ProfessionalED

The ProfessionalED project aimed to promote the long-term development of high-quality youth work by creating a standardized, accessible learning process applicable across generations and experience levels. We believe that professional development is strongly connected with personal development, so our curricula were designed with this holistic approach in mind. The project also sought to enhance the recognition of youth work by demonstrating the impact of non-formal education. To achieve this, we implemented a self-evaluation and facilitated assessment system, which led to a certification process. The data collected informed a concise research study that can be used to advocate for the value of youth work in higher education and other sectors. To prevent burnout and foster continuous inspiration, we established a growing Community of Practice for youth professionals to connect and support each other. All the results of the project are available: https://coda.io/@egyesek/professionaled/

We set five objectives that guided the entire project: O1: Provide clear, individual development paths for young people in the field of youth work. O2: Create comprehensive educational curricula for NGO staff that enable smooth knowledge transfer and generational change within organizations. O3: Establish a clear evaluation system to support individual development. O4: Increase recognition of youth work among other stakeholders. O5: Build a growing community of professionals to ensure the sustainability of the project’s outcomes (Community of Practice). A curricula was created: it describes the methodology and gives details of all the program elements of the training courses delivered during the project. It is searchable and openly available. An assessment process with specific certification system got established: with Skills Builder universal framework participants self-assessed and received with mentoring facilitated assessment process during field work. With the data of the assessment process and qualitative method a research was conducted, the detailed report is now available. showing correlation between the the training courses and competence development. Community of Practice got established and it constantly grows.

The project included a full learning cycle with three training courses, fieldwork, and on-the-job mentoring. We used the Skills Builder framework and the ETS integrated version of Youthpass competences for self-assessment and facilitated evaluation. After each training, participants completed fieldwork in their home countries, receiving mentoring and assessment from two youth professionals—one from their own organization and one from a partner organization. This continuous follow-up, often lacking in Erasmus+ projects, helped us gather data and analyze the correlation between non-formal methodologies in both professional and personal development. We also established a self-sustaining Community of Practice (CoP) for participants to connect through regular online and offline meetings. The project consortium included five partners from Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal, each hosting meetings and contributing to project results.

We created 4 Project Results: - Curricula for youth work professionals - Assessment and certification system for youth work professionals - Comprehensive research results of the project - Community of Practice The primary target group of ProfessionalED were those who worked in their local, regional communities and/or with international groups as well especially within Erasmus+, ESC and international voluntary service activities. These youth workers and trainers received a full training cycle designed for their development needs thus they improved their competences. As a result, they became better equipped to lead high-quality non-formal educational programs, support community building, and mentor young people’s career paths. At the European and international level, ProfessionalED produced a tangible and well-documented training cycle with special attention to individual learning needs and integral learning. Quality improvement in youth work was realized in all the partner countries by triggering people's creativity and holistic way of thinking about non formal learning. Several international programs were realized not only on local but international level as well. More participants became active part of our networks (CCIVS, Alliance, ESN) and delivered more learning activities on international events all over the world. We are aware of several Erasmus+ projects and beyond where they used either elements or full training of the curricula already. We believe that this brought a new approach, a high quality improvement. Participants shared that they became more present and professionally aware in their work, bringing new, high-quality approaches to their projects.