Youth Work - Theory & Practice

Youth Work is not accidental. It is planned, structured, monitored and evaluated. It has a history, it is constantly changing and adapting to new realities. The world we live in now is very different, though connected, to the world of 50, 25, 10 years ago. Youth workers have the challenge of ensuring their practice meets the emerging needs of young people affected by changing society.

The following are some of the dominant models taught in Youth Work Studies in Ireland.

1.       Character Building – This was probably the foundation of youth work which came from the church groups like YMCA and around the same time, Scouts. That there was a moral obligation on those with education in society to help form the character of Young People. As Young People, especially men, moved from country to city during industrial revolution, they needed something to do other than drink and covort.

2.       Personal Development – Realising that Young People are individuals and need to have their needs met, a move from only building the character of the person, which was coming from the institutions of the day, to working with them to realize their potential. Which is different for each person, this model is still a dominant practice today.

3.       Critical Social Education – Young People are not, or at least should not, be mindless consumers who do what they are told and are seen but not heard. To encourage an independent mentality, I’ll break down the three words in my understanding. Critical = Thinking for themselves,  Social = Pro society & Community but carrying and asking questions about how it operates, Education = The first time Youth Work is seen as an Educational Process and not just a ‘Keep them off the streets’ facility.

4.       Radical Social Change – Where does power lay in society and how is it used? Does everyone benefit equally from the system we live in? What needs to change and how? This model of Youth Work is based on the belief that sections of society are deliberately oppressed to maintain a status quo and this is wrong. It promotes change in the way our systems operate to reflect a more fair distribution of resources.

In Ireland Youth Work Organisations are engaging with the National Quality Standards Framework (NQSF) and are having to articulate just how they carry out their work. It is imperative that youth workers are able to explain to people who may never have taken part in youth work activities, just what it is that they do. These models are a good starting point. To read about one organisation in Dublin and how they identify with the models click here http://www.thebase.ie/whatwedo/yth_workmodel.htm

To read more on the NQSF, see here http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/Publications/NQSF_Summary_ENGLISH_270710.pdf