confident in the abilities of their workforce. However, there may be a need to support German youth workers on working with marginalised groups during exchanges, and particularly to work with the safeguarding and risk assessment requirements of their UK partners which are linked to this. There is also a desire in Germany to better train and support young leaders when undertaking exchanges. 3. Youth worker exchanges and partner matching – 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 initial contacts between organisations in both countries. However, 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. Youth workers exchanges can be used as a tool to address this and can also play a role in the training of youth workers. Wider changes in national or regional youth work policy could play an enabling role, however these may not be required. The German youth work policy environment is generally seen as encouraging international work. The UK policy context permits international work, notwithstanding the funding limitations above. The extensive programme-based measures above, if implemented, would likely be sufficient without policy change.
Taith is an international learning exchange programme established to create opportunities for people in Wales to learn, study and volunteer abroad. It provides funding for youth exchanges delivered by the youth sector, as well as exchanges in other sectors. To support potential applicants to the programme Taith Champions have been created. In the case of the youth sector, Taith Champions are youth organisations. Their role is to raise awareness and promote Taith amongst other organisations in the youth sector, and to provide advice and support for organisations to apply for funding and to plan and run projects. They will focus specifically on engaging organisations with little or no experience of international exchange, and organisations working with those underrepresented in international exchange – people from disadvantaged backgrounds, from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people, and those with additional learning needs.
There is interest in developing UK-German youth exchanges within the youth sector in both Germany and the UK. The primary barrier preventing this is the challenging youth sector funding environment within the UK. Though the situation is not the same in all four of the UK nations, UK youth organisations have a very minimal range of possibilities to access funding for international exchanges. It is possible for Local Authorities (and in the case of Northern Ireland, the Education Authority) to resource exchanges from within their core funding. However, parts of the UK youth sector are struggling to resource their existing youth work provision, and it is very unlikely the sector as a whole can commit significant resources to youth exchanges. To some extent Wales is an exception to this, where dedicated funding through the Taith scheme 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. Whilst there are still concerns about youth sector funding within Germany, they are not as extreme as within the UK. Many German youth organisations are able to support exchanges to other countries, with whom there are dedicated funding and support programmes in place. It is clear that without a dedicated funding programme which covers the full costs of exchanges (including staffing and cover staffing), there will be no significant increase in the number of UK-German exchanges. If such a funding scheme were put in place, a variety of further enablers would then help ensure its effective use. These are: 1. Infrastructure support – On the UK side there is a desire for intensive infrastructure support that is 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 a sector to engage in international work. On the German side there is a desire for a more arm’s length approach to infrastructure, recognising the experience of the youth sector within international work. German
Taith Champions also exist within other education sectors supported by the programme (e.g., schools, adult education).
24 Cf. www.taith.wales
German youth workers had a preference for a much more arm’s length form of infrastructure. German participants described a youth work landscape that was generally well able to undertake exchanges, and primarily seeking funding and international partners to be able to do so. There was a desire for infrastructure which would help with finding UK partners and access to funding but be more limited in terms of influencing pedagogical approaches or project design. German youth organisations were keen to be seen as trusted experts who are well able to develop the content and quality of youth exchanges without external direction. Nevertheless, a desire for infrastructure which provides practical information on issues, such as visas and transfer of money, was also identified, along with the promotion of exchanges to new German organisations.
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