PowerPoint Presentation

Youth work has no place in local government childrens services

Clarifying the hypothesisYouth works funding, commissioning and delivery has no place in local government childrens and young peoples services.

What is youth work?

Source: EU-CoE youth partnership

What is youth work? Key themes

Equips young people with the knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities to help them play an active part in democratic society: young people develop valuable skills which they can apply to other areas of their lives, including to help them participate in education, training, employment, decision making and to make a positive contribution to their community.

03Knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities

04Professional discipline

Relationship based on a voluntary, participative process02

01Non - formal personal, social and political educationYouth work relationship based on a voluntary, participative process: coproduced with young people, starts with the issues and areas that are of interest and concern to them, enabling them to take increasing responsibility and leadership in their learning process.Non - formal personal, social and political education: increasingly targeted to improve outcomes for disadvantaged groups, helps young people to understand and challenge oppression. Professional discipline: increasing emphasis on specialist vocational, degree and postgraduate level professional training. Paid staff and volunteers should all have adequate training and skills in developing the potential of young people.

Harriet Gore, 2015

The definition of high quality youth work has changed. Local authorities have experienced unprecedented reductions in funding combined with increasing levels of need; often for expensive specialist and acute services such as social care and CAMHS.... The main challenge for youth work in a context of austerity is to prove its worth as an essential element in the early help system.

The role of the (Phoenix) youth centre is pivotal in improving outcomes. It works with vulnerable young people, in many cases, supporting their engagement with education, targeted provision and social care. But more than this, it encourages these young people to become volunteers and members of the steering group. This has resulted in young people developing skills and abilities that assist them to participate in education, training and employment and make a positive contribution to their own local community.

Key themes

Challenges for youth work?

Cuts

Increased demand

Evidencing the impact

01

02

0301Unprecedented local authority funding cuts with the worst still to come: retaining / re-gaining a commitment to youth work in the age of austerity.02Increasing demand for school places and expensive specialist and acute services: youth work is often seen as optional, the main challenge is for youth work to prove its worth as an essential and cost effective part of the early help system by providing a soft landing between schools and social care. 03Evidencing the impact of youth work: systematically capturing credible evidence of young peoples learning, progress, achievements and personal development and how these improve their overall life chances.

Youth services have suffered massive cuts, and the vast contribution youth workers make to young people and society in general is being lost.

Unison, 2014

The central challenge is to defend and extend youth work as a distinctive educational practice founded on a voluntary relationship with young people and shaped by their agendas.In Defence of Youth Work, 2011

Source: A Fixers campaign led by Piers Telemacque

The importance of youth work

Challenges facing young people - Key pointsThis often means adjusting to change during this time does not always go to plan and there are hindrances to a young persons development.Resistance to changeThe last couple of decades have seen enormous developments in technology to societal norms.Technological changeare a crucial stage in an individuals development and in this day and age, young people come to face pressure from various channels.Adolescent years

Challenges facing young people - Education

In some cases young people perceive not going down the route of university as a failure.02Young people are concerned about the lack of information about alternative pathways such as apprenticeships and why this information is not provided from an earlier stage in their education (prior to GCSEs). 03Challenges facing young peopleThere is enormous pressure from within schools to succeed in GCSEs and A levels and to follow a path to university. 01

Challenges facing young people - Online pressureYoung people face these challenges on a daily basis due to the nature of social media.

Social Media: Young peoples lives are exposed 24/7 on social media meaning there is pressure from their peers to fit in, look good and follow the latest crazes.Not only does social media increase pressure amongst peers, the presence of celebrities and global trends also create a greater desire to fit in, especially with issues concerning weight and image.

Online pressure - Cyber bullyingHowever, there are cases where young people may be using the internet which may have negative consequences for themselves and others.

For example: cyber-bullying, grooming and child sexual exploitation.

The internet is no doubt a great phenomenon. The world is fully immersed in a technological age which has opened many doors for those who engage with it.Therefore, young people have an expanse of information at their fingertips but knowing how and what to do with it poses a great challenge. Often, the case is young people are using the internet in the right way.

Challenges facing young people - Society

Young people are faced by the challenges of social norms and the desire to fit in.01When a young person does not fit societal norms, issues surrounding identity and being comfortable with that identity is an enormous challenge02This certainly is the case when young people face challenges of sexuality and gender roles03Youth work has a role in addressing these issues by providing support and guidance to young people who are vulnerable to the negative consequences of the challenges; especially when consequences cause additional challenges such as mental health.

Society often expects young people to conform to expectations of an adult which is to be well educated, get a job, fulfil gender roles.

Youth work outcomes and impact - Key points

Embracing impact

Embracing impact as a way of learning:Projects provide the most successful evidence of impact. Centre for Youth Impact is conducting a host of investigations into the impact of youth work and working with organisations to embrace impact.

Outcomes frameworks

Outcomes frameworks:Provide a common language for providers.A step in the right direction.

Confidence in youth work as a professional discipline is lacking:If there was trust in the process of youth work, questions wouldnt be being asked about evidence and impact.Issues with current evidence:Reliance on young people to self report. Evidence is often in the form of case studies, thus pulling together data is an immense challenge.

Assessing impact is a challengeNo agreed definition of youth work, data is hard to collect, outcomes arent know until 20 to 30 years.

Current evidence

Confidence

Assessing impact

Youth work outcomes and impact- Key points

Qualitative research has shown that young people value the relationship they have with youth worker, the importance of trust and how these open up opportunities and alternatives. Research conducted by academics has the potential to challenge and examine youth work to help fuel the debate and construct youth work for the future.

Suzanna Rauprich, National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), Partner for Centre for Youth Impact:Overall, the confidence in youth work as a professional discipline is poor. If we were to trust the process of youth work we wouldnt be asking questions around impact and evidence.... We would not expect to be questioning the value of teaching if it is done well which is also an educational discipline but youth work is constantly expected to justify itself which is a real issueIt is more challenging to identify the impact of open access youth work, but this does not mean we shouldnt try. It is important to reflect on what we are doing and what we are achieving as a result... In a society which is so driven by meeting deadlines and meeting targets, it is important that youth work is not left behind

Youth work has been built up from the 1960s. My major worry is that we are losing a generation of expertise, experience and knowledge.

Garath Palmer, UNITE