Mobile youth work
Mobile youth work is an advocacy (partisan), environment and addressee-oriented field of youth welfare work that combines different approaches and principles of social work in a socio-educational concept; namely: outreach youth work ( street work ), individual aid , group work and community work .
History and roots
The emergence of street work and mobile youth work goes back to 1967, when this professional concept of German social work and social education was first implemented in Stuttgart- Freiberg by the Evangelical Society of Stuttgart. Walther Specht was the first trained social worker in Germany to be entrusted with this task.
In East Germany, the concept of “mobile youth work” was introduced after reunification with the AGAG program (the program of action against aggression and violence) after massive riots by right-wing youths, and it was also able to prevail there.
Central theoretical building blocks of the basic concept of mobile youth work are the lifeworld oriented social work ( lifeworld orientation ) according to Hans Thiersch as well as community work. These are supplemented with theoretical elaborations by Franz Josef Krafeld on accepting or justice-oriented youth work. Further theoretical building blocks are the social space orientation as well as the various appropriation and space concepts .
Notes on terminology
The terms street work , street social work, outreach work, mobile youth work have so far been used very differently or apparently arbitrarily in the specialist literature - even in standard works (cf. Krafeld 2004, p. 18). The federal working group of this field of work uses this double designation street work / mobile youth work “probably also to do justice to different understandings in a very pragmatic way and not to impose a conceptual clarity on the field” (ibid.). This would hardly do justice to the multifaceted nature of the approach. There are therefore no clear definitions or distinctions to the terms in the standard works of the Federal Working Group Streetwork / Mobile Youth Work eV , as both are found in practice. For this reason, the double term mobile youth work / street work is used here.
The umbrella organization Mobile Youth Work Stuttgart , "the still undisputed center of mobile youth work", expressly speaks of street work as one of four fields of action. Walther Specht distinguishes in his publications between community-oriented mobile youth work and scene or target group-oriented street work. The similarities and differences are further clarified in the addressees section.
The term street work used in Germany is incidentally an incorrect English spelling of the real American term street work. The compound spelling of street work has, however, wrongly caught on in Germany.
Legal foundations & professional standards
The global goals of mobile youth work / street work are derived from Section 1, Paragraph 3 in conjunction with Section 9, Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Book VIII of the Social Code and are specified in Sections 11 and 13 of Book VIII of the Social Code.
Mobile youth work / street work includes both youth work and youth social work . It is therefore the interface between Section 11 and Section 13 of Book VIII of the Social Code.
It is a living environment and addressee-oriented offer of youth work according to § 11 with a focus on preventive, everyday-oriented counseling (§ 11 Paragraph 3 No. 6 SGB VIII) in connection with offers that relate to development tasks and problems that young people in Have to cope with family, school and the world of work.
Furthermore, mobile youth work / street work is a form of youth social work according to Section 13 of Book VIII of the Social Code for the social integration of young people who are increasingly dependent on support to compensate for social inequality or to overcome individual impairments.
Professional standards and orientation aids
Your specification can be found in the above. legal basis in professional standards for mobile youth work / street work, which were developed by the federal work group street work / mobile youth work eV as well as by various state work groups / state work groups (see under sources & literature).
Addressees
The addressees of mobile youth work / street work are derived from the legal bases mentioned.
The addressees according to § 13 SGB VIII / KJHG are described by Struck as:
- young people who, even if they are in a favorable position on the training place and job market, still cannot find training or work positions due to individual and / or social difficulties, often associated with inadequate schooling
- young people from families of foreign workers as well as young emigrants from Eastern Europe and asylum seekers
- young people whose families live in a geographically concentrated area and whose chances of socialization are reduced
- young people living in financial, personal and social difficulties and having problems finding and maintaining housing and
- Girls and young women who are much more affected by unemployment and who need special support.
In Germany, two types of mobile youth work can currently be distinguished:
- Approaches that are (can) orientate themselves towards the principles of neighborhood and community work and that are strongly supported and rooted in the specific locality.
- Approaches that have cross-district, regional or city-centered dimensions and meanings.
In the first approach, the focus is on preventing or reversing processes of exclusion and stigmatization from a relatively intact and mobilizable family, peer group , neighborhood and residential area.
