Course Prerequisites:
Students should have completed one or more of the following courses: Introduction to Anthropology, Political Science. Psychology, Sociology, Economics, and/or related subject matter. In addition, students should be able to read at an intermediate to advanced level in English and Spanish. Much of the subject matter will require a high level of bilingual transferability and shifting back and forth between sources, literature, and research written in both languages. Students will also be asked to access Internet and web based sites in the United States and through resources within the European Union and European Council.
Youth Development and Youth Policy have become popular topics and emerging fields of study worldwide. In order to access the growing sources of information, students will be asked to research common youth-related topics on the Internet and in work groups. For example, many of the European Union and European Council reports and documents on youth are accessible via Internet and prepared in multiple languages. Partnering across disciplines, languages, and international experience will be an important component of this academic experience.
Course Summary:
This course is designed to prepare students in all majors, but those especially in Education and other public service disciplines, to a set of emerging global trends associated with framing youth issues in developmental terms and strategizing about how to support youth through state level youth policies. The idea that youth experience developmental stages is as old as the field of psychology but recent researchers, policy makers, and youth service practitioners in Europe and America have begun to emphasize the connection between positive youth development and federal, state and local policies to support. youth.
The course seeks to: 1) make students more aware of the basic conceptual and theoretical underpinnings associated with what youth development and positive youth development, in particular, means in the literature and current discussions among researchers and people in the field of youth work; 2) study, analyze and critique how youth development is emerging as a public policy agenda and philosophy; 3) compare youth policy frameworks in the United States with what is emerging in Europe and elsewhere; 4) investigate proposed model youth policy approaches advocated by national and international intermediary organizations; 5) research, discuss and write about approaches to youth development and youth policy in Spain, Andalusia and Granada, as practice areas for focused inquiry, research and ongoing study.
This course encourages active discussion, reading, reflection, writing and research on current problems and issues impacting young people worldwide, using the United States, Spain and Andalusia as the context for that process. Students will work independently and in small work groups to study special interest topics (youth problems, impact of popular culture, youth research, youth programming, state and local youth policy, youth as assets, youth participation strategies. public financing of youth programming, and other identified concerns). Working groups will be organized on the basis of federal, state, local, and community level issue analysis. This is done so students experience macro and micro levels of analysis about theory, application and practice. Research will also be done on Granada as a province and a community with specific youth issues, youth challenges, needs and opportunities investigated and mapped. Students will meet with regional and university researchers, community leaders, and youth program staff and advocates. These meetings will take place both on campus and in the community.
Course Readings:
There will be an extensive packet of articles and chapters to be purchased at the COE Publications Center. In addition, you will need to buy the following book(s), available by online orders or at a bookstore announced on the first day of class:
- Lerner, Richard (J995). America's Youth in Crisis: Challenges and Options for Programs and Policies. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. ISBN: 0-8039-7069-2.
- Servicio Civico y Voluntario (2004). Published by the Global Service Institute. Free through the Internet at http://www.service-enquiry.org.za/
Due to the web-based research and study emphasis of this course, students will also need to continuously access the following web sites to review literature and constantly update their knowledge of current developments, reports and publications. Many of the listed online resources are posted in English, Spanish, and other languages. Publications and resources can also be downloaded free from most foundations, NGO's and intermediaries. Internet sites to monitor include:
- Harvard Graduate School of Education.www.gse.harvard.edu
- The Center for Community Partnerships. University of Pennsylvania. www.upenn.edu/ccp
- Out of School Time Research. www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/resources/issuebrief5.html
- Council of Europe. Education for Democratic Citizenship. www.coe.int/edc
- William T Grant Foundation Youth Initiatives. www.wtgrantfoundation.org/
- Youth Action Net. www.youthactionnet.org/
- Ashoka Worldwide Social Entrepreneurs Network. www.ashoka.org
- Inciativia para la movilizaeion de Recursos. www.moviliza.org
- Spanish Youth Council. www.cje.org
- European Youth Forum. www.youthforum.org
- W.K. Kellogg Foundation. www.wkk.org/
- Annie E. Casey Foundation Policy Magazine. www.aegf.org/
- Forum for Youth Investment. Leading Youth Policy Intermediary in U.S.
