History of Youth Work in Estonia - A Struggle Between Actors

Marti Taru

Presentation contents

• The core concepts of the seminar – „Golden triangle“– Autonomy

• Few cases from the history (of youth work) of Estonia

• Final thoughts

The triangle• A form of cooperation: joint planning, joint decision making,

joint action, legislation, financing, standards, quality• 2 core elements:

– Actors:• Policy makers• Youth work practice (NGOs, youth organisations)• Research institutions, researchers

– Relationships: • More or less permanent not only ad hoc

– Advisory board … , Cooperation between …, Youth policy council, …

• The „golden triangle“ as a sensitizing concept• Not as an adequate description of social and political reality,

of real processes, of real actors

Autonomy • the condition of creating one's own laws, whether as an individual, as a

community (YW?) or as a whole society.– Auto: 'for' or 'by itself' – Nomos: 'law,'

• What are the „laws“ of / for youth work?– Goals, aims (third socialisation environment? A space for experimenting?

Personality development? to struggle (intergenerational transfer of) social inequality (incl minorities)?)

– Methods (youth organisation, youth center, counselling service, hobby education, …)

– Professional standards, education and training, access to the field• Where from do youth work „laws“ come?

– From actors in the field; independence, autonomy– From actors outside the field; dependence, heteronomy– Through cooperation; autonomy through dependence?

Questions

• What does reality tell about „golden triangle“ and autonomy– How many actors?– How, by whom are aims, methods, standards,

resources determined?

History of Estonia

• Part of Russian empire since 1710; Baltic landesstaat

• Independence I 1918-1940– Multiparty parliamentarian regime til 1934– Presidential authoritarian regime 1934-1940

• German occupation 1941-1944• Soviet occupation 1944-1991• Independence II 1991-…

Cases: school hobby groups

• Hobby groups in primary and secondary schools– The decision to kick start the hobby group system

was taken by Ministry in cooperation with teachers’ organisations, early 1920s

– The Act of Secondary Schools 1922, hobby groups under teacher control and supervision

– 2(?) actors: the ministry and teachers– Decisions on starting the groups, goals, format and

methods– The groups became popular; a success story

Cases: CURY

• Countrywide Union of Rural Youth – National Agricultural Association started establishing youth

clubs in early 1930s plus an umbrella organisation– was managed by adults– employed paid instructors to carry out activities for young

people. – main activities: training courses in agricultural and farming

skills, study trips and agricultural contests, “summer days” and other leisure activities

– Actors: 1 actor– Decisions: to start, format, goals, methods

Cases: pupils’ societies

• Pupils’ societies– Pupils societies in schools, 1917– personality-development activities– The Act of Secondary Schools 1922: teacher

control over the societies– the societies dissolved by 1927 • 2 actors: ministry and pupils’ societies

„Estonian youth“

• The Act of Youth Organisation, October 1936; Amendments to the Act, March 1938 – President as the head of youth organisations, Ministry of

Education as the executive hand• 1938: debates and discussions

– Actors: the ministry and representatives of youth organisations – No consensus

• 1939 statute of a single youth organisation „Estonian youth“ adopted (+ other YOs disbanded); to be commenced in 1940– WWII

Soviet occupation 1945-1991

• Estonian youth work functioned as a part of all-Union system– Under control of CP and komsomol, also large

enterprises and sectors of economy• Students’ and pupils’ work brigades– Created as a part of all-Union system, 1960s– Actors: Communist Party / Komsomol, enterprises

• Hobby education, including sports– Created as a part of all-Union system– Actors: state, enterprises

Independence II, 1991-…

• Defence League Boys and Girls Corps– Restored in 1989 (early 1990s)– Currently a special organisation of DL– „In-house“ youth leader training system– Actor: Defence League

• Political party youth chapters– Early 1990s– Actors: political parties, youth groups

Independence II, 1991-…

• Youth centers– Started in 1998, currently approx 250– Actors: municipalities, youth workers, ministry

• Hobby education– Continued on from Soviet times– Actors: municipalities, the ministry and NGOs

Independence II, 1991-…

• Strategic documents– Youth field development plan 2014-2020– Involvement of a range of actors and interest

groups • National Youth Policy Council– Representation of different actors

Recurring patterns

• How many actors? – 1? 2? 3? many?

• The number of significant actors has increased– Where are researchers?

• One strong dominant actor– A big organisation, municipality, the ministry

• Configurations are context specific – Strong influence of political regime– More actors on national level, less on lower level

even if big and significant organisation