Introduction

The field of Youth development and activity is evolving, with growing attention, being paid to the professional development opportunities afforded those who work with and on behalf of young people. Formal course work for Youth Workers must be relevant and useful and meet the needs of diverse audiences, including both frontline workers and the managers and directors of youth development programs. When certificates, credentials, and degrees are offered through institutions of higher education, youth development professionals can acquire learning that is formally recognized. The emergence of these higher education programs could lead to a more formal educational structure for youth development workers, similar to that for public school teachers. Such programs often help participants understand the needs of young people, work effectively as partners with youth, work with families and in the context of community, and reach all youth, including underserved populations. They also teach program development, implementation, management, and evaluation.

Youth work is a progressive field that provides space and opportunities for young people to shape their own future and has a very important role for encouraging young people to take responsibility for others, as well as being engaged and involved in shaping society beyond individual interests. Youth sector employs many people working as full time, part-time, periodical/seasonal workers or on a voluntary basis, but beside it, the situation refers to recognition of Youth Work profession is European states is different. 

In Europe, we only find a few countries with well-established Youth Work policies and structures, governed by public authorities with paid Youth Workers, developed vocational training and higher education curricula for youth workers. Youth Work in Europe started to develop intensively in the last decades, mainly through civil society organization. Up to now, civil society organizations kept their position as the main providers of Youth Work. With the increasing number and scope of Youth Work projects, the need for professionalism, standardization, and quality assurance work within the CSOs became a necessity. This created a demand for professional youth workers and related studies at the Universities. 

Aim and objectives. This chapter aims to provide an overview on the present situation regarding higher education in Youth Work and identified objectives are the following:

• To specify an overview of the Youth Studies in Europe;
• To identify BA and MA Youth Work Programmes and the need for Professionalization of young people;
• To determine BA and MA Programmes in Youth Work and Community Development offered by Universities.

Those elements will provide a basis to reflect on the understanding of Youth Work as a profession and define the most important domains / fields of activity in the youth work. In addition, it will be used to identify the areas that need improvement in Youth Work and serve as the basis for the development of training programmes that will lead the way to the improvement of practice based on formal – higher education. This chapter offers an overview and understanding of the way Youth Work can be considered as a profession, due to which young people can be employed and paid. In addition, the offered certification from a higher education institution make the potential Youth Worker recognized in the society.

1. Overview of the Youth Studies in Europe

Youth Work studies are best developed and most widely offered in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, where almost every university offers such a course. Alongside Youth work studies, many universities offer combined degrees enabling people to work in this sector, such as applied psychology and criminology, community psychology, social work, working with children, etc. Depending on the university courses, the stress is put on different areas of working in that sector. However, almost all of them provide a mixture of theory and practice (e.g.: in case of BA studies practical part takes place on 2 nd and 3rd year). In this way students have the ability to apply theoretical knowledge and turn it into practice. On the other hand, in Finland and other Scandinavian countries, there is only one course on Youth Work available. 

Youth workers are able to follow studies in Social Services which its study programme aims to train professionals who will be able to work with marginalized or disadvantaged people and communities, especially in the Central and Eastern European region. Graduates will have a broad view of the society, which will enable them to develop their work in response to the rapid changes that are affecting people and communities. The above mentioned studies offer a more social pedagogical framework approach to youth workers. A different approach can be found in Poland, where every university offers studies of Pedagogy. In the due course of those studies, students have the chance to specialize themselves in different sectors such as kinder garden teaching or special pedagogy which aims at its graduates to work with people with disadvantages, marginalized youth or youth with problems with very often pathological background. Graduates of such specialization programmes can work in orphanages, governmental youth crisis centers (where youth taken away from their parents), while waiting for a placement in a foster family, lives, etc. 

All in all, the main focus of the programme is the train people in order to work with problematic youth. Those studies do not cover preparation to work with youth as such. In Austria, BA programmes offer a wide range of career opportunities including assistance and support to those with personal, family, financial and community related problems. Graduates are qualified to work in Youth Welfare, Legal Guardianship, Patient / Client Legal Representation, Parole, Out-of-Court Settlement, as well as in counseling and advocacy. Belgian universities offer more theoretical studies in social work, aiming to train people for working in the social sector in general without any specialization in youth work possible. In Germany youth work is classified under Social Work. Depending on the course, students can follow social work, social work with diaconal work or management of social services. German approach is that task of social work is to demand participation in society and equal opportunities and to achieve, how to make social, economic, cultural and political participation and to guarantee.

