Terms

We have different languages. This is the first time, that we exchange on the young people.

Professional in a cross-professional meeting, Denmark (2018)

The necessity of clarifying terms and expressions arose not only between the different countries, but also locally between different sectors such as education, employment, health care and social care. In daily work life, many terms are practiced with an implicit understanding and can easily be misunderstood across different sectors. 

The following core terms of the study are outlined as they were used in Youth in transition. As far as possible, these definitions are aligned with the formal terms in European and national standards. 

Read more in “The needs of the NEETs and the needs of the professionals”:

NEETs	Young people of a given age, who neither are in education nor in training or employment (Eurostat, OECD). In YIT, the age group of 15-29 years was in focus. The country partners addressed different subgroups of the groups of NEETs most at risk, all of them with a complexity and interaction of a number of severe problems in their lives.
Professionals	Qualified professionals work competently with the NEETs, each of them with their own profession and within their own organization, typically from the fields of youth guidance counseling, educational counseling, employment, social work and vocational education and training (VET).  Other relevant professionals can be teachers from educational programs or specialists such as therapists, substance abuse counselors or youth crime preventors.
Scout	An artificial term, created for the purposes of YIT. The role of the scout combines different kinds of counseling with organizational tasks within the cross-professional context of the local “chain responsibility” around the NEETs. For role and competence profile of the scout, see youth-it.cool (Scout profile).
Individual pathways, services, activities, transitions	Understood as coherent personal and professional development processes towards education or job, with a sustainable perspective. The development takes place in the framework of individually designed tracks, based on personal goals and with the young person as the co-designer. During these pathways, sense-making activities are initiated in public or private settings. Educational elements can be some of the stepping stones on the pathways. There is heightened focus on and support in the transitions between the phases of the pathways.
Vocational maturity	The project´s own definition of the term in YIT, explored and methodized for implementation in Denmark, Slovenia and Iceland.  Vocational maturity is made up of the competences and potentials necessary for starting and retaining a job or internship. This is also the case for the beginning of a vocational program and during its educational processes. For further explanations and access to an interactive online tool for NEETs´ self-evaluation in dialogue with a professional, see youth-it.cool (Vocational maturity).
Cross-professional	The interaction and collaboration across professions for a common purpose, in this case to promote the development of NEETs towards vocational maturity. The different professionals can work in the social sector, in education, health, employment etc. They each bring their approaches and methods.  In cross-organizational teams, the professionals come from different institutions such as youth guidance counseling centers, schools, social care centers, employment services etc., and bring different services under different legislations.  Other nuances are: cross-competent teams, cross-experienced teams, multi-professional teams and more short-lasting ad hoc teams.
The ´system´	Here understood as the context and the overall conditions for professionals, when working with NEETs, and how these conditions are manifested locally. Consisting of rules, regulations and legislation, with all their financial limitations and possibilities, resource allocation, the organizational set-up for cooperation and the logistics concerning each individual young person.  Cross-national or global bodies, such as The United Nations, OECD or CEDEFOP, may influence the ´systems´ via overall principles and frameworks for education, training, employment, social work and guidance counselling.
Competence	The project YIT and the study at hand refer to the European Reference Framework of Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, defining the competences each European citizen needs for personal fulfilment and development, employment, social inclusion and active citizenship. The key competences are a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Knowledge is composed of the concepts, facts and figures, ideas and theories that are already established, and support the understanding of a certain area or subject. Skills are defined as the ability to carry out processes and use the existing knowledge to achieve results. Attitudes describe the disposition and mindset to act or react to ideas, persons or situations. This definition differs from some national interpretations. This is taken into regard in YIT´s national work processes and products.

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