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KEKS 2025 - Recognising Youth Skills: Cities of Learning and Open Badges
Thursday, May 8, 2025 11:00 - 12:15
Lindholmspiren 5, 417 56 Göteborg, Sweden
KEKS 2025 - Recognising Youth Skills: Cities of Learning and Open Badges
Thursday, May 8, 2025 11:00 - 12:15
Lindholmspiren 5, 417 56 Göteborg, Sweden
Content
How can cities and regions work together to create inclusive learning environments where young people can explore, develop, and showcase their skills?
Cities of Learning is a web-based platform that maps physical and digital activities in a given area, while offering tools to build personal learning pathways and collect digital Open Badges for demonstrated competencies.
Representatives from the municipality of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the Dutch Cities of Learning network in the Netherlands will share their experiences, demonstrate how the platform is important to highlight diverse learning opportunities, and discuss the benefits for young people, organisations, and cities.
Presenters:
By following this seminar participants will gain a foundational understanding of the Cities of Learning framework and its potential to enhance youth engagement and development within their municipalities.
The seminar will provide insights into:
- How Cities of Learning aligns with local policy priorities and goals.
- Successful examples of Cities of Learning implementation at the city level.
- The core functionalities of the Cities of Learning platform.
- Key Cities of Learning initiatives and their role in supporting youth work development.
- Examples of Cities of Learning strategies.
How to make learning great for young people in Cities and Regions:
Imagine a city or region where it's easy for young people to discover all the different ways they can learn and grow. This includes everything from school clubs and online courses to volunteering and apprenticeships. The "Cities of Learning" idea helps make this happen.
Think of it like this:
Mapping opportunities: The "Cities of Learning" platform acts like a map, showing all the learning activities available in the area, both online and in person.
Personal learning journeys: Young people can use tools on the platform to create their own learning paths, choosing activities that interest them and help them develop specific skills.
Digital recognition (Open Badges): When young people show what they've learned through these activities, they can earn digital badges. These badges act like a record of their skills and achievements, which they can use for future education or jobs.
What this means for Cities and Regions:
By using a Cities of Learning platform, Cities and Regions can:
- Highlight all kinds of learning: Make sure that all the different ways young people learn are visible and valued.
- Help young people grow: Support them in exploring their interests, developing important skills, and showing what they can do.
- Benefit everyone: This helps the young people themselves, the organisations that offer learning opportunities, and the city as a whole by creating a more skilled and engaged youth population.
Examples of how Cities are doing this:
Several cities are already using the "Cities of Learning" approach successfully. You can read about their experiences here:
- Collectively creating Lisbon City of Learning
- Rotterdam makes it happen with badges
- Learning for a better future in Ljubljana
- Volunteering: the spark for Open Badges in Vilnius
Good examples Youth Work within this Framework
- Young Co(L)-Creator Programme of the Cities of Learning Network: a programme from the Cities of Learning Network where young people can get involved in shaping their learning environment.
- Pathway to Personal Leadership & Leadership in relation with others: A residential training programme focused on developing leadership skills.
- Embassy of Compassion: An initiative likely focused on developing empathy and social responsibility.
Key projects supporting this work:
- Quality Label for Badge Recognition: Ensuring that digital Open Badges are trusted and recognised.
- Digital Youth Work Resources Library: Providing helpful resources for those working with young people.
- Youth Work Pathways to Professional Development and Recognition: Supporting the growth of youth workers.
How to include important skills for the future (21st Century Skills)
Cities are developing specific plans to make sure young people gain skills like problem solving, creativity and teamwork. This involves:
- Understanding key skills: Identifying the most important skills for the 21st century.
- Considering local needs: Thinking about what's important for their specific city.
- Using technology: Finding ways technology can support learning.
- Mapping what's already there: Looking at the current learning opportunities and seeing where there are gaps.
You can find more details here: Breda, Thessaloniki, Turin, Cluj-Napoca, Vilnius, Blackpool and Dutch Cities of Learning
Photo: Angela Compagnone
Get activity badge
Recognition of non-formal learning Get this badge
This badge is awarded to participants who have actively engaged in the KEKS conference seminar on Cities of Learning. Participants have explored how Cities and regions can collaborate to create inclusive learning environments where young people can develop and showcase their skills. They have gained insights into the Cities of Learning framework, including its emphasis on mapping learning opportunities, using Open Badges, and fostering collaboration between diverse stakeholders.
To earn this badge, participants have:
- Attended the Cities of Learning seminar at the KEKS conference.
- Engaged in discussions and activities related to the Cities of Learning framework.
This badge can be enriched by completing reflection questions.
Tasks
Task no.1
Issued by organiser or scanning QR code
To enrich your earned badge you can reflect on the following questions:
- How could the Cities of Learning framework, with its emphasis on mapping learning opportunities and issuing Open Badges, be adapted or integrated into your current youth work practices to better support young people's skill development and recognition?
- Considering the examples from Ljubljana, Rotterdam, Lisbon and Vilnius, what are some potential challenges and opportunities you foresee in implementing a Cities of Learning initiative in your own city or region, particularly in fostering collaboration between diverse stakeholders (public sector, civil society, and businesses)?
- In what ways can the Cities of Learning platform contribute to making learning pathways more visible and accessible for all young people, including those from marginalized or disadvantaged communities, and how can we ensure equitable participation and outcomes?
Location
Lindholmspiren 5, 417 56 Göteborg, Sweden
Organisers
Network of Cities and Regions of Learning
Awero not-for-profit organisation manages this platform and develops it together with leading educational organisations. The European Union's programme Erasmus+ granted co-funding for building the first version of this platform. Contact support@awero.org.
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