The U.S. population is defined by multiculturalism today, so any online training for youth workers needs to include intercultural training. Youth of all races, ethnicities, genders, disabilities and religious affiliations will regularly interact with each other in their personal and work lives, so youth workers strive to develop positive relations based on a perspective of appreciation for cultural differences as crucial to success in life. A quality program for Certification for Working with Youth includes a focus on intercultural learning, leading to role modeling through the use of intercultural communication skills between workers and clients.
Teacher and Youth: Developing Intercultural Perspectives and Skills
Online training for youth workers includes intercultural training with specific skills development goals. Workers learn about things like intercultural dialogue, bias and stereotyping, diversity and inclusion, communication biases, fostering positive perspectives on multiculturalism, intersectionality, human rights as values, relationships and team building and identities. Increasing cultural awareness is an essential first step in connecting with diverse youth as they develop the personal cultural skills needed to succeed in the work environment and society.
Stimulating the Learning of Youth
Intercultural training for workers includes learning how to stimulate youth interest in learning with an open mind. Training begins with the youth worker and is passed on to the youth in practice. A learning mindset is crucial to succeeding in a multicultural society, a diverse workplace and life because it continuously opens the mind to a willingness to gain knowledge from diverse cultural perspectives. It leads to a lifelong learning process, embracing an identity regularly developing through interactions with others and improving social agility.
The Youth Intervention Programs Association (YIPA) offers intercultural training for youth workers, which is leveraged to work with young people from a variety of backgrounds successfully. Contact YIPA at https://yipa.org/ for more information.