Sam McCready

Head of Subject (Community Youth Work)

University of Ulster

Youth work contributing to educational outcomes

Challenges and successes

Youth work and education

The central purpose of youth work is educational and the work is concerned with personal and social development.

Youth work is educational and the processes we create are therefore designed to create learning and the activities, programmes and processes through which youth workers engage with young people are the means, not the ends of youth work.

Youth work and education

Youth work is about non formal education through association in groups.

Youth work begins with informal approaches which are person centred and moves into critical engagement as planned, structured interventions which can be issue or problem centred.

Educational Services

The Department of Education provides a range of educational services which recognise that education is more than schooling and youth work provides both a complementary service and at times an alternative service to formal education in Northern Ireland.

Department of Education PrioritiesThe education service’s activity will be characterised by the following 4 main strategic priorities:•Enable learners to fulfil their potential through ensuring equality of access to a quality education and tackling the barriers to children’s learning.

•Prepare every learner for life through improving quality and raising standards for all children, supporting a curriculum which is relevant to individual aspirations and to social and economic needs, and motivating and empowering our young people to contribute positively to society, now and in the future.

•Transform education for learners by building the best support for educators across all sectors and phases and maximising the resources focused on teaching and learning.

•Provide the best environment for learning by securing the provision of buildings, equipment and materials that offer children a motivating and rich environment in which to learn. (DE Business Plan 2008/2009)

Examples of DE desired strategic outcomes

• Motivated young people who enjoy and are engaged in learning, encouraged and supported by their parents or carers

• All young people having access to an Education and Youth curriculum in settings that meet their individual learning needs

Examples of DE desired strategic outcomes

• Young people with the self esteem to be confident, happy and ambitious and contribute positively to their local community and wider society.

• Young people who are creative and have developed, to their full potential, the skills, attitudes and expectations needed to live, work, learn and play in a global society.

Examples of DE desired strategic outcomes

• Young people educated in a safe and caring environment where they are respected and receive the support they need

• All those involved in the education and youth sectors demonstrating respect for those from different backgrounds and circumstances and valuing diversity as enriching society.

NI School Curriculum • To empower young people to achieve their

potential and to make informed and responsible decisions throughout their lives

• To develop the young person as a contributor to society

• To develop the young person as a contributor to the environment and the economy

• Each of these sits comfortably within a youth work paradigm

• Empowering practice is a core value underpinning youth work

• Development of young people as contributors lies at the heart of the key drivers of youth work– Participative democracy– Social Justice

When the subject of outcomes arises there can often be two particular tensions

1. Outcome led work is different from work with outcomes- Getting the balance right is crucial

2. An emphasis on some outcomes rather than others might mean that important outcomes are rendered invisible

Role of Outcomes• Within any discussion about collaboration and

complementary working between formal and non formal education there is a need to explore the role of outcomes

• Characteristics of youth work and outcomes can be linked into the preferred youth work Policy and Practice Framework model (based on Hardiker) and determined within each category

Model of Youth Work Delivery Youth Service Sectoral Partners Group

Mapping Participation outcomes

“In the majority of youth service provision inspected, the young

people participated in the management and development of

their own programmes. The participative structures allowed

young people from a variety of urban and rural backgrounds to

develop their self confidence , leadership skills and effective

team-working, where they had to make decisions and solved a

range of practical problems”

Chief Inspectors Report (2008-10) October 2010 ETI

Example of how participation outcomes can be mapped into the model

Universal services for all children and young peopleParticipation opportunities for all young people within a youth work setting

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORK EXPECTED OUTCOMES Assets-based approach

Development of ‘thinking skills’and personal capabilities

Maximising naturally-occurring opportunities for participation

Greater assertiveness

Creativity

Decision-making skills

Responsive interactions and programmes

Greater self-efficacy

Analytical

Greater Analytical skills –understanding of how individualactions can affect personal and social change.

Facilitative process More representative voice for young people

Contains dialogue – a two-way exchange of listening & questioning

More responsive youth work services

Early Intervention services Participation work for young people who may not involve themselves in or connect

with the universal services

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORK EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Analysis of Context influencescontent and approach

Greater access to existing services, resources and information

Community engagement Increased sense of belonging

Strongly relational Increased sense of individual purpose

Analytical Greater understanding of societal patterns & structures

Planned but non-formal Learning experiences that can be recalled and articulated

Delicate and brash Sense of personal satisfaction

Collective actions Greater sense of collective purpose

Prevention/Specialist planned intervention servicesParticipation work for young people & groups that have become or are in danger of

becoming invisible

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORK EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The nature of the group gives clues as to content of work

Growing sense of individual & collective identity

Group are not homogenous but multi-dimensional

Greater awareness of and openness to diversity

Intensive engagement & relational work Greater resilience to prize and champion oneself

Explicit focus on participativedemocracy & social justice

Greater analysis of society and systems

Project-based or time-bound

Sense of individual & collective achievement

Tangible outputs produced

Targeted intervention servicesParticipation practices with those most excluded from resources or with acute need

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORK EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Intensive individual support Building resilience to deal more readily with anxiety-evoking situations

Working to find and practice the voice of the young person

Greater articulation of their own message and voice

Stimulate growth through challenges Developed problem-solving skills

Advocacy role for worker Greater access to existing services, resources and information

Analysis of exclusionary systems & processes

Greater understanding of links between individual circumstances/situations and societal structures.

Strategic input to impact on policy & systems

Clear explicit messages communicated to policy makers.

Building alliances among individuals to combine strength of voice & action

Growing sense of ownership of the message and the process

Collective actions that reflect a collective message

Future Challenge

Measuring generic outcomes to provide service wide and standardised evidence to enable a year on year analysis of progression

Future actions

• Sectoral agreement on generic outcomes • Development of a user friendly outcomes

measurement framework• Methods of data collection – related to groups

not individual young people

Proportionate to the organisation or groups involved