The second approach is much more multifaceted, more specialized and should be identified in more detail by naming certain target groups and problematic life situations:
- Street children , runaway children from families, homes, foreign cities and countries;
- homeless and unemployed youth and young adults;
- drug-using adolescents;
- city-centered street gangs, cliques, punks , skinheads and other so-called hardliners, as well
- Football fans / hooligans (ISMo / International Society for Mobile Youth Work eV)
In his publications, Franz Josef Krafeld differentiates between different forms of outreach youth work, each of which addresses different addressees.
| problem-oriented type | Type oriented towards youth culture | Community-oriented type | extended or mobile type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addressees are people with the same problem areas: drug addicts, prostitutes, homeless ... | Addressees are conspicuous, mostly offensive cliques and scenes | Addressees are social hot spots or problem areas with a special focus on children and young people living there | The addressees are young people who are to be reached in addition to or in advance of work related to the youth center |
| historically the oldest approach; 1927 Chicago (Gang Wars) | has been the focus in Germany since the late 1980s; Origin in rocker work in the 1960s and 1970s and Chicago (see left) | Originated in the heyday of community orientation in the early 1970s, then experienced a "shadowy existence" and was "revived" in the mid-1990s | Originated in the late 1980s / early 1990s in the USA (outreach) |
| Addressees usually (as a rule ) have the same problems; Case work is of particular importance | Addressees have i. d. Usually different problem areas !; Individual work after building trust; activity-related offers | Improve living environments and conditions; Involve children and young people | Expansion of the offer of existing youth facilities |
Which approach is practiced on site is regulated by the determination of needs and the setting of objectives within the social space and living environment analysis in coordination with local youth welfare planning.
Assignments and goals
The mandates and goals can also be derived from the aforementioned legal bases.
Mobile youth work / street work as a permanent, resilient and reliable contact offer in the living environment of young people aims to promote participation in society and, if necessary, to reduce social disadvantages.
Mobile youth work thus pursues the goal of sustainably improving the living situation of young people and promoting their development. The starting points are:
- Everybody's situation in life - with the aim of tapping individual resources, expanding room for maneuver, promoting personal development and self-confidence, and supporting them in coping with everyday life
- specific situation of cliques and peer groups - with the aim of triggering and accompanying group-related learning processes based on solidarity and mutual support
- structural living conditions - with the aim of improving the framework conditions that young people encounter.
Basically, it is about opening up, maintaining and regaining space. Mobile youth work / street work relies on an expanded concept of space. Rooms are e.g. B .:
- Each individual has room for maneuver and scope for development
- public / material spaces (squares, institutions, facilities, playgrounds, etc.)
- metaphorical spaces (social networks, relationship spaces, virtual spaces)
Fields of action and services
As already described above in the self-conception, mobile youth work / street work combines different fields and principles of social work, namely
within an overall socio-educational concept.
Activities related to quality assurance are also required.
The fields of activity and methods mentioned here must be designed on the basis of a social space and living environment analysis.
Differences in work can be found, for example, between urban and rural areas. Specializations in working with different scenes and target groups are also necessary.
The fields and principles of community work / social space orientation and outreach work are fundamental for the approach of mobile youth work.
The contents of the services and fields of activity described below are not to be regarded as an exhaustive list.
Street work / outreach activities
- District and group-related outreach youth social work.
- Scene presence.
- Work in the natural habitat of young people / living space with all related problems, such as a lack of social structures, youth and leisure facilities.
- Experience and get to know the worlds of life.
- Recording and inclusion of the young people's social environment.
Streetwork develops points of contact for community work, individual help and group work.
Social space or living environment-related activities (community work)
- Network and committee work (committees, youth meetings, sponsoring conferences).
- Cooperation (cooperation, networking, resource development) with the municipal offices, institutions, facilities and independent organizations on site and joint planning of actions and events in the community / exchange of experiences.
- Inclusion of adolescents and young adults in actively shaping their environment.
- Lobbying for the addressees (MJA / Streetwork sees itself as the mouthpiece of the young people).
- Public relation; Cooperation with the regional and national media (press, TV, radio).
- Presentation and representation of the field of work and the institution / project in public (e.g. flyers, internet, brochures).
- see also guiding working principles.
Individual, case-by-case activities (individual help)
- Individual youth counseling based on the principle of helping people to help themselves,
- Offer help in coping with life,
- Coping with everyday life or support with problems in a wide variety of areas (e.g. school, work, finances, family, addiction, authorities, police and justice),
- Biography support,
- Resource activation and development,
- Forms ranging from crisis interventions to longer-term support or advice phases, including case management, are possible.
Group, clique and scene-related activities (group work)
- The aim is to accompany and support the structural, social and emotional resources of peer groups or cliques, their synergy effects and conflicts for their self-determined and self-directed development processes.
- Enabling young people to design their own living space.
- Organizing leisure activities and events with the young people from a socio-educational point of view.
