Youth engagement

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Youth engagement is the sentiment young people feel towards a particular person, activity, place or outcome. It has been a focus of youth development, public policy and social change movements for at least forty years. [1] According to a Cornell University program, "Youth engagement is one of the buzzwords in the youth development field. Similar terms are youth voice, youth involvement, youth participation, and youth in governance." [2]

Contents

About

A study exploring foster youth and aging out defines youth engagement as, "involving young people in the creation of their own destinies", and suggest that in social work that means "genuinely involving them in case planning and encouraging them to advocate for themselves." This sentiment was best summarized by youth who said, "Nothing about us without us." [3] The concept of youth engagement has emerged in recent years as a leading-edge, broad-based approach and best practice to meet the needs of youth, including youth at risk. It is a process that offers meaningful participation for youth—that is, participation with passion—and opportunities for youth to take responsibility and leadership while working in partnership with caring adults who value, respect and share power with them. [4]

Activities

According to a variety of research, there are numerous personal, interpersonal, social, cultural and organizational avenues for youth engagement. [5] These can include:

Specific activities have been cited as fostering youth engagement as well. [8] They include:

Both the philosophy and activities within a program or activity need to be a "good fit" for the young people participating in them. [12] In the United States, activities and campaigns including those by the National Commission on Resources for Youth, the Freechild Institute and Youth Communications have been cited for their effectiveness in engaging young people. [1]

Spectra of activities

Research has identified a spectrum of approaches to youth engagement, beginning with training for adults that work with youth. [13] These range from traditional programs that treat youth as clients to organizations that are led by youth and for youth. [14] There are also groups who foster engagement among traditionally non-involved youth by working to foster more significant youth participation outside of the program or organization itself. Other points in this spectrum can include:

Each has value, and where a program or groups sits depends on the degree to which youth are engaged in the program with meaningful participation, and the degree to which the organization offering the program has policies and infrastructures to support youth involvement in a meaningful way. [4] [15]

Outcomes

A number of foundations recognize youth engagement as a best practice in programs for young people. For example, the Paul Allen Foundation promotes youth engagement as an avenue to achieving early reading proficiency, expand opportunities for experiential learning, and involve young people in addressing community needs. [16] The Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation in Canada supports youth engagement because it believes young Canadians, "already tend to think globally; take advantage of opportunities to expand their understanding of global challenges; want to contribute new ideas and perspectives to the discussion about Canadian international policy and; are creative in their use of new technologies to further their engagement in the world." [17] The Ontario Trillium Foundation recognizes youth engagement as a best practice and has been developing a framework to support youth engagement in its grantmaking and encourage applications that include a youth engagement approach. [4] Hands On Learning Australia implement youth engagement programs as an integral part of secondary education in Australian schools. These programs attempt to reengage school age youth through building strong relationships within the context of practical activities, and also address literacy and numeracy issues. [18]

Youth engagement has been identified as a key measure in promoting adolescent health programs. [19] Increasing the likelihood of young people voting has also been an outcome of said programs. [20] Engaging youth in pro-social opportunities is also a goal in the field of Positive Youth Development. [21]

It is also seen as central to developing "inclusive participation" in civil society. [22] Numerous national initiatives have utilized that belief to rationalize a variety of programs, including efforts focused on civic engagement, social justice and education reform. [23] In the latter field, student engagement is used to specifically address this issues within school environments. [24] Several researchers, such as Barry Checkoway, Peter Levine and Shawn Ginwright, as well as advocates including Karen Pittman and Adam Fletcher have been acknowledged for their efforts to promote youth engagement. [25]

Challenges

Youth engagement faces a variety of obstacles. They include a "disjunction in what adults believe is important to do with young people, and what they actually do," as well as social norms that encourage youth engagement, and the presence of strong norms that discourage youth-adult partnerships. [26] A historical disconnect between positive youth development and civic engagement has also been cited as a leading barrier. [27]