- www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/
- Soros Foundation Network Open Society Institute. Youth Initiatives. www.soros.org/initiatives/youth/
- Academy for Educational Development. Center for Youth Development and Policy Research. www.aed.org/Youth
- Ministry of Universities, Research and Information Society (Spain and International). Gencat. www.gencat.net
- European Commission Statistical Data. www.europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/
- International Network of Observatories in Cultural Policies.
- www.unesco.org/culture/development/observatories/
- International Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. www.childwatch.uio.no
- Columbia University Clearinghouse on International Development in Child, Youth and Family Policies. Focus on Spain. www.childpolicyint.org/countries/spain01.htm
- European Children Network. www.childrensnet.org/
- British Youth Council. www.byc.org.uk/
- lnternational NGO Youth Networks. www.infoyouth.org/
- Global Youth Action Network. www.takingitglobal.org/
- International Council on National Youth Policy. www.icnyp.net/
- Spanish Institute of Youth (INJUVE). Database and extensive publications. www.mtas.es/injuve/
- Institute for Social Studies of Andalusia. Spanish Council for Scientific Research. www.iesaa.csis.es/
- International Centre for Youth Policy. Netherlands. www.youthpolicy.ni/smartsite/
- European Youth Observatory . www.diba.cs/cyo
- Barcelona Youth Council. www.cjb.org/
- International Youth Foundation. www.iyfnet.org/
Students will be expected to weekly review their cluster web resources, note and download important developments, and share their discoveries and findings with the class as a whole. This is one means for working groups to function as a research team and the class a whole to become a learning community. Instructions will be provided on how to share resources, Jinks, publications and referrals with each other online and in class. The class will also co-construct a web analysis form to use for individual and team assessment of web site utility.
Course Requirements:
Your grade will be based on the following:
1. A take home essay of your initial assessment of what youth development and youth policy means to you, what the central assumptions are underlying a youth development approach, and your initial thoughts on how these concepts do or ought to actually connect to youth policy. Specific questions for the essay will be distributed the first week of class, February 21-23, 2006 and the essay will be due the following week, February 22, 2005. This submission will be worth 5% of your final grade.
2. Instead of a final exam, each class participant will be responsible for preparing or contributing significantly to two submissions - a case study summary on a critical youth development or youth policy of interest to them or a working group of classmates, including a brief explanation of the issue, major relevant literature and references, core elements and/or findings underlying the concern, programs and projects designed to address it, and organizational and web-based resources to follow-up with or contact for information. These youth development/youth policy briefings should be concise, to the point, factual, thorough, tightly written and not longer than 4-6 typed pages. The final briefing should be prepared in PDF format and on CD for final submission. The second submission relates to community/site observations, interviews, and service participation with a local youth serving organization, city project, and/or NGO. The format for this submission remains virtually the same: brief explanation of the organization/site, program and/or projects main purpose; the key focus of their activities with and for youth; summary listing of major themes from your interviews with youth or staff, what you learned about youth participation from your observations and involvement with this group and the youth it serves. Again, this should not be longer that 4-6 typed pages, prepared in POI' format and ready to load on a web site, submitted on a CD. The quality of these assignments will represent 50% of your final grade. Each submission will be worth 25%.
3. Preparation of a student journal covering thoughtful reflections on the class, readings, presentations, research and working group activities, field observations, and voluntary service experiences that captures your intellectual, group interactions, and personal insights on the entire course experience from start to finish. This document should record your private observations and lessons being learned throughout the entire academic experience. It should be typed with daily/weekly entries noted, given themes and titles to comments and observations, and thorough in terms of the range of learning activities engaged in (class, reading, observation, service). The Youth Development Youth Policy Journal will be collected at four intervals over the course of the semester as noted on the class schedule. Lateness and non-submissions will impact your final grade. 25% of your total class grade will be impacted by this reflection and self-learning tool. See syllabus for submission dates. Again, this can be submitted through the Internet as an email attachment, in a notebook, or as a diskette and/or CD.