- Appropriate implementation of discussions and forums on political and youth-relevant topics.
- Preparation and implementation of sports and adventure-oriented offers and various projects.
- Group counseling / positive intervention in group movements / violence prevention and intervention.
- Project & educational work.
- Development of social skills.
quality control
- Regular team consultations and team exams.
- Content and financial concepts for leisure projects and events (planning and evaluation activities).
- Analysis activities, documentation, evaluation, statistics, reports and preparatory work.
- Regular evaluation and updating of the concept in coordination with the public youth welfare agency.
- Participation in external and internal seminars and courses, self-study.
- Participation in practical advice and supervision, collegial advice, case discussion.
- Interdisciplinary networking and specialist exchange with other specialists.
- Networking with regional associations.
Framework conditions for mobile youth work / street work
In order to be able to work effectively and efficiently, mobile youth work / street work needs suitable framework conditions, which are to be provided by the public youth welfare agency and the project executing agency, in particular:
- Personal framework (with regard to number, skills).
- Structural framework conditions (regarding: employment relationship, conceptual work, overall structure, social space and living environment analysis).
- Material-technical framework conditions (regarding: equipment).
These are described in numerous technical standards (e.g. technical standards of the Federal Working Group Streetwork / Mobile Youth Work (BAG), technical standards of the State Working Group Mobile Youth Work / Street Network Baden-Württemberg, technical standards of the State Working Group Streetwork / Mobile Youth Work Bavaria eV).
Effect of mobile youth work / street work
Using these fields of action and activities, mobile youth work / street work contributes to:
- Personality development and coping with life,
- Individual and group-related networking,
- Support in the transition between school and work,
- more successful and democratic coexistence in cities and communities,
- local improvement of the infrastructure,
- democratic, informal and non-formal education,
- Integration and participation (cf. Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Mobile Jugendarbeit / Streetwork Baden-Württemberg 2005, Tossmann et al. 2007).
Mobile youth work / street work contributes to opening up the youth welfare system to the addressees in good time and as needed. It can thus provide a share of flexible and tailor-made help that maintains the young people's relevance to the environment and thus enables intensive, resource-oriented and effective support in order to avoid long-term so-called youth welfare careers if necessary.
The effect of the work approach is worked out more specifically through concrete objectives, which are based on a social space analysis, and quality assurance and development within the regional concepts.
Stumpp et al. (2009) examined the effects of mobile youth work in Stuttgart. The following results could be shown in this study:
- Mobile youth work / street work has measurable, lasting and positive effects on the biographies of young people (e.g. self-confidence and personality).
- Mobile youth work / street work has measurable effects in the current biography (e.g. improved chances on the job market).
- Mobile youth work / street work is sensible, useful and good for young people! The alumni gave the MJA a dream grade. The grade point average is 1.4.
The following aspects were identified as impact factors:
- A clear differentiating feature in comparison to other forms of youth welfare is the guarantee of an integrative all-round support for young people that is oriented towards the living environment and available in a socially spatial manner (and in some cases also mediates for their parents).
- The personal relationship of trust with the employees as relevant “other” adults is a central factor for the use of the help.
- Mobile youth work is low-threshold, directly on site, at any time for young people as well as parents and other actors in the social area.
- In addition, the MJA provides a differentiated, professional spectrum of offers and help: from support with individual problems to working with cliques to networking with various institutions, from personal advice to leisure and adventure educational activities in life of young people very often mean something very special.
Wittmann and Kampermann (2008) carried out an empirical evaluation study of the offers of mobile youth work at 19 locations in the city center and in suburbs of Stuttgart, which showed the following results:
Mobile youth work does justice to its target group description due to its age, social class, education and illegal activity, and its offers reach socially disadvantaged and endangered young people.
- Mobile youth work thus builds sustainable relationships both among young people and between the addressees and employees:
- There is a trusting relationship between the employees and the addressees.
- The interviewed young people see a support function in their group.
- Mobile youth work is the second most important prevention factor from the perspective of young people.
- The mobile youth work starts within the framework of club work on existing group structures and expands them.
- The before-during comparison showed that, in the opinion of the young people surveyed, their illegal activity tended to be decreased or replaced rather than the same or increased. It can therefore be stated with reservation that the delinquent behavior of the interviewed addressees has tended to be reduced or even replaced. Among other things, this was attributed to mobile youth work by the young people surveyed. Also from a preventive point of view, the MJA seems to be important for the behavior of the young people surveyed, according to their assessment.
