The experience of open access youth work: the voice of young people

This research explores young people’s experiences of open access youth work and identifies what they consider to be its value. The detailed analysis of the data, achieved through focus groups, revealed that ‘association’ was a key driver of engagement. It also highlighted the support system the youth club creates amongst the peers. The young people also valued the relationships they form with youth workers and acknowledge the support and guidance offered to them which better enables them to reflect on and navigate their complex lives. Young people also valued the acceptance they feel from the community developed in the youth space. It provided comfort and reassurance when at times they do not feel like they fit in anywhere else. This research offers a significant counter to the tide of current targeted youth work policy which is resulting in the demise of a provision which, judged by the findings from this research, appears to be highly valued by, and beneficial to, young people

Developing ‘know how’: a participatory approach to assessment of placement learning

This paper is based on research undertaken on the supervised practice of an undergraduate programme of study which leads to both BA (Hons) degree and a professional qualification in youth work in a university in England. Youth work, for those unfamiliar with it, is a form of informal and experiential educational practice with young people often located in community settings. The purpose of youth work is to help young people learn about themselves, others and society through the use of educational activities which combine enjoyment, challenge and learning. Importantly, however, the findings of this paper we would argue are directly transferable to a variety of practice-based educational and vocational settings where students need to reflect on, analyse and either assess their own practice or have their practice assessed by others

The substance beneath the labels of experiential learning: The importance of John Dewey for outdoor educators.

This paper recommends a reconceptualisation of “experience learning”. It is premised on a belief that the simplistic learning cycle is problematic and moreover is an oversimplified interpretation of Kolb’s original model of experiential learning. We argue that to understand experiential learning fully a return to the original theoretical conceptualisation by John Dewey is necessary. Importantly Dewey conceives of an experience, and therefore the learning that results from it, as a transaction between the individual and their environment and is therefore a consequence of their ‘trying’ and ‘undergoing’ within that experience. Dewey also emphasises the importance of ‘meaning’ within experiential learning, something not fully accounted for within the simplified model. We argue that with an appreciation of Dewey the full eotential of learning by, and through, the experience of outdoor education can be maximised and the full meaning of that exprience explored

Aristotle’s Phronesis and Youth Work: Beyond Instrumentality

This paper attempts to address some of the fundamental problems which underlie current attempts to bring youth work to account. Firstly it is argued that the accountability agenda with its emphasis upon outcomes and outputs misunderstands the process by which they emerge. Rather than youth work being portrayed as a linear process it will be proposed that there is an indirect ‘incidental’ relationship between what youth workers do and the outcomes that emerge out of a process of engagement; such that simplistic accountability measures are inadequate. Secondly it is argued that given the essentially ‘moral’ nature of youth work interventions and the resulting outcomes, ie. whether their decisions and actions enable young people to live ‘good’ lives. We need to develop a methodology for youth work evaluation which reflects this. It will be suggested that much can be gained from an application of Aristotle’s concept of Phronesis, not least because of the importance placed on ‘context’

Transformative Evaluation in Youth Work and its Emancipatory Role in Southern Italy

This article draws on the experiences of a group of Italian youth workers who used Transformative Evaluation (TE) to evaluate their practice as part of a wider European research project funded by Erasmus+. The youth workers generated 151 stories of change with young people in their projects. These stories were collectively analysed and through this process the youth workers developed a greater understanding of the impact of their work and of some of the causal mechanisms that enable change to happen. Transformative Evaluation, with its sensitivity to the complexity and the critical potential of ‘lived experience’, is able to illuminate outcomes and process. The empowering and emancipatory potential of transformative evaluation is seen in the way in which it fosters youth workers’ and young people’s self-reflection

Enabling Empowerment: The Role of Adults in ‘Youth Led’ Climate Groups

This research explores young people’s attitudes towards adult involvement within ‘youth led’ youth climate groups. Young people were acutely aware of their marginalisation and overall, there was a consensus that adults played a useful role as a resource, as experienced adult activists possessed knowledge that they lacked, or in offering practical support on legal issues or liaising with the police. The attitudes of young people to adult involvement is at times paradoxical in that whilst they were aware of its necessity, adults altered the dynamics of the groups, as there was a ‘power gap’ and that adult’s views could take precedence. As a result, on some occasions the young people parted ways from the adults. A continual theme from the research was that young people’s involvement in ‘youth climate groups’ gave them a sense of empowerment and they were much more aware of how to effect change, and to some extent they did need the support of adults in this process, often due to their structural disempowerment. The findings suggest that adult involvement was most successful when adults were committed to empowering young people and the researchers suggest that Kirshner’s model of ‘cycles of fading’ is a useful framework for adult involvement

‘You Don’t Get Ditched’—Young People’s Mental Health and Youth Work: Challenging Dominant Perspectives

This paper presents the findings of research focused on a youth work project which specializes in working with young people experiencing a variety of mental health issues, in the southwest of England. The qualitative data from the young people, youth workers, and stakeholders demonstrate the significance of a person-centered, asset-based approach to improving young people’s experiences with mental health. It provides a countervailing narrative to the dominant diagnostic and problematized focus of mental health services for young people. The research provides evidence that mental health for young people can be strengthened—even for those experiencing significant problems—through group work activities that develop resilience, confidence, and builds on their inherent strengths. This approach enables young people to develop their own responses to their problems rather than rely on external interventions that are orientated toward treatment. The research suggests that young people’s mental ill health in certain circumstances may well be improved by youth work rather than through a medicalized approach

Young people, youth work & the ‘levelling up’ policy agenda

‘Levelling UP’ has taken on considerable significance in the policy discourses of the Johnson conservative government, particularly regarding the English regions. However, what is meant by Levelling up has been far from clear, although if it is to mean anything it must at least in part mean addressing the needs of disadvantaged and left behind communities. Key premises of this paper are that young people must be considered valued members of those communities; and that, to meet their expressed needs, youth work can be the best placed service for (re)investment, not least because it has demonstrated that it consistently enables a wide variety of outcomes in their lives. The investment required must be seen in the context of the huge austerity cuts to youth services in England which disproportionately affected disadvantaged communities. To make the case for ‘levelling up’ to completely rebuild as well as further develop those services. This paper brings together an analysis of past and current youth policies with a range of relevant empirical data

Friendship: The ‘Achilles Heel’ of European Youth Work Policy

This paper analyses the historical development of friendship in youth work in the UK and more recent studies of the impact of youth work in both the UK and in the wider European context to argue that European youth work has failed to acknowledge this important aspect of practice. During youth work’s initial 150 years in the UK three concepts resided at the heart of the enterprise: (a) the ‘club’; (b) ‘membership’ and (c) ‘friendship’. Friendship eclipsed the others for they grew out of the friendships formed between workers and young people, and the young people themselves. Practitioners during this era expected to offer unconditional friendship to members, and to teach them the arts of acquiring and sustaining friendships via the modelling of virtuous behaviour. An exemplar founded upon Aristotle’s concept of friendship. Two recent research programmes highlight the degree to which friendship remains a core element within youth work. These are a comparative study of European youth work provision and a longitudinal study of youth work’s impact Each found the acquisition of and ability to make and retain friends were viewed as key benefits accruing from involvement in youth groups. Both, however, stand in stark contrast to current formulations regarding youth work’s future role in Europe which pay scant attention to the centrality of friendship This article discusses these developments and the important role friendship has and can play within youth wor