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Exclude exclusion - we do inclusion!
Start date: Jan 1, 2015, End date: Aug 1, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

All over Europe, inclusion is a controversial topic in the current educational debates. After the focus on the school context, the idea of inclusion is now moving to the forefront of attention in the area of youth work. By addressing the mechanisms of social exclusion with the aim of tackling these, youth work has been long making an important contribution to inclusion. However, the actors of out-of-school youth work are now rather confronted with the question if their offers reach socially excluded youngsters at all and are designed in such a way that they allow the active participation of everyone. Making youth work more inclusive implies constructional changes for the reduction of physical barriers, the development of publicity strategies as well as adjustments of the didactical and methodological concepts. In recent years, the efforts in this direction were increased. Nevertheless, in the everyday working life there is a lack of time resources necessary for the acquisition of appropriate financial means and the initiation of self-reflexive processes. 48 youth workers from 13 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Ukraine) met at wannseeFORUM, Berlin from 7th to 14th April 2015 for the seminar entitled “Exclude exclusion – we do inclusion!” on the topic of inclusion in the field of youth work. Particular emphasis was placed on the development of ideas for more inclusive learning formats and methods for different seminar phases, thematic areas and group constellations. The main objectives of the seminar were: 1). awareness raising amongst youth workers regarding the situation and needs of socially excluded groups; 2). dealing with the term of “inclusion” as well as developing an own position regarding inclusion; 3). reflecting on the own role in the exclusion/inclusion of youngsters and young people; 4). acquiring and developing competencies needed for an inclusive youth work as for example the sensitivity for the necessity of continuously reflecting on the methods used in the own daily youth work practice; 5). transforming already existing methods in such a way that they are suitable for an inclusive youth work with different target groups that are “traditionally” affected by social exclusion; 6). developing new methods for an inclusive youth work; 7). creating networks between the participating youth workers with the aim of developing and offering inclusive projects for youngsters and young people at an European/international level. Starting point of the eight-day activity were questions like: What does inclusion mean for the non-formal youth work which already defines itself as addressing all young people? Which groups are being excluded in this field? Wherein consists this exclusion and what are the mechanisms behind it? Which are the opportunities and challenges towards the implementation of inclusion in the field of youth work? What are the latest developments towards an inclusive youth work in the different participating countries from Eastern and Western Europe? The program included amongst others: - an expert input by Elżbieta Kosek, lecturer in Inclusive Pedagogy at the Kreisau-Initiative e.V.; - a World Café; - a thematic movie evening; - presentations of the participants on the topic: “Youth work and inclusion: situation and latest developments in the participating countries”; - an Organization Fair with presentation of best practice examples; - exercises for reflecting on the own youth work practice and for awareness raising on exclusion mechanisms; - a city game for exploring Berlin under the perspective of a barrier-free access; - workshops for developing ideas on how to carry out methods for different seminar phases, thematic areas and group constellations more inclusively; - an Open Space for the development of new project and cooperation ideas. In summer of 2015, the main results of the seminar were published in the form of an electronic booklet and were thus made available to a broad professional audience.
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