Field Of Youth Work Research Articles

Negotiating quality in open youth work: Balancing standardisation and individualised support

Formal quality assurance procedures in social service organisations are usually closely linked to issues of efficiency and effectiveness. However, there are often doubts as to whether such procedures can also be used profitably for the development of educational practice. In particular, tensions arise between the need for standardisation and comparability of output data on the one hand, and the often low-threshold and individualised support of young people on the other. Drawing on an empirical study in the field of youth work, the article addresses this problem of conflicting quality expectations in state-funded social and educational institutions. Based on expert interviews with youth work practitioners and drawing on neo-institutionalist theoretical concepts, it analyses which strategies and practices are used in open youth work to deal effectively with such contradictory quality expectations. Using a typology of different processing methods, the results show that an important aspect of professional quality action can be seen in the empowering behaviour of professionals and their context-specific interpretation and transformation of external requirements.

DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH WORK IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: ACADEMIC, SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED ASPECTS

The article reveals the peculiarities of the development of youth work in institutions of higher education.Youth work is a promising field of professional activity with young people, which requires the development of training and employment of youth workers, the level of popularization of youth work in all regions and cities of Ukraine.The development of youth policy, youth work in institutions of higher education has academic and applied aspects and has gone from an educational discipline to scientific and practical developments.Using the example of Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, the history of the development of youth policy, youth work from academic discipline to scientific and practical developments is covered. In particular, since 2018, the educational and professional program «Social work (Youth work)» has been implemented at the second level of higher education «master» in the specialty «231 Social work».In the context of the development of youth policy as an educational component, later – a separate educational program, there was a vital need to conduct scientific research in this direction. Initially, these were studies on the history of youth work. Subsequently, the historical-pedagogical vector of research was expanded by scientific investigations into the theory and practice of social work, particularly youth work. Scientific research in the field of youth work, youth policy within the educational and scientific program «Social Work» of the third (educational and scientific) level of higher education (specialty 231 «Social Work», educational degree «Doctor of Philosophy») and scientific program deserve special attention «Theoretical and methodological foundations of training future social workers for youth work» (specialty 231 «Social work», scientific level «Doctor of Sciences»).In 2018, the youth center «START» was established at Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University. The purpose of the center's activity is comprehensive development and self-realization of youth in various spheres of social life, disclosure of their potential, protection of interests and rights, promotion of social formation and development, professional orientation and organization of meaningful leisure time, support of talented, gifted youth.The authors, on the basis of the theory and practice of youth work, taking into account the suggestions of stakeholders, determined the prospects for the academic, scientific and applied aspects of the youth policy in the context of the development of social youth policy in Ukraine.

Clarifying and Enhancing the Role of Equality in Youth Work Ethics: The Case for an Equality Studies Approach

ABSTRACT Implicitly or explicitly, youth work practitioners, scholars and advocates typically invoke a set of egalitarian values to explain, justify and promote the ethical basis of their work. Despite such commitments, there exists conceptual ambiguity surrounding equality across much of the youth work literature which has significant consequences for how youth work is framed and defended. This article introduces the interdisciplinary field of Equality Studies and argues that an Equality Studies approach provides a means to (i) clarify equality-related normative goals within the youth work field and (ii) enhance radically orientated youth work by strengthening the conception of equality at its core. It analyses three areas of conceptual ambiguity within the youth work literature with respect to the value of equality, in each case demonstrating how an Equality Studies approach can help remedy the problem. These areas are: (i) the assumption that equality means ‘sameness’; (ii) the limits of equality of opportunity and anti-discrimination; and (iii) the relationship between equality and other values. It then evaluates the concept of ‘equity’, arguing that it is a vague, inadequate and unnecessary vehicle for capturing egalitarian concerns. The article concludes with some comments on the feasibility of radically egalitarian youth work.

Could the Comfort Zone Model Enhance Job Role Clarity in Youth Work? Insights from an Ethnographic Case Study of the United Kingdom-Based National Citizen Service

A convention in outdoor adventure education leadership is to stretch participants beyond their comfort zone to optimize engagement and learning. This article explores how an interpretation of the comfort zone model (CZM) might potentially enhance job role clarity within the youth work (YW) field. The CZM emerged as a strong theme from an ethnographic case study of the United Kingdom government’s flagship youth policy, the National Citizen Service (NCS). The findings indicate that the CZM has the potential to reinforce Dewey-derived YW principles and enhance young people’s social skills, self-esteem, confidence, and resilience. However, applying the CZM to YW practice presents risks such as misunderstandings, coercion, and overstretching. Further research should consider factors such as staff training, mental health, and welfare concerns, as well as the implications and limitations of integrating the CZM within the YW field.