Innovations

Youth engagement has taken a huge growth over the past six years[ when? ] with the advent of social networks. The activities that promote youth development and social change movements are now shifting to the World Wide Web, fostering online communities based on interests, causes, and purpose. Young people are promoting ideas, vocalizing their goals, organizing community groups, engaging in political discussions, reclaiming identities, creating identities, connecting with others, and taking over these networks full force as their own personal environments. The engagement over social networks "forms and maintains social capital, a dimension that assesses one’s ability to stay connected with members of a community." [28] This connection is stimulated by the activity characteristic of the particular virtual community. Social network sites engage activity such as individual presentation of oneself, articulating and building outside networks, creating work-related collaboration, building romantic relationships, provoking political debates, connecting college student populations and opportunities, sharing hobbies and interests, and essentially forming anything that meets the imagination, made possible through the innovative capacities of current technology. Today’s youth are able to "tie offline networks to online memberships" through current social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Friendster, and Blogger. They support the "maintenance of existing social ties and the formation of new connections, connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group or location, liberating them to form communities around shared interests." This increased social capital enhances youth engagement and manages interactions regarding current events around the world, major life changes, and relations as they move from one offline community to another such as changing schools or joining different civic and community groups. The intensity and usage over online communities are reliable indicators of current trends among youth and psychological well-being. The robust growth of this current technology is steadily growing and becoming a greater percentage of daily youth interactions.

See also

Related Research Articles

Experiential education Philosophy of education

Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is not interchangeable with experiential learning; however experiential learning is a sub-field and operates under the methodologies of experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities". Experiential education is the term for the philosophy and educational progressivism is the movement which it informed.

Youth empowerment

Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes. Youth empowerment aims to improve quality of life. Youth empowerment is achieved through participation in youth empowerment programs. However scholars argue that children's rights implementation should go beyond learning about formal rights and procedures to give birth to a concrete experience of rights. There are numerous models that youth empowerment programs use that help youth achieve empowerment. A variety of youth empowerment initiatives are underway around the world. These programs can be through non-profit organizations, government organizations, schools or private organizations.

Youth voice

Youth voice refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. The term youth voice often groups together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, identities, and cultural differences. It is frequently associated with the successful application of a variety of youth development activities, including service learning, youth research, and leadership training. Additional research has shown that engaging youth voice is an essential element of effective organizational development among community and youth-serving organizations.

Adultism is "the power adults have over children". More narrowly, adultism is defined as "prejudice and accompanying systematic discrimination against young people". On a more philosophical basis, the term has also been defined as "bias towards adults... and the social addiction to adults, including their ideas, activities, and attitudes".

Positive youth development

Positive youth development (PYD) programs are designed to optimize youth developmental progress. Youth.gov states that "PYD is an intentional, prosocial approach that engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, and families in a manner that is productive and constructive; recognizes, utilizes, and enhances young people’s strengths; and promotes positive outcomes for young people by providing opportunities, fostering positive relationships, and furnishing the support needed to build on their leadership strengths."

Youth participation is the active engagement of young people throughout their own communities. It is often used as a shorthand for youth participation in any many forms, including decision-making, sports, schools and any activity where young people are not historically engaged.

Civic engagement individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern

Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community.

Student voice

Student voice is "any expression of any learner regarding anything related to education" and describes "the distinct perspectives and actions of young people throughout schools focused on education. Tech educator Dennis Harper writes, "Student voice is giving students the ability to influence learning to include policies, programs, contexts and principles."

Youth-adult partnership

Youth-adult partnership is the title of a conscious relationship which establishes and sustains intergenerational equity between young people and adults.

Founded in 1997 by AOL co-founder Steve Case and his wife Jean Case, the Case Foundation invests in individuals, nonprofits, and social enterprises aiming to connect people, increase giving, and catalyze civic action.