1. BA and MA Youth Work Programmes - The need for Professionalization

The evolution of youth work as a profession, lies within the intersection of three overlapping circles, specifically; the social policy agenda, the civil society elements and the academic discourses. Furthermore, this theory will be applied to all the social professions because the advance of the society and of the nation state enhanced the need for society to adapt its labour force and its social profession to the new societal needs. Professionalism is fully defined for the formal organization of society. There is no possibility, for a democratic society, to function relying solemnly on its formal dimension, sustained by the economy. Another dimension is absolutely required in the form of the civil society. This dimension will entice the social needs that the formal society is not able to provide. 

The civil society consists of formal groups – mainly organisations and informal groups. Both use volunteering as an existential resource. If volunteering is able to cover the societal needs that the social professions cannot (Walzer, 1998), than what is the balance between these two dimensions of volunteerism and professionalism and what is the future development of this issue? The traditional sociology of professions defines professionalization as the appropriate means to organize work. For this organisational structure, at least four main factors are of importance: 

(a) a central regulatory body to ensure standard of performance of individual members; 

(b) a code of conduct;

(c) careful management of knowledge in relation to the expertise which constitutes the basis of the professional activities;

(d) the control of selection and training of new entrants (Marshall, 1998). 

Baker (1995) defines a profession as, a group of people who use a common system of values, skills, techniques, knowledge and beliefs to meet a specific social need. The public comes to identify this group as being suited to fulfil this need. Its formal and legal recognition is achieved through licensing or other sanctions as the legitimate source for providing the relevant service. The group enhances its public credibility by expanding the body of knowledge which is accessible to its members, by redefining its skills and values, by ensuring that its members comply with established standards and publishing the actions it takes to reach set goals. Within this definition, a professional can be defined as an individual who qualifies for membership in a specific profession and uses its practices, knowledge and skills to provide services to client systems and in doing so always adheres to its values and code of ethics (Baker, 1995). 

The practical side of defining a profession also needs to be examined. The objectives that are meant here are; education, regulation and control by the state, control of standards by professional bodies, independence from non-professionals concerning professional issues and ethical standards that are controlled by professional organisations (Otte, 2007). The area chosen for this study; youth work has different approaches in different countries and it also benefit differently of social recognition. Consequently, it was challenging to find a definition that would encompass all areas of youth work as they are found in all countries involved with the project. Lauritzen’s (2006) definition was able to combine all different aspects of youth work. He claims youth work entails all of the following. ‘‘The main objective of youth work is to provide opportunities for young people to shape their own futures. 

Youth work is a summary expression for activities with and for young people of a social, cultural, educational or political nature. Increasingly, youth work activities also include sports and services for young people’’. He goes on and argues that youth work belongs to the domain ‘out of school’ education, most commonly referred to as either non-formal or informal learning. The general aims of youth work are the integration and inclusion of young people in society. It may also aim towards the personal and social emancipation of young people from dependency and exploitation (Lauritzen, 2006). According to Lauritzen, youth work belongs to the social welfare and to the educational systems. In some countries it is regulated by law and administered by state civil servants, in particular at local level. However, there exists an important relation between these professional and voluntary workers which is at times antagonistic, and at others, cooperative (Lauritzen, 2006). The definition of youth work is diverse. While it is recognised, promoted and financed by public authorities in many European countries, it has only a marginal status in others where it remains of an entirely voluntary nature. What is considered in one country to be the work of traditional ‘youth workers’ - be it as professionals or volunteers - may be carried out by consultants in another, or by neighborhood and families in yet another country or, indeed, not at all (Lauritzen, 2006).

Today, the difficulty within state systems to adequately ensure global access to education and the labor market means that youth work increasingly deals with unemployment, educational failure, marginalization and social exclusion. Consequently, youth work overlaps with the area of social services previously undertaken by the welfare state. Thus, it now includes aspects of education, employment, assistance and guidance, housing, mobility, criminal justice and health, as well as the more traditional areas of participation, youth politics, cultural activities, career guidance, leisure and sports. Youth work often seeks to reach out to particular groups of young people such as disadvantaged youth in socially deprived neighborhoods, or immigrant youth including refugees and asylum seekers. (Lauritzen, 2006).

1. BA and MA Programmes in Youth Work and Community Development offered by Universities

In this section, it is represented a list of BA and MA Programmes regarding Youth Work and Community Development offered by Universities World Wide: 

University of Brighton is offering the opportunity to trainees or part-time youth workers to get their University degree that is also endorsed by the National Youth Agency. It also offers the professionalization required by the Joint Negotiation Committee framework for youth and community workers. Essential to the degree programme is the placement experience for the 3 years of study, excellently balancing the studies and the practical work. 

The Open University presents the programme BA (Honors) in Youth Work as the degree that would help one to get the knowledge and skills needed for a career in youth work. The programme includes three stages. The first stage is dedicated to understanding the scope of youth work, the values and the working principles in youth work as well as the role and the responsibilities of the practitioners and policy makers and the next 2 stages are more practice oriented.