The ‘Secular Culture’ of Youth Work Training: Are English Universities Equipping Youth Workers to Work with Diverse Religious Communities?

ABSTRACT Most professionally-qualifying youth work programmes in the UK are secular programmes in mainstream universities. Current UK National Occupational Standards require youth workers to ‘Explore the concept of values and beliefs with young people’. Faith organisations form the largest sector of the UK youth work field and all youth workers need to be equipped to work inclusively with diverse communities. This research explored, through a semi-structured survey sent to programme leaders, the coverage of religion, faith and spirituality in youth work training courses in England. We found tensions in how religion, faith and spirituality are incorporated into programmes and how programme leaders think youth workers should engage with it in their practice. Where explicit content on religion, faith and spirituality is incorporated into training programmes, it tends to focus on controversial issues such as radicalisation. The survey revealed a lack of consensus across programme leaders as to how the NOS relating to values and beliefs should be interpreted and whether their graduates are being sufficiently equipped to work with diverse religious communities. The research exposes a need for more explicit recognition of the place of religion, faith and spirituality in youth work and in the curricula of secular training programmes.

The Making and Shaping of the Young Gael: Irish‐Medium Youth Work for Developing Indigenous Identities

Identity exploration and formation is a core rumination for young people. This is heightened in youth where flux and transition are characteristic of this liminal state and intensified further in contexts where identity is disputed and opposed, such as in Northern Ireland. In this post‐colonial setting, the indigenous Irish language and community recently gained some statutory protections, but the status and place of the Irish‐speaking population continue to be strongly opposed. Drawing on focus group data with 40 young people involved in the emerging field of Irish‐medium youth work, this article explores how informal education offers an approach and setting for the development of identities in contested societies. Principles of emancipation, autonomy, and identity formation underpin the field of youth work and informal education. This dialogical approach to learning and welfare focuses on the personal and social development of young people and troubles those systems that marginalise and diminish their place in society. This article identifies how this youth work approach builds on language development to bring to life a new social world and space for Irish‐speaking young people. It identifies political activism and kinship development as key components in strengthening individual and collective identity. This article proposes a shift in emphasis from the language‐based formal education sector to exploit the under‐recognised role of informal education in the development of youth identity, cultural belonging, and language revitalisation.

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AS A BASIS FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

The article is devoted to the study of communicative competence as a basis for the successful implementation of international projects. The concepts of "competence" and "communicative competence" are considered. The purpose of the article is to analyze the main methods and forms of development of communicative competence, the study of communicative competence as a basis for the successful implementation of international projects. It was established that communicative competence is defined as an integrative personal resource that ensures the success of communicative activity. The development of communicative competence includes the organization of communication, the development of communicative abilities and the formation of communicative skills. It has been proven that communicative competence can be effectively developed with the help of international projects. The priority task of the university is the development and implementation of international projects and programs in the field of youth work. It is emphasized that improvement of communicative competence cannot be separated from personality development.
 Keywords: competence, communicative competence, project method, international project.

L’entrée des jeunes actifs dans l’animation socioculturelle : évolutions du rapport au travail durant le processus de socialisation professionnelle

This article explores changes in the “relationship to work” (Paugam, 2000; Longo, 2011; Longo & Bourdon,
 2016) among young entrants in the field of youth work across the stages of “professional socialization”
 (Hughes, 1996; Author 1, 2020) associated with the first years of practice. It explores the experiences of
 17 young youth workers, based on comprehensive interviews conducted during ethnographic fieldwork
 carried out in nine youth services organizations based in the Toulouse region of France. A combination
 of thematic analysis and temporal bracketing supports cross-case analysis of the collected professional
 trajectory narratives, revealing a four-part typology of how young workers develop their relationship to
 work. The article identifies the three main factors at play as employment and working conditions, access
 to occupational training, and relationships with managers in the workplace.

Digital technologies in youth career guidance management for professions of the agricultural and industrial complex of the Sverdlovsk region

The research is aimed at finding ways to effectively integrate traditional career guidance approaches and the capabilities of digital platforms working in the field of youth policy management in the Sverdlovsk region. The ways of intersection of interests of universities and youth policy management bodies in the emerging unified Internet space are outlined. The analysis of digital transformation process in the field of career guidance is carried out. The possibilities of the main federal information platforms in the field of youth work and their effectiveness in terms of indicators are presented: the number of events, the coverage of participants and, what is important for us– the project activities of young people with a career-oriented component. The article provides examples of social projects that already have a digital footprint and a sufficiently large involvement of schoolchildren and students of the Sverdlovsk region. The educational component containing elements of career guidance, which can be further strengthened, is of particular interest. The ways of creating a territorial multilevel digital model of youth career guidance of the Sverdlovsk region are outlined.

