Young people participate in non-formal education in youth organizations and youth centres. The main goal is not the acquisition of competencies and increasing employability, it is a side-effect. The hidden curriculum contains inclusion of young people in further education and youth work in the direction of positive youth development. In the qualitative research, 59 individual in-depth semi-structured interviews with three groups of interviewees were conducted, with 23 young participants, 20 providers of education and 16 organizers and an evaluation focus group with experts.
The results show that non-formal education in youth centres is very diverse in terms of content and time. Methods of youth work are used, with active involvement of participants. The experiential learning is most ubiquitous. It is accompanied by learning-by-doing, learning-from-mistakes, peer learning, mentoring and evaluation. Programmes are inclusive, containing support activities (ice-breakers, getting-to-know-each-other games, energizers and team-building games). The emphasis is on working in groups. Roles are fluid; participants are motivated to (later) become providers and organizers. Young people feel safe, accepted, heard, understood, included and welcome.
Young people mainly acquire key competencies for lifelong learning. The greatest emphasis is on active citizenship, literacy and personal, social and learning-to-learn competence. Among the competences for work, teamwork is in the foreground. Young people develop other competencies; among them organizational competencies, topic-specific competencies and competencies of youth work and working with young people.
The competencies benefit them in all aspects of life, as they make important friendships, establish positive relationships with adults, gain self-confidence, etc. The competencies benefit them in career orientation, obtaining first employment and in performing work. They establish contacts with peers, adults, organizations, decision makers, employers and community. Acquired social network and social capital benefit them in all areas of life, both in personal and career life.
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