4. Class participation, project activities, team involvement, actual engagement in service will all be important contributing factors for this course's success. Students are expected to show up, be involved, give of their time and talents. Voluntary youth participation is a primary goal for the entire experience. Items 2 and 3 above are ways to submit products that demonstrate this involvement. However, actual participation -- going to class, attending work group meetings, conducting youth research and preparing briefings, attending community sessions, spending time at youth field sites, volunteering your time to youth organizations (documented and verified) -- represents 20% of the final class grade. Sign in sheets will be provided for all sessions to indicate your attendance. Actual attendance is but one way to measure participation. How you use your voice, raise questions and concerns (orally or in writing), and your willingness to help and serve the group as a whole, and/or the youth you volunteer with, are other indicators.
Class Activities and Assigned Readings
WEEK ONE: Course Overview - Assignments, Requirements, Internet Cluster and Working Group Projects, Journals and Final Products. All Equal High Expectations!
Session Focus: Personal Explorations into Youth Development and Youth Policy Reading Assignments Secure Reading Packet and Books, Explore Web Sites, Identify Language Preference in Sites, Bookmark Favorites, Select Personal lnterest(s), Survey Youth Development and Youth Policy Issues - Come to Class Ready to Discuss What You Discovered and What You Want to Know More About
WEEK TWO: Youth Development and Youth Policy from Student Perspectives - Class Small Group Exercise, with Follow-up Strategies for Students and Instructors Continue to Research On-line Cluster Web Sites Assigned to You or Your Working Group and Be Prepared to Share What Relevant Information You Found. . Framing Youth Development - American Perspectives Reading Assignments Lerner (1995). "The Contemporary Crisis of America's Children and Adolescents," and "Developmental Contextualism," pp. 1-32 in primary text. Pittman and Zedlin (1995). "Premises, Principles and Practices: Defining the Why, What, and How on Promoting Youth Development Through Organizational Practice," pp. 1-30, in your reading packet.
WEEK THREE: Session Three: Integrating Perspectives, Towards Framing Core Concepts - Ist Mapping Exercise Reading Assignments Lerner (1995). "Integrative Vision of Human Development Research and Outreach," pp. 33·60, in primary text. Juan Sebastian Fernandez Prados. (2002). La categoria social devoluntariado y su realidad Espana, pp. 181-198 in your reading Packet. Servicio Civico y Voluntario (2004). Read the entire text over the next three class sessions.
WEEK FOUR: Youth Development Examined in Multiple Contexts -- Family, Community, Institutions, and Government - Small Group Class Exercise with Reports Reading Assignment Search Web Sites For References, Publications, Reports on Issues Related to Youth Development and/or Youth Policy That Address Family, Community, Institutions and/or Government Topics. Background Readings: Goran Therborn (1993). Los Derechos de los ninos desede la constitutcion del concepto moderno de menor: Un estudio comparado de los pates occidentales, pp. 77- 143 in the reading packet. Though this article deals specifically with children's issues and child and family policy, it has great relevance as an overview on how youth as a subject, field of study, and subsequent policies emerged in modem Spanish society over the last 25-50 years. This is a major article for you to review and refer throughout this entire course. Francisco Fernandez Palomares. (1992) "Sociologia y cambio educativo, escuela contexto, una experiencal en el poligono de cartuja de granda," in the reading packet. Report by the current Dean of the College of Education at UGR on a community learning project dealing with school and community context in a barrio next to the UGR campus, the Cartuga neighborhood. Columbia University (2001). Spain Report. Secure on line from the Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth and Family Policies website, www.childpolicyintl.org/countries/spain01.htm Check Update report, March 2003, same site.
