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Facing Europe 2020: Key Competences for Youth Workers in Non-formal Education
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“By looking at the pictures you might think that those people had a great time there. And it is true. But more than that, they learned, they passed through all the stages of group formation: forming, storming, norming and performing, so they have experienced on their own skin the benefits of non-formal education.
It happened in Weimar, Germany, in December 2012. It was a training course named Europe 2020. There were participants from 12 different countries They gathered there to learn how to develop the key competences in order to work with youngsters and to implement future projects in their own country. I was one of the participants.
Three trainers guided us throughout these days and made us better understand what inclusive diversity means, what are the benefits and challenges of it, what it means to be a good leader for your group and of course, which are the international opportunities for developing projects nowadays. During the mentoring time, we could develop our ability to self-asses and to analyze everything in order to find the strong and the weak points of our activities. At the end of the training course, we put on paper the idea of the project we want to put into practice in our countries and we made a commitment that at least we will try to make it come true.
There were 8 days full of information and I can easily say that the trainers served us as role models because they were the best exemple of a good teamwork. They knew how to keep the balance between moments of intense learning and those of relaxation and they chose the best activities in order for us not to get bored.
In another train of thought, this project has definitely reached my expectations and it even exceeded them. I met interesting people, of different ages, with whom I could talk for hours. We discovered more things about our cultures, we laughed, we worked in different teams, we slept too little, we had only one free hour per day, but it worthed. We had, as well, one free afternoon to visit the city, but in the end, truism shouldn’t be the first reason for choosing to participate in international projects. I realize more and more that places are nothing without people and a mere 10 minutes discussion can enrich you a lot on a personal level.
I left with the desire to use the non-formal methods in working with my team and I felt full of energy. It is always hard to say goodbye to the people with whom you ate, you talked, and you slept for 8 days. But I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to go there and meet them and maybe, one day, we will meet again. In the end, we stick with the memories and more important, with the knowledge acquired there and when you are back home you feel more responsible for the work you do here and also more determined to improve yourself. “
Gabriela-Mihaela Buzoianu, participant
Together Romania Association 