The aim of this article is to analyse the educational strategies used by educators in out-of-school educational programmes for young people between 12 and18 years old. Taking an ethnographic approach, data collection was carried out through participant observation at seven programme sites where the participants assumed different levels of responsibility. The 'youth-adult partnership', which involves people of different ages working together to spark changes in their environment, was used as an analytical framework. The main results showed the use of similar strategies across the different sites, notably including the establishment of relationships of trust and support, giving participants a voice in decision-making processes, and developing critical thinking. However, the type of task, the time spent on it and consistency in relationships seemed to be key factors in choosing specific strategies that encouraged involvement and decision-making.