Community education, also known as community-based education or community learning & development, is an organization's programs to promote learning and social development work with individuals and groups in their communities using a range of formal and informal methods. A common defining feature is that programmes and activities are developed in dialogue with communities and participants. The purpose of community learning and development is to develop the capacity of individuals and groups of all ages through their actions, the capacity of communities, to improve their quality of life. Central to this is their ability to participate in democratic processes.

Youth philanthropy is the donation of time, energy or resources, including money, by children and youth towards philanthropic causes. According to one study, "youth philanthropy is, at the broadest level, youth giving of their time, talents and treasure." It is seen as an effective means in which youth develop knowledge of and participate in philanthropic projects such as volunteering, grant writing, and community service.

Barry Checkoway is Arthur Dunham Collegiate Professor of Social Work and Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Checkoway is internationally renowned for his contributions to the field of youth studies, particularly focusing on community youth development. He is a past recipient of the University of Michigan's Regents' Award for Distinguished Public Service.

Student engagement occurs when "students make a psychological investment in learning. They try hard to learn what school offers. They take pride not simply in earning the formal indicators of success (grades), but in understanding the material and incorporating or internalizing it in their lives." Since the U.S. college dropout rate for first-time-in college degree-seeking students is nearly 50% It is increasingly seen as an indicator of successful classroom instruction, and as a valued outcome of school reform. The phrase was identified in 1996 as "the latest buzzword in education circles." Students are engaged when they are involved in their work, persist despite challenges and obstacles, and take visible delight in accomplishing their work. Student engagement also refers to a "student's willingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in, the learning process promoting higher level thinking for enduring understanding." Student engagement is also a usefully ambiguous term for the complexity of 'engagement' beyond the fragmented domains of cognition, behaviour, emotion or affect, and in doing so encompass the historically situated individual within their contextual variables that at every moment influence how engaged an individual is in their learning.

Nonformal learning

Non-formal learning includes various structured learning situations which do not either have the level of curriculum, syllabus, accreditation and certification associated with 'formal learning', but have more structure than that associated with 'informal learning', which typically take place naturally and spontaneously as part of other activities. These form the three styles of learning recognised and supported by the OECD.

Youth rights Equal rights movement

The youth rights movement seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion of evolving capacities within the children's rights movement, but the youth rights movement differs from the children's rights movement in that the latter places emphasis on the welfare and protection of children through the actions and decisions of adults, while the youth rights movement seeks to grant youth the liberty to make their own decisions autonomously in the ways adults are permitted to, or to lower the legal minimum ages at which such rights are acquired, such as the age of majority and the voting age.

The Freechild Institute for Youth Engagement is a nonprofit organization focused on creating connections between adults and young people through programs, technical assistance, publications, training, and curriculum. Adam Fletcher is the executive director, and the institute is located in Olympia, Washington. The School Library Journal has said Freechild's website is, "By far the largest repository of projects, ideas, and organizational links, this resource provides more than adequate information to help students brainstorm ideas in order to start their own initiatives."

Action civics is an applied civic education process in which:

Education for justice is the process of promoting a culture of lawfulness through educational activities at all levels. Education for justice aims at teaching the next generation about crime prevention, and to better understand and address problems that can undermine the rule of law. It promotes peace and encourages students to actively engage in their communities and future professions. Education for Justice is a basic legal knowledge, in which educational activities at all levels seek to promote understanding of crime prevention, peace, justice, human rights, and problems that can undermine the rule of law. Education reportedly plays a key role in transmitting and sustaining socio-cultural norms and ensuring their continued evolution. As such, governments may seek to strengthen this promotion of a culture of lawfulness through education.