These mentioned effects of mobile youth work / street work can only be achieved if all those involved comply with the professional standards.
literature
- Gerd Becker, Titus Simon (Ed.): Handbook of outreach youth and social work: theoretical basics, fields of work, practical aids. Juventa, Weinheim / Munich 1995.
- Ulrich Deinet (Hrsg.): Socio-spatial youth work. Basics, methods and practical concepts. VS Verlag, 2005.
- Frank Dölker: Street work in transition. In: Social Extra . 4/2005, pp. 40-44.
- Frank Dölker, Irmhild Poulsen: Street work and international youth work. Experiences with the participation of migrant youth. In: German Youth. 10/2003, pp. 423-431.
- Stefan Gillich: Social space orientation - A topic for the homeless. In: Gillich (2004)
- Stefan Gillich (Ed.): Excluded & Deported. Street work as an opportunity. Triga Verlag, 2005.
- Stefan Gillich (Ed.): Professional action on the street. Practice book street work and mobile youth work. Triga Verlag, Gelnhausen 2006.
- Stefan Gillich (Hrsg.): Streetwork concrete. Standards and quality development. Triga Verlag, 2007.
- Wolfgang Hinte, Maria Lüttringhaus, Dieter Oelschlägel: Basics and standards of community work. A reader for studies, teaching and practice. Vote, Münster 2001.
- Youth welfare Upper Austria: Quality manual for street work Upper Austria. www.jugendwohlfahrt-ooe.at/
- Andreas Klose: And they are getting younger and younger - target groups of mobile youth work - or why it is important to know what you are doing. Presentation for the Saxon symposium "mja aims ..." - target groups of mobile youth work, 2006. Documentation at: http://www.mja-sachsen.de/mja-sachsen/treffen2006/dokumentation_mja_zielt.pdf
- A. Klose, W. Steffan (Ed.): Mobile youth work and street work in Europe. Munster 1997.
- Siegfried Keppeler: Basic considerations on street work in youth work and youth welfare. In: W. Steffan (Ed.): Street social work. A method for hot areas of practice. Weinheim / Basel 1989, pp. 16–30.
- Siegfried Keppeler: Young Addicts and Their Care - A Challenge for Drug and Youth Welfare? Documentation. 1997 (www.fachportalpaedagogik.de)
- Siegfried Keppeler, Walther Specht: Mobile youth work. In: Hans-Uwe Otto, Hans Thiersch (Hrsg.): Handbook of social work / social pedagogy. 3. Edition. Neuwied / Kriftel 2005.
- Tom Küchler, Dieter Wolfer: In focus: Mobile youth work. Street workers warn of further cuts. A report from the state of Saxony. In: social magazine. Journal of Social Work. Volume 32, Issue 3, March 2007.
- Franz Josef Krafeld: Basics and methods of outreach youth work. An introduction. Vs publisher. June 2004.
- Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Mobile Jugendarbeit Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Practical Guide Mobile Youth Work. Neuwied 1997.
- W. Miltner: Street Work in the working class district. A practical study on youth counseling. Luchterhand, Darmstadt 1982.
- Werner Steffan: street social work. Weinheim 1989.
- Gabriele Stumpp, Dörthe Üstünsöz-Beurer, Sibylle Walter, Florian Beulich, Eberhard Bolay: Effects of Mobile Youth Work in Stuttgart (WIMO). An empirical study. University of Tübingen, 2009. ( short version )
- Hans Tiersch: Lebensweltorientierte Social Work. 6th edition. Weinheim 2005.
- Peter Tossmann, Marc-Dennan Tensil, Benjamin Jonas: Evaluation of street work and mobile youth work in Berlin - result report. delphi, Berlin 2007. Download: http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/content/sen-jugend/jugendsozialarbeit_jugendberufshilfe/resultbericht_streetwork.pdf (01/2010)
- Miriam Wittmann, Katrin Kampermann: Mobile youth work: Concept and implementation. An analysis using the example of mobile youth work in Stuttgart, with a special focus on the perspective of the addressees. TOBIAS-lib, University Library Tübingen, Institute for Criminology of the University of Tübingen, 2008. (online at: uni-tuebingen.de )
Individual evidence
- ↑ z. B. Hinte, Oelschlägel, Lüttringhaus 2001.
- ↑ A good overview of these topics can be found at Ulrich Deinet, among others
- ↑ in Wiesner et al., SGB VIII / KJHG, 2nd edition. Munich 2000, § 13 RdNr. 4th
- ↑ Krafeld 2004, p. 24 ff; see table
- ↑ State Working Group Mobile Youth Work / Streetwork Baden-Württemberg 2005.
- ↑ Source: various professional standards and quality manual for street work in Upper Austria