Youthpass is a tool to document and recognise learning outcomes from youth work activities. It is available for projects funded by Erasmus+: Youth in Action (2014-2020) and Youth in Action (2007-2013) programmes. It is a part of the European Commission’s strategy to foster the recognition of non-formal learning, putting policy into practice and practice into policy:
While creating their Youthpass certificate together with a support person, project participants are given the possibility to describe what they have done in their project and which competences they have acquired. Thus, Youthpass supports the reflection upon the personal non-formal learning process and outcomes.
As a Europe-wide recognition instrument for non-formal learning in the youth field, Youthpass strengthens the social recognition of youth work.
Youthpass supports active European citizenship of young people and of youth workers by describing the added value of their project.
Youthpass also aims at supporting the employability of young people and of youth workers by raising their awareness of and helping to describe their competences, and by documenting their acquisition of key competences on a certificate.
Why Youthpass
Using Youthpass can add value to the youth projects where it is used, in several ways:
Through the Youthpass process, reflection on learning becomes more structured and the educational value of the project is strengthened. It makes the learning of the participants more conscious. Being more aware of their competences, it gets easier for the participants to make use of them in the future. Thus, Youthpass supports the future pathways of the young people.
By putting emphasis on the learning processes and outcomes in youth work, using Youthpass helps to increase the so-called Learning to Learn competence. It raises the participants’ awareness of learning in a diversity of contexts and helps them to reflect on their learning wishes and needs.
The description of competences developed by participating in the youth projects also helps to increase the visibility of the value of youth work – of your work!
Why should participants choose to use Youthpass?
They can describe what they have done and learned in a project
They learn to find appropriate words to describe their competences
They become better aware of the competences they have
They become better aware about the different contexts and ways how people learn
They can show and explain their competences better to others, for example in a job interview, at school or for further projects
They can make further plans about what they would still like to learn and how
They will have an official confirmation about their participation in a project