WEEK FIVE: Youth Development in Practice - Role of Research, Intermediaries and NGO's Reading Assignments Zedlin (1995). "Opportunities and Supports for Youth Development: Lessons From Research and Implications for Community Leaders and Scholars," in the reading packet, published by the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, pp. 1-21, plus Appendix, in the reading packet. This is a thorough review of the field to the mid-1990's. Not available on line, at this point. Lerner (1995). "Designing Successful Prevention Programs," pp. 61-76 in the main textbook. Additional Reading Assignments Hugh Frazer (2002). La accion voluntaria y los programas contra la pobreza, pp. 165-196, in the reading packet. This is an introductory reading on the challenges of dealing with poverty through voluntary action, focusing on Ireland and Spain mostly, with some reference to Portugal as well. It clearly lays out the challenges associated with trying to solve large societal problems by dealing with local volunteer actions. It addresses the value of these strategies, only if they are tied to national level public policies. Joaquin Susino Arbucias (2002). La sociedad urbana en andalucia. In La Sociedad Andaluza 2000, pp. 307-331, in the reading packet. Manuel Fernandez Esquinas y Morcnte Mejias (2002). La juventud andaluza," in Sociedad Andaluza 2000, pp. 497-521, in the reading packet. WEEK SIX Asset Mapping - What Really Needs To Be In Place To Support Young People Reading Assignments Barcelona Youth Council. Youth Participation: "Conference on Zones and Facilities for Young People--Tools for Debate," on www.cjb.org web site. Download documents and relevant resources. Check links. Search Institute (1998). J 50 Maneras de Mostrat a los Ninos su Interes por Ellos. Handout.
WEEK SEVEN Impacting Public Agendas - TIle New Mexico Story THIRD YOUTH DEVELOPMENT/YOUTH POLICY JOURNAL SUBMISSION Morris (2001). Reframing New Mexico's Assets: Toward A Sustainable Statewide Youth Initiative. In your reading packet. Session Focus: Impacting Public Agendas - European Union and European Council Reading Assignments Research and Review the European Union Youth Program through the European Commission at www.europa.eu.int/comm/youth/program/ Also download the Commission of the European Communities (2001) White Paper - A New Impetus for European Youth. Pay particular attention to how the idea of youth as a field of work and services was framed, and the role education are to play in young people's development.
WEEK NINE The Universities as Sites --- for Youth Work and Civic Engagement (CE) Reading Assignment Council of Europe (2002). Executive Summary Report on Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) Initiative. www.coe.int/TE/Culture_Co_coperation/education/Higher_education/Activities/Universities_as_sites_of_citizenship/Executive-Summary.asp Among the main ideas this report raises is the fact that universities should be sites where young people learn civic engagement skills and volunteer, work and serve at the grassroots level of society as a way of building social capital and to develop citizenship skills and civic experiences. Carey and Forrester (1999). Sites of Citizenship: Empowerment, participation and partnerships. A special report on all the pilot projects that were part of the first round of the Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) project. Council of Europe, Cultural Co-operation Documents and Publication section. Session Focus; Initiatives From EO and Federal and Regional Government: Education for Democratic Citizenship - What Does CE Mean in Practice? Additional Reading Assignments Commission of the European Communities (2004). Making Citizenship Work: Fostering Culture and Diversity Through Programmes for Youth, Culture, Audiovisual and Civic Participation. This documents proposes a series of initiatives and special projects to develop a "European citizenship" based on a set of principles and supporting activities. Audigier (2002). Basic Concepts and core competences for education for democratic citizenship. Another Council of Europe publication about what the core learning and practice are associated with education for democratic citizenship. Also in the document section of the www.coe.int web site.
WEEK TEN Youth Mapping Preliminary Reports- Themes and Topics FOURTH YOUTH DEVELOPMENT/YOUTH POLICY JOURNAL SUBMISSION No Reading Assignments Lessons Learned from Civic Engagement and Youth Participation - Insights from Observations, Reflection, Immersion and Service