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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.