University of Gloucestershire runs the BA Youth Work programme under the Faculty of Applied Sciences and offers an excellent description of the programme, of the knowledge and skills that one would acquire and also on the learning outcomes at the end of the process. Moreover, the teaching techniques are combining elements of Independent and collaborative learning; Learning for life and employment; Learning for the future; Research/practice informed learning and teaching.

De Montfort University, Leicester BA programme in Youth and Community Development allows one both to get the transferable skills required in a wide range of areas but also to work with professionals in practical work during the placements. The transferable skills and employment opportunities, at the end of the Programme include: Detached Youth Work, Community Development, Work with Homeless/Hostels,Schools and Colleges, Work with Refugee & Asylum Seekers, Mentoring, The Art, Health, Youth Justice Work.

Humak University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland - Bachelor Youth Work and Social Equality. Differently than the above described programmes, Humak University BA focuses on methods for empowerment and the topics of social inclusion and early intervention. Active citizenship and equality are other areas of focus during the programme. The Training programme Topics covered include sociology, psychology, educational science, social policy and social pedagogy. Previous studies in the field of youth and community work, NGO’s and civic activity, social work or education are recommended.

University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Linz , Austria - The BA programme offers a wide range of career opportunities including assistance and support to those with personal, family, financial and community related problems. Graduates are qualified to work in Youth Welfare, Legal Guardianship, Patient/ Client Legal Representation, Parole, Out-of-Court Settlement, as well as in counselling and advocacy.

MA Studies in Youth Work and Community Work For the graduate studies, the UK is again the case that offers excellent study programmes:

Youth and Community Work MA - Liverpool Hope University offers an MA programme that is combining the skills development of innovative and reflective practitioners, who are able to engage and the development of positive relationships within communities, which lead to education and discovery. The programme had been designed on a participatory manner, having documented the process with the users of the service and reflects today’s youth and community work agenda.

Youth and Community Work MA - University of Northampton equips the graduates with the essential skills and competencies on responding to the new and emerging delivery arrangements and to the demands from practice. The taught programme delivery element is designed to take place on 1 single day per week so that the postgraduate students will use the other week days to continue in their current related employment or access applied practice opportunities. 

The teaching programme is based on combining pedagogical practices, research and youth work methodologies, offering the graduates both the opportunity to improve their working competencies in the youth field as well as to have a deeper understanding of the public policies and processes in the field of youth. 

Master in Social Work with Youth and Children of Mykolas Romeris University a joint study programme with joint study programme with Riga Stradins University, Latvia. The programme was designed so that it equips masters students with high personal and professional competence in social work that will be able to work in an intercultural level with children and youth, do research while analyzing children and youth social problems. Also, the graduates will be able to organize social work and provision of services, finding the most effective solutions to these problems, moreover – will be able to continually reflect on, evaluate their professional activities and provide these opportunities for performance improvement. During the study period, 2 weeks of intensive full-time learning are planned per semester: in Lithuania (1st and 3rd semesters) and Latvia (2nd semester). Between sessions, studies are planned online in the distance learning environment.

The M.A. European Youth Studies (M.A. EYS) was announced to be fully accredited and genuinely transnational and intercultural higher education 120 ECTS postgraduate qualification in interdisciplinary European youth studies, thereby filling an education and qualification gap at national and European levels. Having in mind the structure of the consortium, the programme was designed as the anchor for the convergence and consolidation of structured dialogue between research, policy and practice and to contribute to the development of policy-relevant research, evidence-based policymaking and informed, reflective practice. Piloted in 2011 with a short term course, the MA had an impressive network of partners including the European Commission/Council of Europe Youth Partnership, the European Youth Centers run by the Council of Europe’s Youth Department, the European Youth Forum, ISA’s Research Committee 34 (Sociology of Youth) and ESA’s Research Network Youth and Generation. The ‘Short Course’ was supported by the Youth Partnership. The Short Course took place in 2011 and it involved 30 participants - youth workers, researchers and policy makers. In this course the curriculum content and methods of the future M.A. EYS. But in 2016, there is no clear evidence that the exemplary developed programme be implemented as designed - as a 2 years long study programme.

In Greece, there is an absence of specialized studies for youth and youth work as there exist some programmes that include courses on youth work but only as part of social work studies. In that sense the Technological Educational Institute of Athens is offering a BA and an Msc in Social Work. The Technological Educational Institute of Crete offer a BA in Social Work and the Democritus University of Thrace offers an Msc in Social Policy and Social Work. Similarly to Greece, in Cyprus, there aren’t any professional studies focused entirely on youth work which is included in social work programmes offered by public and private institutions. BA degrees in Social Work are offered by the European University Cyprus, University of Nicosia and Frederick University. Open University of Cyprus offers, together with 3 European universities, an international joint degree, IMAESC in Adult Education for Social Change.

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