Youth work

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A Ukrainian community youth centre in Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia Ukrainian Youth Centre - Lidcombe.jpg
A Ukrainian community youth centre in Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia

Youth work is a community support activity aimed at older children and adolescents. Depending upon the culture and the community, different services and institutions may exist for this purpose. In general, it provides an environment where young people can engage in informal educational activities. Throughout the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, youth work is "to facilitate personal, educational, and social development." [1] [2] Through participative activities and coordinated programs, it seeks to enable young people in "gaining a voice, influence, and place in society in a period of their transition from dependence to independence." [1] By nature and design these activities would be inclusive, educative, and empowering, and based on partnership, equality of opportunity, and respecting diversity.

Contents

Overview

A combination daycare and youth center in Havana, Cuba, where children can hear stories, play games, create art, and so on Youth center in Cuba.jpg
A combination daycare and youth center in Havana, Cuba, where children can hear stories, play games, create art, and so on

"Youth work" is defined as activities that intentionally seek to impact young people. This is primarily a set of loosely affiliated activities that have been defined, redefined, examined, and reinvented in subsequent generations. [3]

In Ireland the Youth Work Act of 2001 states that,

"'Youth work' means a planned programme of education designed for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young persons through their voluntary participation, and which (a) complements their formal, academic, or vocational education and training; and (b) is provided primarily by voluntary youth work organisations." [4]

However, critics of this particular definition report need for expansion of the limited view,

"Youth work should aim to engage with society and bring about social change in an unequal society." [2]

Some critics report that youth work should seek youth participation in justice, equality, and youth empowerment through political engagement. They say youth should be liberated with orientation in critical analysis of local and global influences (globalization) in their lives and in their communities. Others like Julius Nyerere say education, the educative aspect of youth work should be a voluntary pursuit of the youth for it to be a tool of personal and social liberation. [5]

Youth work is historically said to focus on five areas, including a focus on young people; an emphasis on voluntary participation and relationship; a commitment to association by youth and adults; friendly and informal atmospheres, and; acting with integrity.

History

Young clients of a Junior Employment Service created to help youth without any work experience. Oakland, California, 1940. Oakland, California. Junior Employment Service. Filling out applications. The girls want part time work in domestic... - NARA - 532230.tif
Young clients of a Junior Employment Service created to help youth without any work experience. Oakland, California, 1940.

Youth work often emphasises the need to involve young people in the running of their own services through a process of youth-led youth work. Historically there are a number of different motives for the development of youth work in the UK. First, early youth workers, often from the middle classes, frequently saw working with deserving young people as an expression of their Christian faith. Secondly there was a concern to instill a middle class set of values in working class youth.

This early approach to youth work has actually been around since the birth of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, which was the first time that young men left their own homes and cottage industries to migrate to the big towns. The result of this migration was an emergent youth culture in urban areas, which locally was responded to by the efforts of local people. Although with the formation of the YMCA (and later Scouting) organisations were founded whose sole aim was to address these issues, the emphasis was always on providing for young people.

A government review of the Youth Service, set up in November 1958 and chaired by Lady Albemarle, was published in 1960. It argued cogently for specific kinds of provision to be provided by local councils and ushered in a significant building boom of new premises for youth work. Often thought of as a golden age, the period following the Albemarle report was a time of thriving centre-based youth work.

Today (as outlined in the Transforming Youth Work document released in 1998 by the DfES) it is the statutory duty of all local government organisations to provide a youth service in their region. Also for the first time the youth service has national targets that have to be met with regard to the reach (initial contact) with young people, the number of relationships developed with young people and the number of accredited learning programmes achieved through the youth service.

In 1999 in the UK the main national professional organisations and trades union (CYWU) agreed to join other professional bodies representing informal education practitioners (community workers, community based adult educators, community educators), to create a UK wide National Training Organisation called PAULO (named in honour of the educator Paulo Freire. PAULO was formally approved by the Government to set the occupational training standards for all people working in this employment sector. In 2002 PAULO formed part of the Lifelong Learning UK Sector Skills Council.

Approaches

Community youth work

Community youth workers provide community-based activities for young people in a variety of settings throughout local communities, including places of worship, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.

