{"id":7077,"date":"2026-09-14T15:14:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T15:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/connected-what-two-years-of-piloting-actually-taught-us-about-youth-work\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T12:28:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:28:46","slug":"connected-what-two-years-of-piloting-actually-taught-us-about-youth-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/connected-what-two-years-of-piloting-actually-taught-us-about-youth-work\/","title":{"rendered":"ConnectEd: what two years of piloting actually taught us about youth work"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.elementor-7077 .elementor-element.elementor-element-1b76af18{--display:flex;}.elementor-7077 .elementor-element.elementor-element-7cada376{font-family:\"Poppins\", Sans-serif;}<\/style>\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"7077\" class=\"elementor elementor-7077 elementor-7072\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1b76af18 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"1b76af18\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7cada376 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7cada376\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For two years, four organisations from Slovenia, Spain, Serbia and Belgium have been trying to answer a stubborn question: \u201c<\/span><b>What actually helps young people cope with challenges, learn and connect with each other \u2014 beyond homework and school obligations?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Erasmus+ project ConnectEd: Bridging Minds, Building Communities \u2013 <\/span><b>ConnectEd: Bridging Minds, Building Communities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, led by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TiPovej!<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> working alongside <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backslash.es\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BACKSLASH<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Spain), <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.libero.org.rs\/?utm_source=ig&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_content=link_in_bio&#038;fbclid=PAcGRvZgJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAaeoW2p1s56soUXOKaPB-aDk7SFfPxQ9FF-tdL_k7QK0CanhoHCXIUn8WBaoew_aem_EF-y1GwixksAknO75s0SJQ\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Libero<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Serbia) and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/connect-international.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connect International<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Belgium) \u2013 <\/span><b>starts with treating three things as one problem instead of three separate topics: mental health, community building, and learning to learn.<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before writing a single workshop, the partners did the unglamorous work first. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1HZHy1JR5kJ5eXB9ZYKbHUtpwKhA-_cko\/view\"><b>D<\/b><b>esk research<\/b><\/a><b> <\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">across the four countries reviewed existing studies, NGO reports, EU and government documents, case studies and best-practice databases, looking for approaches to learning-to-learn, mental health and community building that had already shown real results. That research became the backbone of the   <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1wgHrSyyic0fi6BUEL038zQSIDso-JOcn\/view?usp=sharing\"><b>ConnectEd Manual<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a full set of ready-to-run workshops covering learning strategies like the Feynman Technique and spaced repetition, mental health basics from myths-versus-facts exercises to emotional regulation, and community building through rituals, shared purpose and conflict-resolution practice. All activities are grounded in solid theory. Every session is built to run tomorrow, with a room full of teenagers, some printed handouts and a stopwatch.   <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two digital playlists on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/global.cityoflearning.eu\/?utm_source=ig&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_content=link_in_bio&#038;fbclid=PAcGRvZgJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAadjv30XWfTnQfD5FvTOAAKkhgsAG6oMvUumMoOdebIfcHEvdlYah63qWq581w_aem_TMkvEfIqs8_OQw4crOl-gg\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cities of Learning platform<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> make the same content available online. The first playlist,  <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ljubljana.cityoflearning.eu\/en\/activities\/21119?s=cy9BYUNRalFPMGJncXp3MzBTQ1ZWSi8y\"><b>ConnectEd<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is designed for youth workers and educators and offers practical activities for stress management, problem-solving, developing empathy and teamwork. It&#8217;s useful in the classroom, in workshops or in youth centre work. The second,   <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ljubljana.cityoflearning.eu\/en\/activities\/21015\"><b>LifeSkills 360\u00b0<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is aimed directly at young people and allows them to explore the content independently and at their own pace.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the testing phase, the partners piloted the workshops with more than 150 young people from Serbia, Slovenia and Spain and monitored their impact. The results, presented in the project evaluation report, show a realistic picture of the changes achieved. The greatest progress was seen in stress management \u2013 in some groups by almost a full point on a five-point scale. Understanding of community building also improved noticeably, particularly young people&#8217;s confidence in their own ability to contribute ideas and participate actively. In the area of learning to learn, participants developed better awareness of how they learn and the ability to reflect on their own learning. Changes in motivation, regular reflection and conflict resolution were less pronounced after a single workshop, clearly showing which areas will need more attention in the future.     <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on these findings, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1BPvG4Y5DiyQi5S-BgUd6C3OGArprxHlH\/view?usp=sharing\"><b>ten practical recommendations for youth workers<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. were developed. The recommendations encourage participation, the use of rituals and shared challenges, checking the needs and starting points of the group, and linking activities to learning that continues beyond the end of the workshop.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the story doesn&#8217;t end with the project. All four partners have committed to staying in touch with the young people who participated even after the funding ends, and to monitoring whether the effects of the workshops are sustained in the long term. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slovenia is already showing how the project results can be transferred into practice and sustained beyond its completion. TiPovej! continues to work with the school and the school psychologist, who independently runs ConnectEd workshops with new classes and monitors the progress of students who participated in the project. At the same time, the project&#8217;s activities and approaches are also spreading through collaboration with youth centres, bringing ConnectEd content to a wider circle of young people and youth workers. Linking the school environment and youth work creates additional opportunities to use and further develop the approaches tested in the project. Such long-term collaboration also provides better insight into the effects that the two-year pilot project itself cannot fully capture \u2013 and it is precisely these long-term effects that the partners have identified as an important missing piece of the overall picture.     <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The short-term results are encouraging, but the long-term effects will only become apparent in the coming years, as young people use the skills they have acquired in their everyday lives. Until then, the desk research, the manual, both digital playlists, the recommendations and the  <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1Zy0tcrBMjMzIO3Znh25OH9eO6MPL5_LR\/view?usp=sharing\"><b>evaluation report<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are freely available to anyone working with young people \u2013 in the classroom, youth centre or elsewhere. Definitely worth a look!! <\/span><\/p><p><br style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u2018ConnectEd: Bridging Minds, Building Communities\u2018 Erasmus+ project aims at empowering youth workers with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively support young people. The essence of the ConnectEd project is the highlighting of its innovative approach to fostering key competencies among young people through a blend of formal and non-formal learning methodologies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-projects-connected","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7086,"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions\/7086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tipovej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}