Youth Work Practitioners Research Articles

Practitioner perceptions of their role in facilitating the handling of controversial issues in contested societies: a Northern Irish experience

This paper examines the role adopted by teacher and youth work practitioners engaged in a project to carry forward practice in the handling of controversial issues in the contested society of Northern Ireland. First, it briefly outlines the development of work in the field during the 34 years of the present conflict, suggesting that to date too great an emphasis has been placed on the cognitive as opposed to the affective dimension of learning. It then describes the framework of the project and offers a model by which to overcome obstacles to inclusive discourse. Finally, it analyses data from a series of 20 semi‐structured interviews carried out with experienced practitioners and draws conclusions from the results. A set of draft principles emerge as a framework for sensitive practice.

The Youth Development Leadership Experience: Transformative, Reflective Education for Youthwork Practitioners

The Youth Development Leadership Master of Education (M.Ed.) Program, a professional studies graduate program in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Minnesota, has been in existence for twelve years. In this article, faculty describe the program philosophy, pedagogy, leadership, and curriculum; share insights into the student experience of youth development, and; reflect on the important lessons learned that have shaped the program over time as well as the challenges that continue today.

Spirituality in Child and Youth Care: Considering Spiritual Development and “Relational Consciousness”

In response to the identification of spiritual development as part of children's lives in both the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1991) and the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice's document: Competencies for Professional Child and Youth Work Practitioners (Mattingly & Stuart, 2001), this paper considers a theoretical model of children's spirituality, “relational consciousness,” as proposed by Hay and Nye (1998). The paper encourages the introduction of a framework for understanding and exploring spiritual development in child and youth care research and practice that respects the cultural and social diversity of both religious and nonreligious settings and the lifespan developmental processes of children.