Finnish report on youth information and counselling looks to 2020

2020

Finnish report on youth information and counselling looks to 2020

In autumn 2019, Koordinaatti published a report entitled: Professionals in Managing Flows of Information: Youth Information and Counselling in the 2020s. The report, compiled by researcher Karla Malm from the Finnish Youth Research Society, focuses on the relationship between youth information and counselling and other youth work and services, special skills and competences in youth information and counselling, and what kind of recommendations can be set based on the above.  

According to the report, youth information and counselling works well both as an independent service and as part of multiple services. Traditional ways of understanding youth information and counselling work do not necessarily succeed in recognising all the situations in which it can operate. The report also envisions what youth information and counselling work should include in the future. 

The report concludes that the strengths of youth information and counselling work are two-fold: positive recognition in encounters and information skills. Especially in multidisciplinary services, the attempt to put the focus on the young person, based on the ethos of youth work, is an essential competence that is important to make visible. Precisely the skills and competences that youth information and counselling workers have in their encounters with young people differentiate them from other information workers and make reaching out to young people possible.

The emphasis on media and information literacy is a characteristic feature of youth information and counselling work that makes it stand out compared to other forms of youth work. The focus is on information and knowledge, and young people’s equal chances to use it.  

Koordinaatti has been working on defining youth information and counselling work and related services since autumn 2017. This report contributes to the debate on the definition of youth information and counselling work. It will serve as one contribution, giving its interpretation of the strengths, characteristics and roles of youth information and counselling work in a changing information landscape. It also contributes to the Finnish national recommendations for youth information and counselling work.

You can check the full report here.