The development of a culture of educational and social work more focused on the promotion of well-being and the prevention of discomfort, on empowerment, on community development, on the collaboration between services increases the demand for professional figures competent in the reading of the needs and resources of minors and their life contexts: figures expert in the planning of educational relations that are declined in a plurality of areas and methods of intervention.
The graduate programme in Educational Design in Child and Youth Services aims to train operators capable of working in a "system" or "network" logic to develop an effective integration of interventions in continuous dialogue with the territory.
Educational promotion and prevention, support for childhood, pre-adolescence and adolescence now represent a well-defined field of educational work, with specific services and methodologies, with diversifications in relation to the different territorial legislations. For several years now, the regions of Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia have been investing in strengthening the educational offer and network to support minors.
A very clear example of this is Regional Law 14 dated 28 July 2008 promulgated by the Emilia Romagna Region with the title "Standards on policies for the young generations".
Faced with a society that is increasingly organising a plurality of educational services for children and adolescents, there is a need to train professionals with coordination, design, monitoring and consultancy skills, who are capable of designing, managing and continuously innovating these services.