Aims and contents
The development of youth work is a priority for the European Commission and the Council of Europe youth policy within a broader framework oriented towards the recognition and validation of non-formal education, the promotion of youth participation and the wider rethinking of education.
In this context, the debate on the validation of non-formal education in Europe has, over the last decade, progressively urged a recognition of youth work as a provider of specialized knowledge, skills and competence for youth.
However, the current formulation of EU youth policy still lacks of identifying what distinguishes youth work from others educational practices and services for youth. At this regard, an important contribution to the identification of youth work has been provided by a series of cross-national comparative seminars organized by Flemish Community of Belgium and the Youth Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe.
It seems, then, important to further develop the analysis on the concepts of youth work and non- formal education, the dimensions involved – both the challenges and the risks – within the validation of non-formal learning and the recognition and professionalization of youth work, as well as on their relationship with the initiatives to promote and enhance youth participation.
On this basis, the guest editors invite authors to submit manuscripts presenting theoretically focused researches exploring and addressing these issues, assuming either a local, national or European perspective.
Priority will be accorded to articles focusing on topics such as:
– the comparison between different local and national traditions of youth work, with specific attention to non-formal education, informal learning and youth participation
– the role of non-formal and informal learning within national and European youth and educational policies and its transformations over the last decades;
– the pathways towards recognition and validation of knowledge, skills and competence of young people acquired through non-formal education;
– the relationship between youth work and non-formal education, their role as incubators of youth capabilities and agent of innovation; the impact of non-formal and informal education on young people’s life trajectories;
– the new forms of youth participation, particularly as an opportunity for young people to exercise decision-making and to play a responsible role in the design and implementation of policies affecting their lives;
– the forms of participation based on the interaction between young people and adults aimed at developing non-formal education projects and chances of informal learning for youth;
– the relationship between youth policies and youth participation; the role of youth organisations;
– the challenges for, and the transformation of, youth policies at national and the European level towards the recognition of youth work from political, social and economic systems;
– and more in general, the relationship between youth work, non-formal education and youth participation
Key dates:
February 15, 2014 : Submission deadline of abstracts for the Thematic Issue
March 1, 2014 : Notification of accepted abstracts
June 1, 2014 : Submission of papers
October 15, 2014 : reviewers’ feedback* sent to authors (accepted/revise and resubmit/rejected). * IJSE adopts a blind reviewing policy, where both the referees and author(s) remain anonymous throughout the process. Each article is reviewed by at least two referees.
November, 15, 2014 : Submission of the revised paper (if needed)
February, 2015 : online publication.
Author Guidelines
Abstract & Articles: – must be submitted in English.
Articles:
– should be original, not under review by any other journal and not published elsewhere
– should not exceed 10.000 words – if English is not your native or first language, before submitting your manuscript to IJSE you may wish to have it professionally edited
– all manuscripts must follow the IJSE Author guidelines attached.
First page:
The first page of each article should contain:
– paper title
– name(s) of the author(s), the affiliation of each author
– email address of author(s) who will check proofs and receive correspondence should be included
– a short abstract – 200 words maximum
– and 4 keywords are required.
Abstract (of max 500 words) must be submitted electronically to:
Daniele Morciano ( daniele.morciano@uniba.it )