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The Inner Shift: Exploring Attitudes for Digital Youth Work
The Inner Shift: Exploring Attitudes for Digital Youth Work
Content
Personal and professional development in youth work often begins with a change in attitude.
As digital youth work continues to evolve, youth workers are increasingly called to adapt, innovate, and engage with new challenges, and this starts from within. This activity invites you to reflect on your own attitudes using the ABC model (Affect, Behaviour, Cognition) and to consider how they influence your growth and professional practice in digital youth work.
By completing this activity, you will:
- Understand what attitudes are and why they matter in personal and professional change
- Explore the ABC model of attitudes and apply it to your own practice
- Reflect on how attitudes influence your behaviour in digital youth work settings
- Identify attitudes that support or hinder your development of digital competences
Get Inspired
Watch the video "ABC of Attitudes" to apply to your own digital youth work practices:
Source: This video as part of the #YOCOMO Attitudes and Behaviours – an #ETS online course on competence-based development for youth workers!
Other resources:
- Vishal Jain, 3D Module of attitudes. Rustaq College of Applied Sciences, Ministry of Higher Education, Sultanate of Oman, 2014
Take action
Task 1: Notice your attitude in action
Think of a recent situation in your youth work practice, particularly in a digital or hybrid setting, where you experienced discomfort, irritation, or motivation.
Describe the situation in a journal. What emotion (Affect) did you feel? What did you do (Behaviour)? What beliefs or thoughts (Cognition) might be behind it? You can use a template (e.g. Google Docs or an online form) to structure your ABC reflection and share it with a peer youth worker or mentor.
Task 2: Observe and inquire
Recall a moment where someone else’s behaviour in your team (e.g. during digital programme planning or delivery) triggered a strong response in you. Reflect on what their behaviour may suggest about their attitude, and how your attitude shaped your reaction.
Discuss this reflection in a peer group or mentoring session. You can also share a reflection in an online learning group or voice recording.
Task 3: Attitudes for digital youth work
Which attitudes are helpful for developing your digital competences in youth work?
Think about openness to experimentation, curiosity about technology, or a willingness to embrace uncertainty.
List 2–3 attitudes you want to strengthen and why.
Claim Open Badge recognition
Upon completing this activity, participants can earn a badge that recognises:
- Reflection on the role of attitudes in personal and professional change;
- Ability to apply the ABC model to digital youth work situations;
- Commitment to developing attitudes that support digital competence and innovation.
Who created this resource?
This activity is based on the ABC of Attitudes video script from the YOCOMO MOOC and draws on the ETS Competence Model for Youth Workers to Work Internationally, as well as the Digital Competences in Youth Work (DYW SNAC) framework. Adapted by Cities of Learning Network partners to support reflection and growth in digital youth work.
Next Steps
Use the insights from this activity to inform your ongoing development plan.
Continue to the next activity in the playlist: Know What Matters: Values in Digital Youth Workn, where uncover how values shape their attitudes and actions, and how this awareness strengthens digital practice.
Engage with peers in your organisation or community of practice to share your reflections and support each other’s growth.
Get activity badge
Attitudes for Digital Youth Work Get this badge
This badge is awarded to youth workers who have reflected on attitudes in their personal and professional development, especially in the context of digital youth work. Through the activity, they explored the ABC model of attitudes (Affect, Behaviour, Cognition) and identified key attitudes that support or hinder their engagement with digital tools, methods, and environments.
To earn this badge, a youth worker needed to:
- Reflect on a real digital youth work situation using the ABC model (Affect, Behaviour, Cognition)
- Analyse how personal or others’ attitudes influenced the situation, especially in digital or hybrid youth work contexts
- Identify at least two attitudes they wish to strengthen to support their digital competences and youth work practice
- Share their reflections through written, visual, or audio formats
Skills and experiences gained
This badge is aligned to the following Digital Competences in Youth Work (DYW SNAC) areas:
- Self-reflection and lifelong learning – by being aware of one’s own learning process and actively planning and engaging in lifelong and life-wide learning.
- Shared guidelines and peer learning – by engaging in shared understanding, peer learning and creating joint strategies with others.
- Facilitating inclusion and well-being – by showing empathy and promoting well-being and positive interaction in digital youth work settings.
- Learning and creativity with digital tools – by experimenting with and reflecting on the use of digital tools in creative ways for own learning and professional development.
This badge shows the earner’s ability to reflect on how attitudes influence their practice and learning in digital youth work. Cities of Learning Network partners value badge earners’ insights and issue this badge after reviewing the provided evidence.
Tasks
Task no.1
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Complete at least two of the following tasks by providing evidence to earn the "Attitudes for Digital Youth Work" badge:
- Task 1: Describe a real situation from your youth work practice (preferably in a digital or hybrid setting) using the ABC model of attitudes
- Evidence 1: Upload a written, visual, or recorded reflection that includes the Affect (feeling), Behaviour (action), and Cognition (underlying belief or thought) related to the situation
- Task 2: Reflect on a situation where another person’s behaviour triggered a strong response in you
- Evidence 2: Submit a short written, audio, or video reflection that explains how the other person’s attitude influenced your reaction and what it revealed about your own attitudes
- Task 3: Identify attitudes you want to strengthen to improve your digital youth work practice
- Evidence 3: Provide a list or short explanation of at least two attitudes you aim to develop further, including why they are important for your digital competences
Skills
#Identity growth of the youth worker
#Critically reflecting the impact of digital transformation
Organisers
Digital Youth Work Resource Hub
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.
Platform
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