Trainingof youth&communityworkers

The education and training of youth & community workers:

Challenges and opportunities for Youth and Community Work courses in England

Graham Griffiths, Bradford CollegeAlan Smith, Leeds Metropolitan University

TAG Representatives on NYA ETS

Recognising the context we are in

None of us have escaped the current ideological attack on public sector services, and that includes the so-called ‘ivory towers’ of academia

and yet, we are all still here!

So lets consider how we can work together more effectively?

Why are we both here ...

Alan SmithHead of Youth & Community Work at Leeds MetMember of NYA ETS representing Training Agencies Group

Graham GriffithsHead of Youth & Community Work at Bradford CollegeMember of NYA ETS representing Training Agencies GroupMember of Institute for Youth Work Steering GroupBoth ETS and IfYW involve representatives from CHYPS– Rod Norton and David Wright- Garath Symonds and previously Mike Counsell, ETS Chair

Who and what is TAG?

We are the professional association for lecturers in youthand community work education, covering 60+ institutionsacross the UK, N. Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.We have more than 250 members, and are represented onall the Education and Training Standards Committees.Our membership includes the writers, researchers andteachers of the profession, and also covers teams / coursesthat deliver QCG and other related qualifications.

Younger students enter with limited range of experience and very few with Youth Support qualifications

Students exit to a wide range of post professional qualification employment in Young People’s Services, Youth Offending Services, Voluntary and Statutory settings, Health

provision, Residential provision, Outdoor Education settings, Commercial and Business sector, mutuals and co-operatives and increasingly Housing Associations, Social

Enterprises and Schools

Youth and community work

Other forms of work with young

people and communities

JNC Programmes in

Youth and Community Work which meet NYA

Professional Validation

Requirements

Other forms of work with young people and communities



Professional (JNC)

Youth and Community

Work

QAA Benchmarks

StudentFinance

NYA Requirements

HEI regulations

Employers



The challenge for Higher Education

Changing Job Market

NOSSNC -Cap

What are the key challenges for HEIs?Our next intakes will graduate in 2016, having followed acourse of study, possibly written and approved in 2010/11.Our students will leave with debts in excess of £27,000We are in competition for student numbers within our ownInstitutions, and we are relatively costly (time / resources)There are fewer ‘established’ placements with experiencedsupervisorsStudents need nearly 900 hours of assessed practice (U/g)and 600 hours (p/g) in a ‘shrinking pool’ of placements thatremain ‘unpaid’.

Internal Changes to Higher Education

• Withdrawal of HEFCE ‘block funding’ and full-fee loans for undergraduate study-‘the free market’ but imposes aStudent Number Cap (SNC) to limit the overall numbers and availability of places, exemptions for the ‘brightest students’ – ABBs and above

• In the new ‘marketplace’ of Higher Education, Institutional decisions are made based on flawed data-sets (NSS / KIS) driven by a managerialist agenda dominated by quantitative data.

• Manipulation of market position is achieved by increasing ‘tariff points’ recruiting Doctoral-level staff, at expense of professional experience and over-recruiting ABBs

How does it work ... ?

• We all follow NYA Validation Guidelines• Our students will be engaged in (action) research

around current issues (Social Media)• The range of placements mean we are preparing

students for a changing world – Local Authority context / increase in schools work / changing social world (for young people) and impact of austerity

• But there remain a great many constants ... flexibility, self awareness, willingness to take responsibility, inter-personal skills, etc

What is the role of Higher Education in the education and training of Y&CW

• Graduate skills are more than just subject specific, and therefore assist qualified workers in an increasingly mobile workforce

• Encourage professional discourse within the sector, allowing academic rigour to be applied to research, evaluation and assessment of practice

• Equity with other professions – teaching, social work, etc• Allows employers to measure a ‘benchmark’ or have

minimum expectations from a potential employee who has undertaken a JNC-recognised programme – through NYA (- we all use the same QAA Subject Benchmarks / NOS)

Facilitator of young people’s learning and engagement

Advanced practitioner

coach - mentor

Advocate for young people and change

agent

Policy watchdogManager

So what does it mean ...The role of the professional worker is changing...

Adapted from Tony Gallagher, HMI – April 2013


Sec of State

Priority?

1

‘Positive for Youth’ 2012

impact ?

2

Strategic Leadership

- the ‘youth sector’

3

The policy world we operate in is changing... and it feels like there is very little that we can influence


Mergers

- cluttered world?

4

Diminishing narrative

about quality and outcomes

5

Youth scrutiny

and participation-good news ?

6

But maybe some aspects can be developed further ... Students in new settings, telling stories and making news

OTHER PERCEPTIONS…

.

.Authenticity

• Lack of consensus about the purpose of youth work

Youth Work

• A ‘contributor to’ or ‘in its own right’?

Easy?• It looks easy!!


Perhaps this is our biggest challenge...

Tony’s challenge to our students …

OTHER PERCEPTIONS…….

.

.

.

Communicating outcomes• ‘Poor at communicating

outcomes’ – case not proven

2013

• An optimistic time for

opportunistic endeavour ?


Some examples of creative responses;• Sheffield Hallam working with voluntary sector to manage a

disused youth centre, run as a permanent placement setting• A ‘pilot’ in Yorkshire and Humber to appoint a student to a large

voluntary sector organisation for their full period of study, but to ‘be placed’ in a variety of settings

• Hosting training events for free, offering CPD to staff who provide placement supervision, exploring KTPs and commissioned research and evaluation

• Using the part-time funding methodology to create local access to courses, and generate income for services that host training

• Newman University College – accelerated p/time degree in 3 yrs

The response of Higher Education to challenges facing the young people’s workforce

• What might a degree curriculum look like, given the range of ‘stakeholders’ and your expectations? (NYA re-write)

• Support widening access and student retention for all types of students: work-based; distance-learning; part-time and full-time?

• Work with CHYPS to ensure we know what a youth and community work graduate will ‘look like’, and what role will they undertake once they have qualified – remembering this may be 5 years away?

What more do HEIs need to do?- developing a joint agenda

What more do YPS need to do?- developing a joint agenda

• Consider how can you better engage with programme management and development

• Support joint training and practice initiatives

• Consider what support and frameworks are required and/or do you need to make the most from working with HEIs?

What can we do in the near future- developing a joint agenda

• External Examiners• Inputs to meetings – possibly training• Research specific areas • Establish an on-going form of liaison to encourage

policy makers hear the voices from the sector• Continue to liaise and work together with other

agencies• Others?

And finally for follow up

Janet Batsleer: Chair [email protected]

Alan Smith: ETS Rep [email protected]

Graham Griffiths: ETS Rep [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

