So, what is youth work anyway?

[Tim Davies]

At 2gether08 festival I was struck by how few people were familiar with Youth Work. And when I tried to google to find a website or page to point them to which summed up what Youth Work is - I drew a bit of a blank.

So, I quickly wrote up a blog post offering my take for that particular audience of what Youth Work is - but (a) it's only a small part of the picture, and (b) it's not presented in a very lively way. So - I'd really like to invite everyone here in UK Youth Online, and anyone with a stake in Youth Work who is reading this - to offer their own answers to the question 'What is Youth Work?'


You could offer your answer as:

• A video blog to camera like mine above (you can upload videos to this site in the Videos section)
• A powerpoint presentation that explains Youth Work (try uploading it to SlideShare and them embedding it below).
• A written response
• Pointers to other online resources and explanations of Youth Work
• An edited video that shows Youth Work in action (although remember that you will need consent from any young people included in images and videos)
• A flyer, poster, report or leaflet that you have created explaining Youth Work (look for the 'add attachments' option when replying to this post)
• Anything else that you think helps to tell an audience new to youth work what it is all about

Post your responses as comments below, or link to where we can find them as a reply (or if you want, start a new thread).

If there are a good number of responses, then I'll try and pull them together into some sort of single page of introductions to Youth Work...

[Alex Dowding]

In my initial training for Youth Work, I was presented with the following formula. Not sure who created it but it stands up pretty well as a simple explanation.

Young Person Attending Voluntarily
+
Activities / Opportunities
+
Skilled Adult Guidance
+
Informal Learning
=
YOUTH WORK

What do people think?

[Tim Davies]

Nice formula...

I'm just running through things in my mind with it as a checklist to see if it works.... and it certainly seems to...

Would be great to make it into a check-list graphic to really present the idea visually... any idea where it originally comes from in case we need to credit it?

[Alex Dowding]

I'll check with our training guru Dave. He's the fount of all things youth work so should be able to tell me. Will check back as soon as I know more!!

[Alex Dowding]

Apparently it was derived from from materials put together by the South West Regional Training Group in 1998. It was drawn from a simplification of the underlying principles & practice upon which youth work is based.

He also reccomended as a good explanation of where it came from!!

I've also attempted the check-list graphic, though it may be a bit cheesy?

[Alex Dowding]

"He also reccomended as a good explanation of where it came from!!"

Hyper link didn't work last time hope fully this will time

[Tim Davies]

Hey Alex

This is great... I'll try and blog this in the next few days.. and will keep encouraging other people to share their take on what youth work is...

[Tim Davies]

Just seen this from the Rank Foundation

http://www.rankyouthwork.org/turningpoints/index.htm

I've not watched the clips yet - but they may be handy in communicating 'What is Youth Work...'

[Mog]

Youth Work in Wales has a slightly different definition in Wales and is outlined in the document "The Youth Work Curriculum Statement for Wales".

In Wales this has always been THE document for youth workers where the emphahsis has always been on voluntary engagement. Having said that, the definitions have been challenged in a consultation event in cardiff earlier this year (PDF here)

I quote...

"Question 1, posed by Professor Howard Sercombe (University of Strathclyde)
Does educational intent, association and voluntary participation define youth work, or merely
describe it?

The overall consensus was that these statements describe youth work, rather than define it, and
are a part of its wider role: youth work undertaken properly and professionally was so much more
than this. The relationship between youth worker and young person was thought to be more
important than how it is carried out. Voluntary participation was thought to be central to why
youth work is effective.

Below are a few of the comments received that were representative of most:

“It does define it, but youth work is also about emancipation, empowering, supporting in a non-
judgemental way”
“Building voluntary relationships is paramount in youth work, only then can youth workers
challenge issues etc”
“The relationship is fundamental – whether it is voluntary, prescribed or enforced engagement.”
“The statement describes part of youth work, though it should mutate/evolve around the young
person’s individual needs.”
“Voluntary participation defines youth work; educative intent and association describe elements of
the service.”
“Yes there should be an informal educator who is skilled and professional for the job.”
“The Youth Work Curriculum Statement for Wales is universally agreed… It describes the purposes
and values of youth work. It also strongly emphasises the voluntary relationship with young
people as a fundamental principal.” "

The idea of voluntary participation with educational intent has been what YW has been about as long as I've been involved, but maybe the definitions are changing.

