Introduction
In recent years traditional youth work as a profession has been under threat. Government cuts have hit the sector hard and as a result the profession of youth work has been in decline as universities cut the degree from their programmes.
Youth work however is not dead and across the country we have seen youth work move from the mainstream back to the grass roots communities in which it began.
Such a change is encouraging as it underpins the ‘Voluntary Participation’ aspect of youth work, however as a result, projects often run on a shoe string to ensure sustainability, drawing in excellent and caring leaders but increasingly from the teaching and care sectors as opposed to qualified youth workers.
Such sessional leaders transfer their skills from alternative professions but due to a reduction in budget, or finite hours available (many of those employed to run youth work also hold down second or even third jobs) training in youth work becomes an expensive and a time-consuming distraction from the delivery of service.
And yet, training and building a team, equipped and ready to deliver the best service for young people remains an essential priority for youth focussed charities despite limited resources.
Training
Just as youth work adapts and changes depending upon the people you work with, so will our training. With a wide variety of volunteer or part-time staff, there is rarely an ideal time or a ‘one size fits all’ programme that will suit.
We therefore have a range of core youth work practice modules which you can pick and choose from in order to provide the best possible training for your team in the time you have available.
Modules include:
- Professional Principles
- Reflective Practice
- Informal Education
- Communication
- Group Work Theory & Practice
Many more modules are available or are ready to be written depending on your needs!
Consultancy
Funding is scarce for youth work and informal education. So, it’s important to get the best out of your limited resources, whilst not compromising on quality of theory and practice feeding into your planning or support for your youth workers.
With years of front-line youth work experience and academic study behind them our consultants are able to provide:
1 to 1 mentoring for your professional practitioners allowing them space to reflect on their work with another experienced youth worker
Project planning, development and set up ensuring young people are placed at the heart of your service and curriculum
Team support, team building, understanding one another, transactional analysis and conflict resolution
Project Evaluation
For those fortunate enough to receive funding, the demands from demonstrating impact become ever greater. Youth work continually has to prove its worth - as if the time spent with young people is not enough!
Our team will provide that independent approach so that funders requests can be satisfied whilst allowing you to continue your work with young people. As youth workers, all our evaluators will integrate their evaluations techniques into good youth work so that the evaluation feels the same as any other club session.
We understand youth work… we get the nuance and variation and we know that you are the expert in you.
Book a 30-minute chat
We recognise that each organisation has different needs and would love to be able to chat with you and discuss how we may best support your organisation.