Youth empowerment

Youth empowerment is the deliberate granting of authority to young people by adults. This may take the form of youth leadership in program or organizational planning, research, design, facilitation or evaluation. This youth-centered approach has been shown to be particularly effective at promoting and sustaining youth engagement and for its efficacy across cultural, social and other boundaries.

Schemes associated with youth empowerment include programs various types of youth participation throughout organizations, governments and schools. This includes involving youth as planners, researchers, teachers, evaluators, decision-makers and advocates.

Centre-based youth work

The Center for Intercultural Dialogue manages several youth centers in Kumanovo, North Macedonia, aiming to offer youth work and to bridge the community divide in the region. Multikulti-kumanovo.jpg
The Center for Intercultural Dialogue manages several youth centers in Kumanovo, North Macedonia, aiming to offer youth work and to bridge the community divide in the region.

This youth work is carried out at a dedicated premises, which may include facilities such as drop-in coffee bars, sports facilities and advice centres. Most youth clubs fall under this fairly wide category. It is reliant on young people choosing to come to the centre, but in some cases may be linked with outreach or school-based youth work.

Faith-based youth work

This youth work is carried out from a foundation of religious morals and may be for the purpose of sharing or engendering religious views. In the Christian church the main purpose of faith-based youth work may be derived from the biblical commandment to "love your neighbour." In many faith-based situations the main agenda or purpose of youth work is aligned with the spiritual goals of the religion, or the perceived progress of a young person toward these goals. In Northern Ireland, 64% of youth work is faith-based. [6]

Detached youth work

In its purest form, detached youth work is a form of street-based youth work provision that operates without the use of a centre and takes place where young people "are at" both geographically and developmentally. It is often confused with outreach work because of the similar principles, i.e. making contact on the streets with those "hard to reach" or "unattached" young people. Detached work is seen as more than trying to encourage young people to utilise existing provision (which is the often used definition of Outreach work) and is used as a method of delivering informal and social education and is concerned with addressing whatever needs are presented to or perceived by the youth worker.

Also referred to as "street work" by some European, North and South American practitioners, modern detached work appears to have been influenced in Great Britain and Ireland by early contributions from the United States, and in particular, accounts of the work carried out by the Welfare Council of New York with street gangs in the 1950s became some of the earliest literature available on the subject of street-based work. Street work has, however, always, since its earliest incarnations, had a role to play in youth work.

However, it is important to note that contributors on the subject, such as those referenced above, e.g. (Kaufman, 2001) & (Smith, 1996.) have discussed the ambiguity surrounding the titling of such forms of work and the regular confusion around which form of work is which and indeed as Smith himself states

"There has been a good deal of dispute over how to label the work described here. The problem with notions such as 'detached' is that it could still be seen as making the youth centre or traditional youth organization the basic reference point. (These are what the workers are detached from). Furthermore, the titling adds to the stereotypical view of detached workers as 'mavericks' who float free of attachment. The reality of practice is that a central feature of the work is the process of becoming attached - to a neighbourhood, groups of young people, local community members and so on. To this can be added the pretty pointless debate between 'detached' and 'outreach' work. The latter, it is sometimes said, is mainly concerned with bringing people into existing organizations and activities; the former is about 'working with people where they are at'. In reality most 'detached' workers have to use existing organizations, and have a range of activities that people can plug into. Some care is needed around this area...Most detached workers have some sort of office and base (with group rooms etc.) Furthermore their contact making may well be 'off the street' in schools, various commercial leisure environments, and in people's homes". [7]

Reproduced from the encyclopaedia of informal education http://www.infed.org

Adding to this debate is the fact that while there exists much support for street-based provision there is few definitions in existence to clearly distinguish the differences (if any) between 'Outreach' and 'Detached' work. That said, the Scottish Executive in 1998 commissioned The Princes Trust to carry out a National Development Project to develop Best Practice guidelines and methods to monitor, evaluate and create a National focus for Outreach and Detached Youth Work. Through their research they offered this clear and simple definition for detached work, that is adequate for all those who are unfamiliar with this type of youth work provision,

"Detached youth work is a model of youth work practice, targeted at vulnerable young people, which takes place on young people’s own territory such as streets, cafes, parks and pubs at times that are appropriate to them and on their terms. It begins from where young people are in terms of their values, attitudes, issues and ambitions and is concerned with their personal and social development. It is characterised by purposeful interaction between youth workers and young people and utilises a range of youth and community work methods".

