Designing AI training paths for youth workers: Evidence from a European pilot initiative

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping the social, educational, and civic environments in which young people live and learn, creating new challenges and opportunities for youth workers. Despite the growing relevance of AI, structured and context-sensitive training opportunities for youth workers remain limited. This study explores how an AI training path can be designed to support youth workers’ competence development in ways that are critical, ethical and practically relevant to their professional roles by analysing a pilot training initiative developed within the Artificial Intelligence for Youth Work (AI4YouthWork) project, a cooperation partnership co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. A mixed-methods research design was adopted, combining post-training survey data with platform analytics. Quantitative data captured participants’ perceptions of learning outcomes, relevance and readiness to engage with AI, while qualitative responses provided insights into perceived usability, meaningfulness, and design strengths. A total of 112 participants from diverse European countries and professional backgrounds took part in the study. Findings indicate that the training path supported perceived improvements in AI-related knowledge, skills, confidence, and readiness across participants with heterogeneous levels of prior AI familiarity. The modular and flexible design enabled differentiated engagement, while strong contextualisation and ethical framing enhanced perceived relevance. Participants valued learning experiences that connected AI to youth work values, professional identity and everyday practice rather than focusing solely on technical functionalities. The study concludes that AI competence development for youth workers is most effective when training paths are modular, practice-oriented, ethically grounded and aligned with non-formal education principles. These findings offer design-oriented insights to inform future professional learning initiatives in the youth work field.