Regulatory documents in the field of youth work: international aspect

Regulatory documents in the field of youth work: international aspect

Economic and Legal and Psychological Conditions of Professional Self-Realization of Youth in Ukraine

The article notes that young people are the most mobile part of society, due to their active search for their place in life and lack of strong economic and social ties, and that young people are the most vulnerable category in the labor market, without work experience. The reason for this is the gap between theoretical training in vocational schools and the requirements of practical activities. The main legislative acts regulating employment and economic and legal conditions of professional self-realization of youth are analyzed, which is the basis for ensuring the increase of youth employment. It is determined that the normative component of organizational and methodological support for increasing the level of youth employment is represented by the legislation that regulates the issue of work with youth in Ukraine. These are the main legislative acts, orders of the Cabinet of Ministers, strategies and concepts that contain basic guidelines for the development of youth and youth policy and national programs governing youth employment, their professional self-realization, etc. The author reveals how youth policy and youth work create conditions for self-realization and psychological adaptation of young people in the process of entering the labor market. The article emphasizes that large-scale program and educational events in the field of youth work and work on strategic initiatives have been launched in Ukraine, which in the future may include a definition of the concept of "youth work". It is noted that an important mechanism for young people in achieving positive changes in society and intensifying the process of self-realization of young people is volunteering and promoting the development of youth entrepreneurship. The author analyzes that young people involved in volunteering believe that it complements formal education by teaching soft skills that are necessary for the labor market. It is noted that the main sources of funding for youth work in terms of their professional self-realization are state budgets, local government budgets and international donors

Youth Workers in Mental Health Care

Youth workers’ role in mental health care requires articulation and further examination. Establishing a role in the provision of mental health care leads to queries regarding youth workers’ mental health literacy and what knowledge is required to have a presence among other mental health care providers. The aim of this paper is to articulate the current role of youth workers in mental health care, examine emerging perspectives in research and education on mental health literacy development, and encourage fresh directions for future education and research that are aligned within the physical and philosophical position of the youth work field.

Freire’s Christian Pedagogy in the Professional Narrative of UK Youth Work

Abstract This article celebrates the 50th anniversary of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It responds to the current youth work environment within the UK by examining the differing attitudes and treatment of Freire and his pedagogy within this melded arena. It reveals youth ministry’s and Christian faith-based youth work’s limited engagement with Freire and explains the secularisation of his ideas within the wider youth work field, how they were isolated from his faith, subjugated to the work of Carl Rogers and latterly rebranded as secular Marxist. In contrast, this piece suggests that Paulo Freire’s work should be recognised as a pedagogy drawn from his Christian faith. It concludes by relating his work to Liberation Theology and introduces an interpretation of conscientização as a Christian pedagogy. While Anglo-centric it aims to motivate a discussion amongst Christian faith-based youth workers around the globe, particularly those who contend with the secularisation of Freire’s work.

‘Upturned participation’ and youth work: using a Critical Utopian Action Research approach to foster engagement

ABSTRACTThis article reflects on how participatory processes inspired by action research hold a genuine potential for developing social educational work in a more democratic way. We present our concept of ‘Upturned Participation’, which is built upon the methodological framework of Critical Utopian Action Research. First Critical Utopian Action Research is introduced briefly, including a presentation of the core method of the action research approach. We then present an extract from an action research project aimed at creating space for participation for marginalized young people in the area of Copenhagen. On this basis, we reflect on how the ideas of the young people could influence the field of social work. The article addresses contemporary challenges and opportunities for creating development in the field of youth work or social work through participatory processes with marginalized young people.

Uneasy bedfellows? Fusing participatory and psychosocial principles in research with youth workers and young people

This article charts an attempt to fuse two arguably incompatible formulations of social research; one rooted in a commitment to democratic, participatory practice and the other rooted in a psychosocial epistemological frame. After setting out the broad precepts of the two methodological approaches, the article explores some theoretical and practical tensions that surfaced during a doctoral criminological study examining the desistance-promoting potential of relationships between male youth workers and young men involved in violence. I show how the professional context in which the study was conducted (youth work) afforded the opportunity to work with participants while also retaining a psychosocial epistemological and analytic frame. The article concludes that while the two approaches are likely to remain ‘uneasy bedfellows’, more researchers in the youth work field might consider adopting a psychosocial standpoint as a means of keeping in sight both the psychic and the social forces imbricated in young people’s lives and within their relationships with youth professionals.

