The young person comes first
We protect the participant's agency, dignity, wellbeing and long-term development when interests conflict.
Talent is not a label assigned once.
It is potential that becomes visible through experience, reflection and opportunity. YTAA brings young people, educators, universities and employers into one trusted ecosystem so that potential can be understood, developed and recognised — fairly and across borders.
Vision & Mission
Vision
A world where every young person can build a professional identity with agency, stay connected to a changing world of work, and access the experiences needed to make purposeful choices.
Mission
Our mission is to help young people turn emerging self-understanding into career readiness: to reflect on their strengths, relate them to real opportunities, gain practical experience and make their next education or career choice with agency.
- Helping young people recognise and articulate their strengths.
- Translating assessment insights into learning and career pathways.
- Connecting universities with informed, motivated prospective students.
- Helping employers engage early talent through meaningful, skills-based experiences.
- Building trusted standards, research and recommendations that recognise demonstrated potential.
Values
Identity before labels
We help people articulate a developing professional core; we do not assign them a future or restrict them to a list of "suitable" roles.
Evidence with reflection
We combine careful methods with personal interpretation. A score without context is not a conclusion.
Strengths into action
We do not stop at insight or focus on correcting every weakness. We help participants recognise, strengthen and test the capabilities from which they can create value.
Real-world connection
We keep education connected to a changing labour market through practical experience, not through abstract labour-market information alone.
Trusted partnership
We work across families, schools, universities and employers with transparency, informed consent, privacy protection and a clear separation between developmental support and partner selection.
Whom we serve — and whose interests come first
YTAA works with young people, parents, educators, universities and employers. Their interests can align, but they are not interchangeable.
The young person's interests, dignity, agency and long-term development come first. Parents support the journey; educators help it become possible; universities and employers open routes into learning and work. None of these partners should use YTAA to narrow a participant's options, turn a developing person into a static score, or prioritise institutional convenience over their wellbeing.
This means YTAA is not a candidate-ranking service. It is a trusted bridge between a young person and the real world of education and work. Partner access to participant information is purposeful, proportionate, transparent and consent-based; recommendations serve the participant's next opportunity — not merely a partner's selection process.
History and origin
YTAA grew out of practice. Its foundational assessment tool, the Nova Polis city-building simulation, was developed and tested with school students aged 15–18, producing structured competency profiles and personal career maps. The association was founded to give this practice an institutional home: standards, ethics, research and partnerships — independent from the commercial operation of the game itself.
YTAA is based in The Hague, the Netherlands — an international hub for education and cooperation, home to Nuffic and close to the universities of the Randstad. YTAA is being registered as a vereniging (association with full legal capacity); the KvK registration number will be published here once issued.
Built on working practice, not on paper.
YTAA is young as an institution, but its instruments are not. Two operating assets form the association's evidence base:
Nova Polis
The assessment simulation. Four hours of observed teamwork: negotiation, trade-offs, decisions under time pressure. Three independent perspectives — self, peers, facilitator — produce a 12-competency profile and a personal career map. Operated commercially under licence to YTAA.
Visit Nova Polis
ConsultBuro
The career-guidance platform. European methodology for career counselling, turning test results, experience, skills and market demand into a personal action plan.
Visit ConsultBuroThe association sets standards, ethics and research; the tools are operated separately under written licences. Interested founders do not vote on related-party decisions.
Governance
YTAA is governed by its board under Dutch association law, with a conflict-of-interest policy, transparent financial rules and an advisory board bringing together university, employer and youth-development expertise. Our policies are public: Standards & Ethics. The commercial game Nova Polis is operated by a separate company; YTAA uses it under a written licence, and interested founders do not vote on related-party decisions.