Outreach youth work

Tine Bryld, Danish social worker, writer and host of the social issues radio program Tvaers for teenagers and youngsters Tine-Bryld.jpg
Tine Bryld, Danish social worker, writer and host of the social issues radio program Tværs for teenagers and youngsters

Similar to detached youth work, outreach is a form of youth work that takes place on young people’s own territory [8] and is a method of work that supports and compliments new and existing centre/project based youth work. Primarily used to inform young people of services that exist in their locality and to encourage them to use such services, Outreach can also seek to identify, through consultation with young people, any gaps that exist in services aimed at meeting their needs.As opposed to Detached Youth Work, Outreach is seen as an extension to centre-based work , Outreach work takes place when workers who are usually centre based go onto the streets with an agenda of their own to pursue, usually to encourage young people to attend their club. [9]

As highlighted above there are few definitions available to clearly distinguish the differences between Outreach and Detached work and according to The Princes Trust's research for the Scottish Executive, the reason for this may be partly due to the similarities in the places where the work is carried out (on the streets, in parks and cafes) and the fact that both models work with the same target groups of young people (those who are disaffected or alienated). Furthermore, the research points out that "There is even some evidence from fieldwork that there can be an occasional overlap in practice between the two modes of work. For these and other reasons, definitions have received less emphasis in the literature than the principles and intentions of each of these modes of work". [8]

School-based work

This form of youth work is carried out in schools and is provided directly for the pupils, often by an organisation external from the school. It may include lessons, assemblies, after-school clubs, one to one mentoring etc. There may be a link with other non-school youth activities.

Youth development

Youth development programs seek to identify the needs of young people from a social/educational perspective, and to meet those needs through structured, intentional activities that satisfy those needs. This area includes community youth development and positive youth development activities.

Youth worker

Youth workers are people active in the field of youth work. The work includes orientation of young people to the adult world through socialisation, dismantling exclusion, and connecting them with resources needed for growth and development. Hence youth workers would hold different roles and use different set of skills and resources to attain youth work objectives. [10] Different types of youth work is facilitated through centre-based work, detached work, school-based work, religion based work, etc.

Related Research Articles

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A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners.

Fusion International is a cooperative of like-minded Christian youth and community centres in various countries around the world committed to the same values, principles and vision. Its vision statement is "Bringing young people and communities together with hope".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic youth work</span> Activities carried out with young people

The phrase Catholic youth work covers a wide range of activities carried out with young people, usually in the name of the Catholic Church and with the intention of imparting the Catholic faith to them and inviting them to practice and live out the faith in their lives. Activities in the field range from small scale youth groups attached to parishes or Catholic schools, to large international gatherings, such as World Youth Day. It is a field which has evolved much over recent decades, especially in comparison to more formal methods of education or catechesis within the church. Nearly all dioceses and a great deal of parishes have some form of youth provision running, although a great deal of areas particularly in the developed world are finding youth work both more difficult and rare as the numbers of young people regularly practicing the Catholic faith continue to decline. In contrast, though, the new and exciting developments of recent decades and particularly the influence of the new movements within the Church are ensuring that youth work continues to be an active and fruitful field.

Community organization or Community Based Organization refers to organization aimed at making desired improvements to a community's social health, well-being, and overall functioning. Community organization occurs in geographically, psychosocially, culturally, spiritually, and digitally bounded communities.

SiMY is a youth and community development project that works alongside young people and their families in Townhead and the surrounding areas of Glasgow City Centre. SiMY predominantly works with 8- to 18-year-olds, and most of this work takes place in the outdoors. Although SiMY's youth activity program is driven by the aims and aspirations of the young people, it typically includes physical and mental wellbeing games, hillwalking, swimming, climbing, biking, forest bathing, arts, crafts, and music. While these activities might sound like fun, they have a serious side, focussing on five interconnected development areas: mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing, self-confidence and self-expression, building social skills and reducing social isolation, and nurturing a sense of agency. SiMY's focus on outdoor youth work, draws on the Scandinavian concept of ‘friluftsliv’; outdoor living, in order to give participants the maximum exposure to the proven mental and physical health benefits of spending time in natural green, and blue, spaces.

