Between 2009-2011 CWVYS was commissioned by the Welsh Government to facilitate the research and publishing of Youth Work Methodology Handbooks or best practice guides for youth workers in Wales. CWVYS facilitated this work by bringing together voluntary youth organisations and maintained local authority youth services. This document is part of a library of Good Practice Methodology Handbooks for Youth Work in Wales. 

This handbook introduces, explains, or expands on existing knowledge with regard to detached and outreach youth work. In seeking to meet the outcomes for young people focussed upon in ‘Youth Work in Wales: Principles and Purposes’ document which is about to replace the Curriculum Statement for Youth Work in Wales (June 2012) and the National Youth Service Strategy for Wales, it offers ideas and information to work with young people who do not use traditional youth work settings but meet on the street, in parks, on the beach or find other social space of their own. 

[CWVYS does not represent that the information contained in the handbook is accurate, comprehensive, verified or complete, and shall accept no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this website or for any reliance placed by any person on the information.] 

Between 2009-2011 CWVYS was commissioned by the Welsh Government to facilitate the research and publishing of Youth Work Methodology Handbooks or best practice guides for youth workers in Wales. CWVYS facilitated this work by bringing together voluntary youth organisations and maintained local authority youth services. This document is part of a library of Good Practice Methodology Handbooks for Youth Work in Wales. 

This handbook introduces, explains, and describes methods for recognising and accrediting the learning and achievements of young people and the potential role for youth work within this context.

The Handbook offers definitions of accreditation, types of accreditation and how to choose the most appropriate for a particular group, National frameworks, role comparisons and basic contact information. To ensure that it has a practical use for Youth Workers, reference is made to how a type of accreditation is appropriate in a youth work context or how a learning style or curriculum of learning contributes to the pathways of young people’s achievement. 

[CWVYS does not represent that the information contained in the handbook is accurate, comprehensive, verified or complete, and shall accept no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this website or for any reliance placed by any person on the information.] 

Short paper to open up a wider debate on the process required to measure the journey taken by the young people, in particular those involved with the different youth work sectors. Considers whether there would be a means by which these tasks and activities could be categorised by using a non-formal Learning Framework. To assist this, a visual interpretation of the structure and principles of the Learning Framework have been developed into a 'Learning Tower'. 

Short paper looking at the principles of creativity and how these can enable the practitioner to work with the young person, using a process of experiential learning through which they can seek solutions to problems with which they may require some adult support.

This article is based on the premise that youth work practice is contained within a Community of Practice (Lave and Wenger. 1998) underpinned by and through experiential learning mirroring a quasi-Steiner approach to learning. The amalgamation of these three tenets make youth work, as practiced mainly by qualified workers, an interesting template that tips the balance of learning in favour of young people rather than based on a more formalized curriculum. The blending of both informal, non-formal and formal approaches within a youth work context is, we will argue, a more holistic approach to the development of learning which is based on the needs of young people.

In a previous article (Gallagher and Morgan. 2013) it was argued that while youth work should be independent of the school system it could offer a valuable contribution that will complement the learning process. This article takes the debate further by suggesting a model that could be emulated in other youth work projects and that might form the basis of collaboration between the formal and informal sectors.

 

This article is a positional paper on the need to reinvent or at least reinvigorate the use of group work in a youth work context. While youth work practitioners work with many diverse groups the imposition of an imposed policy curriculum continues to shape the nature of the group process towards, we contend, a more prescribed set of outcomes.

What we are suggesting in this paper is that if we know the expected outcomes that many young people need to achieve in life in order to make them more resilient and self-aware of their lives, do we need to emulate the formal didactic approach to learning, i.e. as in school? If we have a vehicle in which and from which these outcomes can be achieved do we really need a curriculum? Or more appropriately can the curriculum emanate from the lived lives of the young people themselves?

This paper presents a practical approach to the measurement of outcomes in youth work.  What we are proposing is that the ‘core’ of youth development can be addressed and achieved within an ‘experiential growth group’ and that the process is indeed the product. In other words we are proposing a move away from highlighting the end product of outcomes or ‘expected ‘ outcomes to refocusing on the vehicle in which and from which certain less tangible and nebulous outcomes can be nurtured and recorded.

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The central tenet of this article is predicated upon a belief that there is a need to link both the formal with the informal/non -formal sectors without at any point compromising the strengths of either. The analysis within this article deconstructs the ideology and philosophy behind the perceived dominance of the formal sector over the informal youth work sector. It suggests that both worlds need not collide but that they can and should work more closely together in the interest of their common denominator, the development of young peoples’ potential. 

We also contend that youth work practice is qualitatively different from teaching and schooling and that the process used in youth work identifies that difference. We also contend that the inchoate nature of the youth work profession is militating against addressing some of these complex issues that are challenging the essential essence of youth work practice.

The Welsh Government Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015  and the recommendations from Donaldson’s Successful Futures review gives youth work in Wales a refreshed opportunity to prove its value and create for itself a sustainable future.

This article explores the contribution youth work can make to these Welsh Government policy agendas.

Jamie Jones-Mead was awarded a bursary from Youthworkwales to complete this article.

Jamie is a professionally qualified youth and community worker.  He has 15 years’ experience as a youth worker and has worked in a number of settings in Wales, the UK and globally. 

These include in statutory youth services, with young disabled people, young offenders, young cancer patients and significant experience in the third sector.  As well as being an experienced practitioner, Jamie has a particular interest in health and wellbeing, having spearheaded and managed ASH Wales' youth tobacco and smoking programmes, and is currently working in a public health setting.

Between 2009-2011 CWVYS was commissioned by the Welsh Government to facilitate the research and publishing of Youth Work Methodology Handbooks or best practice guides for youth workers in Wales. CWVYS facilitated this work by bringing together voluntary youth organisations and maintained local authority youth services. This document is part of a library of Good Practice Methodology Handbooks for Youth Work in Wales. 

The aim of this handbook is to provide a resource from which youth workers can draw inspiration and confidence to organise adventure activities and residential opportunities for young people.

It draws upon the experiences of youth work practitioners and provides just a few examples of the wide variety of good practice evident across Wales

Adventure activities and residential experiences can provide the most memorable learning opportunities for young people. Creating opportunities to encounter new challenges, helping young people to build self esteem, increase motivation and gain a sense of accomplishment and achievement.

[CWVYS does not represent that the information contained in the handbook is accurate, comprehensive, verified or complete, and shall accept no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this website or for any reliance placed by any person on the information.] 

 

 

Between 2009-2011 CWVYS was commissioned by the Welsh Government to facilitate the research and publishing of Youth Work Methodology Handbooks or best practice guides for youth workers in Wales. CWVYS facilitated this work by bringing together voluntary youth organisations and maintained local authority youth services. This document is part of a library of Good Practice Methodology Handbooks for Youth Work in Wales. 

This handbook has been developed to introduce, explain or expand on existing knowledge and experience in relation to the provision of mobile youth services. In seeking to meet the outcomes for young people focussed upon in ‘Youth Work in Wales: Principles and Purposes’ document and the National Youth Service Strategy for Wales, it offers ideas and information to best to meet the needs of young people who are isolated due to geographical location, restricted population or limited resources of a given area. 

[CWVYS does not represent that the information contained in the handbook is accurate, comprehensive, verified or complete, and shall accept no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this website or for any reliance placed by any person on the information.]