School of Educational Sciences Research Seminar: "Self-assessment tool for competences of digital youth work"
Assessment tools are usually used as an accountability measure; to convince decision makers and funders that the job is well done, money is well spent, and the aims, priorities and strategies are reached. But in youth work assessment tools are also used, and perhaps more so, as an internal measure to develop working methods; identifying what are the strengths and the things to be improved. It is also an instrument for the recognition of youth work, as it makes the work transparent and measurable.
03/16/2023 - 12:00 - 13:00
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As a rule, assessment tools focus on individual technical skills and competences, but this tool has a broader focus. First, it not only assesses the individual competences of youth workers, but also the capacity of their organisations to support digital youth work. Second, the tool covers, not only the key basic technical competences, but also the competences to address the effects of digitalization on young people, youth work and the society – both the opportunities and risks.
Recognising that the formal education assessment tools, such as DigiComp, are a rich source of inspiration for youth work, the youth field cannot, however, copy models from other sectors. The youth work tool is modified to meet its own specificities. The competence areas and their evaluation dimensions are based on recent research on digitalization, European digital strategies and youth policy priorities such as youth digital rights, youth participation, non-formal learning, and supporting the individual and social growth of young people.
The challenge of digital policies, practices and assessment tools is that digital youth work is very differently understood and defined. Who are young people in the digital age? What should digital youth work do? How should it be assessed? Think of following 4 options: (1) Young people are the innovative change-making ‘cyberkids’ of the Digital Natives, (2) Young people are particularly susceptible to ‘attention economy’; to privacy violation, commercial persuasion, influencers, even manipulation, becoming dependent on social media and gaming, online harassment, and the list goes on, (3) Young people behave online the way they behave offline; gossiping, socializing with like-minded friends and gaming, (4) Digital young people are ‘the canaries of the digital coalmine’; functioning as early warnings of future societal troubles of digitalization. The tool does not want to exclude any of the assumptions above but it does not want to be anchored to just one of them.
The presente Dr. Lasse Siurala has been a lecturer and an assistant Professsor of Economic Sociology at Helsinki School of Economics, is a former Director of Youth Services at the City of Helsinki and the Director of Youth and Sports at the Council of Europe. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota (USA) and invited expert for Vermont Afterschool Inc (USA). Currently he is a lecturer of Youth Work at Tallinn University.
Siurala has written articles and publications on youth participation, youth work, youth policy, evaluation and digital youth work. His recent publications include “Youth Work and Techlash - What are the new challenges of digitalisation for young people?” (2020), “Managing Digital Youth Work and its Risks” (2021), “Is digitalization shrinking or expanding the civic space and youth agency” (2021) and “Perceptions of Digital Youth Work” (2022). Currently he is designing a "Self-assessment tool for competences of digital youth work" Commissioned by Estonian National Agency/SALTO PI.
The seminar will take place 16.03.2023 at 12:00–13:00 in M340 (EduSpace) and Zoom.
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