"I’ve been there, done that…" : a study of youth gang desistance

This article, based on research conducted in Glasgow, Scotland, analyses the complex process of desistance from youth gangs. The discussion is multifaceted focusing on the agency of the young people themselves as well as on how relationships within their local community can have a role in replacing their previous identification as gang members. It explores what is meant by a youth gang, why some young people stop identifying with the youth gang and argues that the local community and broader society have a role in providing social recognition and identity-enhancement opportunities for these young people

'They know what you are going through': A service response to young people who have experienced the impact of domestic abuse

Riverside Women's Aid offers a specialised youth service for young people who have experienced or been affected by domestic abuse in one town in Scotland. This article discusses findings from a research evaluation that examined the advantages of participating in this service. The experiences of young people and youth workers involved showed a commitment to youth work values and methods that contributed to support and helped reduce feelings of isolation. The findings suggested that one-to-one support and group work sessions brought benefits in establishing empathy and generating positive experiences. This helped the young people to better understand domestic abuse and to feel safe and confident about working through their feelings and making new friends. Analysis also suggested that young people valued the services provided by qualified and experienced Women's Aid youth workers, which they perceived as different from other youth work services. The arguments for this kind of specialist service were compelling, yet analysis highlighted a need for caution in order to avoid creating dependency. There were also calls for improved communication and understanding among partner agencies involved in work with young people

Youth work:converging and diverging responses in England and Scotland

In March 2019, Annette Coburn was invited to review Austerity, Youth Policy and the Deconstruction of the Youth Service in England by Bernard Davies (Palgrave, 2018). Having submitted the review, Annette, and colleague Sinead Gormally, were then invited to write a response, exploring Scottish perspectives and questions generated by the original review. Both are presented below

Youth work education: is the voluntary principle no longer reliable in defining youth work?

At a time when traditional orthodoxies are open to challenge, it is useful to critically reflect on changing youth work practice contexts. Asserting the voluntary principle and free choice in open access youth work helps us to distinguish educational youth work methodologies from types of work with young people across a range of disciplinary areas where young people are required to attend. Yet, the context in which the voluntary principle became established in the UK, has changed. New roles are emerging for youth workers in contexts where the voluntary principle may be compromised

Creating educational synergies

No abstract available

Youth work in schools

This chapter will consider the inherent possibilities and problems in conceptualising youth work in schools. It will examine potential synergies between a curriculum for educational youth work and contemporary curricula in school education, drawing on the emerging Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) (Scottish Government, 2013) as a potentially useful means of facilitating social change. The chapter will explore some of the ‘hidden knowns’ that youth workers routinely apply in practice encounters including school settings. This exploration suggests that while these ‘knowns’ contribute to practice, they can also limit perspectives on whether youth work can be authentically conceptualised in a school setting. Current changes in policy direction of policy for formal schooling across the UK brings into focus different ideas such as free or home schooling and identifies new roles and possibilities for youth workers in schools

Service provider difficulties in operationalising coercive control

© The Author(s) 2018. We examined perspectives of social workers, police officers, and specialist domestic abuse practitioners about their perceived ability and organizational readiness to respond effectively to incidents of coercive and controlling behavior. Interviews revealed intervention and risk assessment strategies structured around an outdated, maladaptive concept of domestic abuse as an unambiguous and violent event and frontline services that lacked appreciation of the power dynamics inherent in controlling relationships. The analysis demonstrates how lack of definitional clarity around nonphysical domestic abuse can increase the use of discretion by frontline services and, by extension, increase the discounting of coercive control by pressured frontline officers

Youth Work Education: Is the Voluntary Principle no Longer Reliable in Defining Youth Work?

At a time when traditional orthodoxies are open to challenge, it is useful to critically reflect on changing youth work practice contexts. Asserting the voluntary principle and free choice in open access youth work helps us to distinguish educational youth work methodologies from types of work with young people across a range of disciplinary areas where young people are required to attend. Yet, the context in which the voluntary principle became established in the UK, has changed. New roles are emerging for youth workers in contexts where the voluntary principle may be compromise

Idealistic assertions or realistic possibilities in community and youth work education

Community and youth work (CYW) practice has been articulated as striving towards a more socially just and equal society and is theorised as a catalyst for social change that seeks to overcome power differentials. Yet, despite these claims, there is limited empirical evidence to inform knowledge about the extent to which ‘equality work’ is featured and practiced in CYW programmes in higher education. This article draws on perspectives from current and former CYW students in the UK which routinely claim critical pedagogy as the bedrock of professionally approved degree programmes. Utilising a survey approach, our aim was to examine the experiences of students to find out if teaching, learning and assessment practices in professionally approved CYW programmes can be argued as helping students to articulate practice as emancipatory. The findings indicate that there was coherence and a strong understanding of core theories that confirmed CYW programmes as helping students to articulate emancipatory practice. In relation to teaching and learning, programmes were not as aligned with critical pedagogy, inclining more towards traditional and formal methods than alternative or informal methods. Finally, an imbalance between the persistent use of standardised assessment methods over more flexible and creative assessments suggested a reluctance to seek, or develop, more emancipatory sustainable assessment alternatives. The article concludes by arguing that informal education and, specifically, CYW programmes are well-placed to drive institutional and social change forward