Young People and Development: The Role of Global Youth Work in Engagement and Learning

In this chapter I will outline the definitions and principles of what is known as global youth work and relate this to learning and development in the wider youth work sector. 1 will also look at how global youth work has been interpreted and what makes it distinctive, in terms of its approach, agenda and intended outcomes; be it young people’s personal, social and political development or awareness of global development issues. Historically many local government youth services and voluntary and community sector organisations in the UK and Ireland have explored global issues with young people through international work, including youth exchanges, links and intercultural learning as distinct curriculum areas. However this work has always been constrained by the limited funding available and a lack of understanding of the value of this work as a core activity at a strategic level within the youth work and development education (DE) sectors and government departments. This chapter will identify some of the perceived differences between global youth work and school-based development education in regard to aims and methodology, in particular youth work’s principle of ‘Voluntarism’ and a desire to be ‘action focused’ involving the active participation of young people in curriculum design and delivery

Globalisation and local experience : encounters with difference in a UK school

This paper explores issues of identity, difference and globalisation in the micropolitical context of a UK school. Drawing on ethnographic data and theoretical perspectives from the sociology of education, development and globalisation, the paper takes the communication of the ‘Third World’ in the curriculum as a case study of the ways in which UK schools engage with difference. Thus, the paper goes beyond the traditional focus on ‘race’ and ethnicity, emphasising the importance of distant difference in the context of globalisation. It is suggested that whilst teachers may identify local and global factors as underpinning the need to engender critical engagements with difference, the realisation of this is complex; the communication of the ‘Third World’ in the school is characterised by contradiction, reinforcing as well as unsettling ethnocentrism. To understand this situation, we need to locate these contradictions in terms of the complex interplay of restructuring processes, policy frameworks and the micro-politics of the school. The paper highlights the impacts of increased assessment and measurement in education alongside policy contradictions around curriculum authority. Teacher empowerment in the articulation of an appropriate curriculum is identified as a priority