{"id":17,"date":"2024-04-04T04:35:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T01:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/33-estonian-approach-smart-youth-work\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T04:35:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T01:35:20","slug":"33-estonian-approach-smart-youth-work","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/33-estonian-approach-smart-youth-work\/","title":{"rendered":"3.3. Estonian approach to smart youth work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tBy Anne Kivim\u00e4e\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe approach Estonia took when developing its approach to the\u00a0<span data-mce-mark=\"1\"><em>smart youth work<\/em><\/span>\u00a0originates in the discussions held during the development of new national youth strategy in 2012-2013.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe term\u00a0<em>digital youth work<\/em>\u00a0was by then used by different stakeholders; also there were other terms used in the field practice, including\u00a0<em>online youth work<\/em>\u00a0(for example also in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pjp-eu.coe.int\/documents\/1017981\/8529155\/The+2nd+European+Youth+Work+Declaration_FINAL.pdf\/cc602b1d-6efc-46d9-80ec-5ca57c35eb85\">Declaration of the 2nd Youth Work Convention<\/a>, 2015),\u00a0<em>cyber youth work<\/em>\u00a0(see for example\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dl.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=3077946\">here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/291954447_Cyber_youth_work_in_Hong_Kong_Specific_and_yet_the_same\">here<\/a>), virtual youth work (see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/virtualyouthwork.com\/\">http:\/\/virtualyouthwork.com\/<\/a>\u00a0as an example) etc. The variety in terminology is still existing in different countries and institutional contexts to describe youth work that aims to embrace digital media and technology. In most cases the focus seems to be on the delivery of youth work \u2013 on\u00a0 specific tools and settings of youth work practice.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe word \u201cs<em>mart<\/em>\u201d was by that time related in the EU context more with energy, cities, growth, economy, digitalisation, specialisation etc. As an example, the European Commission\u2019s Cohesion Policy, that aims to reduce differences between regions and to ensure growth across Europe and refers to efficiency and management as a crucial factor for many regions in Europe to overcome the economic crisis. In the framework of the Cohesion Policy, to develop a Research and Innovation strategy for Smart Specialisation was a prerequisite in order to receive funding from the European Regional Development Fund. The Smart Specialisation Platform assists Member States and regions to develop, implement and review their strategies. These include a focus on identifying niche areas of competitive strength, solving major societal challenges \u2013 bringing in a demand-driven dimension, innovation partnerships emphasizing greater co-ordination between different societal stakeholders and aligning resources and strategies between private and public actors of different governance levels.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn an attempt to include both: the need for youth work that can address the interest and needs young people have in connection with digital technologies and build new solutions in youth work using digital technologies; but also the need to find innovative ways to develop youth work agenda further\u00a0 \u2013 including in policy, research and strategical planning for youth work; the term \u201cnutikas noorsoot\u00f6\u00f6\u201d \u2013\u00a0<em>smart youth work<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 was invented.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen the Government approved the new\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hm.ee\/sites\/default\/files\/nak_eng.pdf\">Youth Field Development Plan<\/a>\u00a02014-2020, it included an objective to develop a\u00a0<span data-mce-mark=\"1\">concept paper for smart youth work\u00a0<\/span>to support achieving the aim \u201eIncrease opportunities for young people to develop their creativity, show initiative and act together\u201c.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Youth Affairs Department of the Ministry of Education and Research used this visual description in order to explain Estonian understanding of smart youth work (A. Rohtla, 2017):\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"435\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/298\/syw_ee_visual.jpg\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" width=\"396\">\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn autumn 2016, the Ministry of Education and Research convened a working group in the youth field on the topic of smart youth work. The aim of the working group was to articulate the content of smart youth work and map out the challenges. Besides the Ministry of Education and Research, the working group included representatives from the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Estonia to the EU, the Estonian Youth Work Centre, the Archimedes Foundation\u2019s Youth Agency, the Association of Estonian Open Youth Centres, the Association of Estonian Hobby Schools, the Estonian Council of Youth Workers and the Estonian National Youth Council.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe working group highlighted three main focus areas in smart youth work:\n<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square\">\n<li>\n\t\tactivities aimed at youths;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tdevelopment needs of youth workers for implementing smart youth work;\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tdeveloping quality of youth work and a better knowledge of youths using digital means.\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n\tBased on the work of the working group, a\u00a0<a data-url=\"https:\/\/entk.ee\/nak-veeb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Nutika-NT-kontseptsioon-ENG-web.pdf\" href=\"https:\/\/entk.ee\/nak-veeb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Nutika-NT-kontseptsioon-ENG-web.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">concept paper with a strategy<\/a> to develop smart youth work was created. The strategy sets out a general framework for planning and implementing further activities on smart youth work topics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Anne Kivim\u00e4e \u00a0 The approach Estonia took when developing its approach to the\u00a0smart youth work\u00a0originates in the discussions held during the development of new national youth strategy in 2012-2013. The term\u00a0digital youth work\u00a0was by then used by different stakeholders; &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/digy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}