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Europe Is Yours: 50 young people from Valencia and Germany discover Europe’s opportunities for youth

Exchanges, volunteering, travel and training: the BACKSLASH workshop at IES Jordi de Sant Jordi showed students from Valencia and a visiting group from Germany the range of opportunities Europe offers young people.

Students from Valencia and Germany working in small groups during the Europe Is Yours workshop at IES Jordi de Sant Jordi

On 15 October 2026, BACKSLASH facilitated Europe Is Yours, a workshop at IES Jordi de Sant Jordi in Valencia attended by about 50 young people: first-year students of the Higher Technician in Sociocultural and Tourism Animation (TASOCT), upper-secondary (bachillerato) students and a group of students from Germany visiting the school.

The aim was simple: every participant should leave knowing which European opportunities exist, which ones they can use given their age and situation, and with their questions answered before taking the step.

A map of opportunities, not a lecture

True to the non-formal education approach that defines BACKSLASH, the session avoided long talks. Participants worked in mixed teams and explored an “opportunity map” organised in three columns: what you can do right now, even under 18; what opens up from the age of 18; and what TASOCT students will be able to use as future youth work professionals.

With information cards and their phones in hand, they looked up real offers on the European Youth Portal and discussed which ones fitted their plans. The opportunities covered included Erasmus+ youth exchanges, European Solidarity Corps volunteering, DiscoverEU, IVAJ volunteer camps, school mobility, Erasmus+ traineeships abroad, Euroscola and the European Youth Parliament, among more than twenty programmes and initiatives.

Questions answered, myths dismantled

A good part of the workshop went into the most common questions: How much does it cost? Do I need good English? What can I do if I am under 18? How do I know an offer is trustworthy? The answers broke a few myths: most of these programmes are free or heavily subsidised, and they do not require a specific language level.

To close, each participant wrote on a card one concrete action for the following week: creating a profile on the European Youth Portal, asking at school about Erasmus+, or writing to a youth organisation.

BACKSLASH thanks IES Jordi de Sant Jordi and Dani Ballester for the invitation, and the students and the group from Germany for taking part and for all their questions.

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