The Council of Europe international reviews of national youth policy and the place of youth work

March 2018 is the 21st anniversary of the start of the Council of Europe international reviews of national youth policy. Over those 21 years, 21 countries have been subject to an international review. Three ’synthesis reports’ have been published on the reviews (Williamson 2002, 2008, 2017) endeavouring to capture the key messages arising from each cluster of seven. These have considered, inter alia, the broad themes emerging from individual reviews, indicative of a framework for thinking about youth policy at a European level. There is now a strikingly comprehensive and complex mosaic of themes that, arguably, should have a place within any dialogue about ’youth policy’. The latest ‘synthesis report’ brings even more themes and issues to the table. In the paper, a short summary of the history of the international reviews of national youth policy will be provided, followed by a discussion of some of the key emergent issues, including the place of youth
work in general, and open youth work in particular, within broader frameworks of youth policy.