For me, in the simplest terms, it's about helping and enabling young people to reach their full potential through informed desicion making and support. I often think that redifining an approach based on social/technological changes serves only to confuse what we are and what we do often with the resulting danger of youth services becoming a "catch all" for government agendas as well as a "blame all" for the "what's wrong with young people today is.." crowd.

However, the "professionalisation" of youth work, especially through the Youth and Community Work BA, (which here in Wales means that you apparently MUST be qualified by 2010) whilst perhaps helping to achieve parity with teaching and social work, may well be too narrow a road to go down and thus becoming the antithesis of what we say we are, by excluding those YP who do not "fit" into the academic model of "young people" on which our training is based.

As youth workers, I think we often don't blow our own trumpet, but maybe it is important to let people know that we have a trumpet to blow...

I think the defnition of youth work at some level has to be "What I do tomorrow".

[Lukestarr]

The whole arena of 'youth work' is obviously subjective and means different things to different people. As we know there is a variety of themes and settings for youth work including centre based, school based, detached, outreach, residential's, youth offending and so on. It is therefore very difficult to sum up exactly what it is or should be as this may change depending on client, need, environment, circumstance and so on.

My understanding of a youth worker however is someone who a young person is able to trust, learn from, exchange ideas, seek help and guidance, to use for signposting. A worker may also help young people develop their personal and social skills such as confidence, motivation, perseverance, problem solving, team work, communication, tolerence and so on. They may also assist with numeracy and literacy issues.

A youth worker is not a friend, nor are they a teacher. They are not a family member or an employer. Therefore it can often be vague for a young person as to what the role actually is, however i believe that they are somewhere in between as at some time they may adopt a role that is similar. They should be an advocate, a role model, a mentor and someone with whom a young person can trust (However disclosure is obviously an issue).

A youth worker is someone who can help guide a young person through the often difficult transition form childhood to adulthood and attempt to try and make this transition as fulfilling and beneficial as possible (Of course young people need to test boundaries, take risks, explore acceptable levels of behaviour and so on without the guidance of an adult as that is often how we learn, through opportunities, chances and mistakes).

I don't know if my opinions have helped in anyway and it is clear that i know more about what a youth worker should be than the role of youth work as it is very subjective. It does raise the debate as to 'whether youth work should be professionalised as is teaching'?

[mas]

I'm torn between whether its already too 'professionalised' or not professional enough!

It bothers me that genuine adult volunteers have been pushed away from volunteering with young people and we have a society that feels you have to be paid to work with young people.

On the otherhand I've seen so many youth workers that just don't act professionally enough!

In terms of whether it should be professionalised as teaching I think a better approach would be to look at ways that those in the informal and formal education sectors could better work together and to see how youth work fits in to the overall picture.

I had similar thoughts about the role of youth workers - 'you're not their friend etc.' - wrote in a blog post here

[Lukestarr]

I am currently working on alternative curriculum models in schools and out of schools to work with young people struggling in the education system. It is apparent and surprising how dis jointed formal and informal education is. It is often the case that schools just want to wipe their hands of the 'non achievers' and leave other bodies to support young people struggling within mainstream education. I have just latched on to the ASDAN COPE Award and am receiving training soon. I am interested to see if this really is an alternative method of education for many young people and to try it out for myself.

[Tony Cisse]

How about this based on the 'social pedagog model (and you asked what youth work is...the next question is what is social pedagogy, however the points below are quite useful)

The practitioner seeing herself/himself as a person, in relationship with the child or young person;
• Young people and staff are seen as inhabiting the same life space, not as existing in separate hierarchical domains;
• As professionals, (youth workers) are encouraged constantly to reflect on their practice and to apply both theoretical understandings and self-knowledge to the sometimes challenging demands with which they are confronted;
• (Youth workers) are also practical, so their training prepares them to share in many aspects of young people’s daily lives and activities;
• Young people’s associative life is seen as important resources: workers should foster and make use of the group;
• (Youth work) builds on understanding of young people’s rights that is not limited to procedural matters or legislated requirements;
• There is an emphasis on team work and on valuing the contribution of others in ‘bringing up’ young people; other professionals, members of the local community and especially parents;
• The centrality of relationship and, allied to this, the importance of listening and communicating.”