References

  1. 1 2 Pittman, K. (n.d.) "Balancing the equation: Communities supporting youth, youth supporting communities." [ permanent dead link ] Forum For Youth Investment. Retrieved 9/12/07.
  2. ↑ [actforyouth.net/youth_development/engagement/ "What is Youth Engagement, Really?"], Cornell University Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (2019). Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  3. ↑ Strangler, G.J. and Shirk, M. (2004) On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System. Westview Press. p 260.
  4. 1 2 3 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Ontario Meeting the Needs of Ontario Youth]. Trillium Foundation. Retrieved 2/6/08.
  5. ↑ "A Short Introduction to Youth Engagement", Adam Fletcher. Freechild Project. (2013). Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  6. ↑ Michaelson, M. and Nakamura, J. (2001) Supportive Frameworks for Youth Engagement. Jossey-Bass. p 12.
  7. ↑ Checkoway, B. and Gutiérrez, L. (2006) Youth Participation And Community Change. Haworth Press. p 18.
  8. ↑ "Eight Successful Youth Engagement Approaches", US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  9. ↑ Fletcher, A. (2006) Washington Youth Voice Handbook. CommonAction. p. 24.
  10. ↑ Camino, L. and Zeldin, S. (2002) "From Periphery to Center: Pathways for Youth Civic Engagement in the Day-To-Day Life of Communities," Applied Developmental Science. 6(4). p 213.
  11. ↑ Pancer, S.M., Krasnor, L.R. and Loiselle, L.D. (2002) "Youth conferences as a context for engagement," New Directions for Youth Development. 96. p 48.
  12. ↑ Larson, R., Eccles, J.S. and Mahoney, J.L. (2006) Organized Activities as Contexts of Development: Extracurricular Activities. Routledge. p 400.
  13. ↑ Fletcher, A. (2010) Youth Engagement Workshop Guide. Olympia, WA: Freechild Project.
  14. ↑ Young Wisdom Project. (2006) Making Space, Making Change. Movement Strategy Center. p 16. Retrieved 1/22/08.
  15. ↑ Ilkiw, V. (2007) Keynote Address. Safe Cities For Youth Conference Archived June 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine , Toronto, March 12, 2007.
  16. ↑ "Youth Engagement" Archived July 21, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , Paul G. Allen Family Foundations. Retrieved 9/12/07.
  17. ↑ "Grant Programs: Global Citizenship - Youth Engagement." Archived August 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. Retrieved 9/12/07.
  18. ↑ "Hands On Learning Australia" Hands On Learning Australia. Retrieved 29/03/09.
  19. ↑ Viner, R.M. (2005) "Young people's health: the need for action," British Medical Journal. 330. p 901-903.
  20. ↑ Mckinney, M.S. and Banwart, M.C. (2005) "Rocking the Youth Vote Through Debate: examining the effects of a citizen versus journalist controlled debate on civic engagement," Journalism Studies, 6(2) p 158.
  21. ↑ "Keys to Quality Youth Development". University of Minnesota Extension. Archived from the original on 2014-10-15. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  22. ↑ Camino, L. and Zeldin, S. (2002) "From Periphery to Center: Pathways for Youth Civic Engagement in the Day-To-Day Life of Communities," Applied Developmental Science. 6(4). p 214.
  23. ↑ Pearson, S.S. and Voke, H.M. (2002) Building an Effective Citizenry: Lessons Learned from Initiatives in Youth Engagement. American Youth Policy Forum. Retrieved 9/13/07.
  24. ↑ Fletcher, A. (2005) Meaningful Student Involvement Guide to Students as Partners in School Change. SoundOut. Retrieved 9/13/07.
  25. ↑ Pittman, K. "Balancing the equation: Communities supporting youth, youth supporting communities." [ permanent dead link ] Forum For Youth Investment. Retrieved 9/12/07.
  26. ↑ Rhodes, J.E. and Clary, E.G. (2004) Mobilizing Adults for Positive Youth Development: Strategies for Closing Gap between Beliefs and Behaviors. Springer. p. 43.
  27. ↑ Mohamed, I.A.; Wheeler, W. (2001) Broadening the Bounds of Youth Development: Youth as Engaged Citizens. Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development. p 22.
  28. ↑ Ellison, N. B., Steinfeld, C., Lampe, C. "The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 1. Retrieved 4/12/10.
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