International youth work in Germany constitutes a highly heterogeneous field, particularly with regard to the pedagogical practitioners involved and their professional backgrounds. For a professional and sustainably high-quality practice in this domain, the adequate qualification and preparation of all pedagogical actors is essential (Thimmel & Schäfer 2021: 109). At the same time, it is striking that comparatively few opportunities exist for the professionalization of practice in international youth work, and that this field receives scant attention in the training of social professions (Thimmel & Friesenhahn 2003: 30).

Following a systematic literature review based on predefined keywords (Jesson et al. 2011), educational research on professionalization identifies networks as a promising field. Networks are recognized as a central context for learning, exchange, reflection, and innovation (e.g. Gruber et al. 2016), as well as for professionalization (e.g. Schulze 2022). At the same time, empirical studies examining the role of networks in the professionalization of pedagogical practitioners in international youth work remain scarce. Within this field, networks primarily consist of individuals representing institutions from non-profit and municipal bodies, associations, federations, and academic institutions, operating across local, regional, national, European, and international levels. Partly shaped by specific funding guidelines (e.g. Erasmus+) and their embedded normative objectives regarding European identity development, the focus lies on encounters between participants from Germany and those from European neighboring and EU countries.

In light of the described research gap, the following research questions are central:

(1) How do pedagogical practitioners out of networks in international youth work perceive these networks as a context for professionalization in international youth work?

(2) How do pedagogical practitioners utilize networks in international youth work for professionalization in this field?

Within this dissertation, networks of international youth work are understood as a context in which individuals, seen as a professionalized milieu (Bohnsack 2020: 102), develop and reproduce collective orientations of pedagogical practice within a "conjunctive space of experience" (Bohnsack et al. 2020: 121). In this sense, professionalization is not the outcome of individual intentional learning processes, but rather an expression of altered habitual logic of action that can be documented and reconstructed through discourse. This does not apply to theoretical knowledge, but to "atheoretical" knowledge (Mannheim 1980), which Polanyi (1966) terms "tacit knowledge" or implicit knowledge. Professional habitualized practice and the establishment of a "modus operandi" (Bohnsack 2021: 63) are hardly conceivable without such implicit knowledge. It manifests in interactions and shared interpretive patterns. Considering diverse networks (cases) enables the inclusion and comparative analysis of varying perspectives within the shared space of experience international youth work.

To address the research questions, group discussions (Przyborski & Wohlrab-Sahr 2021) and the documentary method (Bohnsack 2021) were selected as particularly suitable methodological approaches. This determination followed an extensive literature review examining similar procedures across related academic fields and research practices. The combination of group discussions—designed to elicit collective orientations, collective habitual practices and processes of professionalization —and documentary interpretation has established itself as a robust and promising strategy in numerous educational research contexts focused on professionalization (e.g., Korte et al. 2024; Kubisch & Franz 2022; Welling 2008; Wieser & Klinger 2020; Wittek & Korte 2024). Primary sources were systematically retrieved from established literature databases such as FIS Bildung and SCOPUS, employing carefully predefined search terms to analyze relevant publications in both German and English. No restrictions were imposed on publication year or document type to ensure comprehensive coverage. Complementing this, the snowball sampling technique—leveraging citations from initial findings—and targeted consultations with field experts were utilized to uncover additional central and seminal literature.

Preliminary results from the pilot study will be presented and discussed in the conference presentation. This study aims to examine professionalization in international youth work and to better understand how networks contribute as a context to the professionalization of this field. It is expected that the systematic analysis and comparison of selected networks (cases) will yield new insights into their influence on the shared orientations, collective practices and professionalization of pedagogical practitioners. The findings may contribute to the scientific discussion and systematic further development of the field, potentially serving as an impetus for future research on international youth work.

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