1. History of Youth Work in Estonia - A Struggle Between Actors Marti Taru

2. Presentation contents The core concepts of the seminar – „Golden triangle“ – Autonomy Few cases from the history (of youth work) of Estonia Final thoughts

3. 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

4. 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?

5. Questions What does reality tell about „golden triangle“ and autonomy – How many actors? – How, by whom are aims, methods, standards, resources determined?

6. 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-…

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. „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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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