Social pedagogy describes a holistic and relationship-centred way of working in care and educational settings with people across the course of their lives. In many countries across Europe, it has a long-standing tradition as a field of practice and academic discipline concerned with addressing social inequality and facilitating social change by nurturing learning, well-being and connection both at an individual and community level. The term 'pedagogy' originates from the Greek pais (child) and agein, with the prefix 'social' emphasising that upbringing is not only the responsibility of parents but a shared responsibility of society. Social pedagogy has therefore evolved in somewhat different ways in different countries and reflects cultural and societal norms, attitudes and notions of education and upbringing, of the relationship between the individual and society, and of social welfare provision for its marginalised members. Social pedagogues work within a range of different settings, from early years through adulthood to working with disadvantaged adult groups as well as older people. To achieve a holistic perspective within each of these settings, social pedagogy draws together theories and concepts from related disciplines such as sociology, psychology, education, philosophy, medical sciences, and social work.

Child and Youth Care (CYC) is a profession which focuses on the developmental needs of children and families within the space and time of their daily lives. Child and Youth Care is primarily a way of working with others and practitioners can be found in a variety of roles including direct care, private practice, educator, trainer, writer, supervisor, manager, researcher, and more. They are sometimes known as Child and Youth Workers, Child and Youth Counselors, Youth Workers, or Child and Youth Care Workers. There are strong connections around the world between Child and Youth Care and Social Pedagogy.

Community education, also known as community-based education or community learning & development, is an organization's programs to promote learning and social development work with individuals and groups in their communities using a range of formal and informal methods. A common defining feature is that programmes and activities are developed in dialogue with communities and participants. The purpose of community learning and development is to develop the capacity of individuals and groups of all ages through their actions, the capacity of communities, to improve their quality of life. Central to this is their ability to participate in democratic processes.

A Youth worker is a person that works with young people to facilitate their personal, social and educational development through informal education, care or leisure approaches. All types of educative approaches are not ethical for youth work, examples for unethical forms of education are indoctrinating, inculcating, and brainwashing. Youth workers can work in many contexts and according to the roles they are known as enablers, facilitators, emancipators, animators or could be known by the set of activities they use to reach out to youth. The validity of youth work approaches are based on whether they are educational, participative, empowering, promotes equality of opportunities, etc. The basic principles of youth work are respecting young people, providing accessible and value oriented opportunities for voluntary participation, accountability, being anti-oppressive in processes, confidentiality, reliability, trustworthiness, and being ethical in keeping boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonformal learning</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SkyWay Charity</span>

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Reach A Hand, Uganda (RAHU) is a youth serving nonprofit organisation based in Uganda that focuses on youth empowerment programs with an emphasis on, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) of young people between the ages of 12–24 years including HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. RAHU works with the goal of increasing access to information and services relating to SRHR for young people so as to empower them live healthy, focused and productive lives. Reach A Hand Uganda efforts are timely to make a contribution to ensuring that every young person in Uganda can access accurate information to aid and direct them in taking that crucial life decision regarding their life skills and development, behavior change communication and sexual reproductive health and rights.

References

  1. 1 2 PAULO, NTO (2002). "National Occupational Standards for Youth Work" (PDF). Youth Work Wales – Resources for youth workers in Wales.
  2. 1 2 Jenkinson, Hilary (2000-01-01). "Youth Work in Ireland: The Struggle for Identity". Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies. 2 (2). doi:10.21427/D7S15K. ISSN   2009-8642.
  3. ↑ Smith, M. (2001) Definition, tradition and change in youth work Encyclopedia of Informal Education.
  4. ↑ Irish Statute Book Archived May 8, 2005, at the Wayback Machine Government of Ireland.
  5. ↑ Nyerere, Julius K. (1976). "Declaration of Dar es Salaam: 'Liberated Man--the Purpose of Development'". Convergence.
  6. ↑ Macaulay, T, 2006 "Faith Based Youth Work in Northern Ireland", Youthnet [ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ Smith, Mark. K., Detached, street-based and project work with young people. , retrieved 2007-08-01
  8. 1 2 The Prince’s Trust - Scotland, "Thinking on Your Feet". (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-12-24, retrieved 2007-08-02
  9. ↑ MAYC, "Detached Youth Work Project Guidelines"., archived from the original on December 20, 2007, retrieved 2008-02-07
  10. ↑ Jeffs, Tony; Smith, Mark K. (2010). Youth Work Practice. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 4+. ISBN   978-1-350-31421-4.
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