Youth work in Ukraine: new approaches to the strategic sector of social policy

The article highlights new approaches to youth work, training of youth workers as strategic direction of social policy reform in the context of the draft Law of Ukraine On Youth. Current practice indicates a number of topical issues related to the preparation and formation of professional skills and social competencies of social workers – future implementers of youth policy. In particular, the practice demonstrates the failure of existing forms of training, which are now mostly limited academic training specialists in the social and socio-educational fields in universities. Modernity requires wider distribution of non-traditional and innovative forms of formation of personnel potential in the field of youth work. An example of an innovative approach to youth issues in general and youth training personnel reform is a new draft Law of Ukraine On Youth, developed by a group of MPs, together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and experts UNICEF resuscitation reform package. Key areas of the bill are: employment, housing and youth building support young people in difficult circumstances, cultural development, health and physical development, legal protection. Along with the traditional preliminary legal instruments in the field of youth policy, such as informal youth associations, youth organizations, national-patriotic education of youth and others. The draft appears a number of terms that make the content innovative potential of social youth policy, namely vulnerable young people, youth work, youth participation and the Council, Youth Advisory Council, a youth worker, youth center, informal education of young people and others.

RECOUNTING STORIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN CHILD WELFARE

In order to proactively bring about change, it is critical in a post-apartheid context for South African social workers to appreciate how colonial and apartheid forces have shaped the inherited welfare priorities, structures, legislation, policies and practices. It is as necessary also to identify stories of resistance as these offer hope and alternative possibilities. Authors such as McKendrick (2001), Patel (2005) and Loffell (2000) have tracked many aspects of South African welfare history. In its submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – a body set up to formally acknowledge past injustices with the goal of bringing about political reconciliation – the welfare sector set out how it had contributed to historical discrimination and wrongs (Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 1999). While these narratives provide the framework for the development of child welfare in South Africa, relatively little is known about its particular history, especially its earliest roots. Beukes and Gannon (1999) and Allsopp (2005) have attempted to explore the origins of that profession in the child and youth work field. Badroodien (2001) examined the extensive impact of one institution, the Ottery School of Industry, on “coloured” youths and their families. Scordillis and Becker (2005) recount briefly the history of adoption practice in South Africa. Some of the child welfare societies have been able to provide sketches of their agency history. In this article the author attempts to add to the child welfare record, gathering the existing strands of literature and inserting the stories that emerged in her doctoral research (Schmid, 2008b

No crisis but a paradigm shift? German youth policy between continuity and change

In Germany, the impact of the economic and financial crisis in general and on youth policy in particular is not as severe as in other European countries. Nevertheless, child and youth welfare currently is subject to restructuring. We argue that the crisis is used to legitimise an already ongoing policy change towards an activation model of welfare, although it is not clear yet to what extent current changes imply a path change. A particular aspect of recent reforms in Germany is the introduction of all-day schooling which has considerable consequences for child and youth welfare. The paper describes the structure of youth policy and particularly of child and youth welfare in Germany. Furthermore, recent changes are highlighted with regard to both statistical development and dominant discourses with regard to education, prevention and economisation in child and youth welfare. A special focus is laid on the field of youth work.

Toward a Youth Work Profession

There is growing interest in the professionalization of the youth work field in Australia and the United States. In this article I draw on relevant literature from the sociology of professions to explore the appeal of professionalization for youth work. The interest in professionalism is examined along with the strategies youth work practitioners could build on and use to progress professionalization. The tactics proposed are for proponents to concurrently use lessons from other professionalization projects, garner support in the youth sector, lead a project that has broad appeal, utilize existing institutional arrangements, and establish an international movement.

Supporting students who are sexually harassed on placement

This paper argues that if higher education institutions are going to place students at risk of sexual harassment by requiring they complete a component of their formal study on work-place based placements, then university educators have a responsibility to adequately equip and appropriately support students so they can effectively identify and respond to sexual harassment. A model from youth work field education is presented that aims to prepare graduates, agency supervisors and university-based field education staff who are capable and motivated to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the practicum. The systemic and integrated framework recognises student’s fundamental right to safety in the workplace and attends to the constraints on students disclosing, the deleterious effects of experiencing unwanted sexual conduct, and the importance of good practices in care and support. The various components of the approach also take account of the influence of environmental factors as well as issues of educational merit. The model has general applicability to other professional practice domains and can be adapted for use by educators who appreciate the value of equipping students to effectively deal with unwelcome sexual conduct while on placement.