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The Youth Worker Training

The Youth Worker Training is framed within a four module training titled “Interculturality doing Forum Theatre - The art of Multiplication, 4th ed: Training for Youth Workers”, where each module corresponds to a different activity (or contributes to the completion of an activity) within the Youth for Youth project. In particular, the Youth Worker Training (Module 1) was 18 hours long, divided in 6 sessions of 3 hours each, and was taught by 5 different professionals who specialize in areas concerning Youth work, Forum Theatre, diversity and interculturality, early school leaving and media. The Youth Worker Training had the following program:

The participants

The 26 Youth Workers who participated in the Youth Worker Training were carefully selected amongst a list of over 60 registered applicants, attending to criteria based on experience and motivation. The group was diverse in age, gender, sexual orientations, origins, backgrounds and professions. This made a particularly interesting group of participants, who had one basic common trait: they were all professionals from the Youth Worker field motivated to further their knowledge and abilities to tackle early school leaving amongst this age group.

Participant feedback

All participants successfully completed the 18 hour training. During the last session we did an evaluation where, anonymously, every participant had to highlight four aspects of the training: what they considered to be the best of the training, something they would change, their lowest point during the training and something they have learnt.

The best part of the training and the most important learning according to participant feedback were the potential and diversity of the group of participants, the quality of the sessions (highly prepared, with a strong focus on theory, but also based on theatrical and experiential learning), the experience and knowledge of the professionals who led the training sessions, the potential of the methodologies (Forum Theatre and Community Reporting) to work with Youth groups, the theoretical and practical approach given to the concept of diversity, the creative process undertaken and the reflections and debates generated by sensitive topics that require a high level of self-reflection as well as individual and collective analysis. One of the participants writes “The best: the people, both my fellow participants as well as the trainers. The group had people with very diverse and interesting personalities and points of view, which has been very enriching.”

The aspect which the participants would change or indicated as their lowest point according to the feedback was the duration of the training. In general, participants found the training to be too short for the amount of concepts, methodologies and practices which were undertaken. While some found this intensity very motivating and highlighted it as a powerful learning experience, other participants would have preferred to extend the duration of the training to be able to visit all concepts and processes undertaken at a slower pace, to be able to grasp them in all their complexity, take a longer time to debate amongst each other, and really get to know each other in the group.

Where to next?

The next step is to continue the training to finally get into the Youth training and the work with a diversity of Youth groups. The Youth Training will happen between October and November for a total of 24 hours (12 sessions of two hours each). We will be working with a Youth group of about 20 participants between the ages of 13 and 14. The participants attend the Secondary School La Esperança located in Baró del Viver, a peripheric neighbourhood in Barcelona, with high rates of early school leaving.

They will be participating in the training in extracurricular hours in the Baró del Viver Civic Centre, lead by a team composed of a Youth Worker from La Xixa Teatre, two teachers from La Esperança who have undertaken the Youth Worker Training, and the supervision of the Directors of La Xixa Teatre, Meritxell Martinez and Adrián Crescini.

Once the Youth group has prepared their performance, a Forum Theatre play with input of Community Reporting, the group will tour and perform in 4 schools in and near their neighbourhood, as well as in front of other Youth groups who are being led by participants of the Youth Worker Training.