Cite: Zimmermann, N. & Pirker, G. (Ed.) (2025). European Youth in the Digital Transformation. The Contribution of Education for Democratic Citizenship and Youth Work to Pedagogies of Digitality and to Digital Empowerment. Analysis and conclusions from the DIYW-ROAD project. Digital Youth Work – rights-sensitive, open, accessible, democratic. Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe (DARE Network), Brussels.
107 pages, DARE network, 2025
Contributors: Rapetti, E. (DARE Network), Rosende, P. A. (Funcacion CIVES), Fernandes, F. (Dinamo), Plasencia, M. (Sozialprofil), Kolarova, D. (Partners Bulgaria Foundation), Kacheva, A. (Partners Bulgaria Foundation).
DE/AT: Jugend in der digitalen Transformation. Der Beitrag der politischen Bildung und von Youth Work zu Pädagogiken des Digitalen und zum digitalen Empowerment in Europa PDF
BG: Европейската младеж в дигиталната трансформация. (short version) PDF
ES: La juventud europea en la transformación digital (short version) PDF
PT: A juventude europeia na transformação digital
The Contribution of Education for Democratic Citizenship and Youth Work to Pedagogies of Digitality and to Digital Empowerment
Young people experience digitalisation as a reality and not as ‘new’. This is a distinction to other generations, who are witness to the transition, or also have experienced several waves of digitalisation in different areas of life (work, private, social). In this regard one cannot moan unawareness or practices/habits of a younger generation but has to take into account the perspective of digitality as first time normality in young peoples life.
Digital Youth Work itself can be seen as a result of youth work encompassing the various socio-political and economic developments of digital transformation in a processual and youth centred way. This means accompanying the different aspects of digitalisation as young people encounter them in their everyday life.
This analysis tries to identify key elements of transformation processes for the field of youth namely for those where power reflection and emancipation are important. From the perspective of non-formal learning as emancipatory and power critical pedagogical practice this analysis also describes the potential of Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) for mutually filling these spaces and why EDC/HRE is a necessary perspective in discussions on digital youth work, digital competence digital citizenship education, media pedagogy, informational pedagogy.
Table of Content
| Introduction | Environment and Digitality |
| How to read the analysis? On digital youth work terminology The political dimension of digitalisation The postdigital perspective The youth voice In a nutshell | The material aspects of digitalisation Effect of digitalisation on climate change Digital lifestyle |
| Identity and Digitality | Governance of the Digital |
| Visibility and self-creation of the digital picture The self – raw material of the digital economy Health & wellbeing and the physical body Identification and prediction Active consumers | Whom to trust, whom to give power? Bringing order into Information disorder Working with data Civic competence and digital skills |
Pedagogy on an Informed Basis
Selected Facts and Figures from the Analysis
Created by
- Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten e. V. (AdB) (Berlin/Germany),
- Sozialprofil – Verein zur Förderung individueller, institutioneller und gesellschaftlicher Entwicklung (Graz/Austria),
- Dinamo (Sintra/Portugal),
- Fundación CIVES (Madrid/Spain),
- Partners Bulgaria Foundation (Sofia/Bulgaria),
- Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe (DARE)
in the frame of the project DIYW-ROAD
Co-funded by the European Union