Say “youth club” to most adults, including many politicians, and the images you’re likely to conjure up are of ping-pong tables and boxing rings, loud music and dancing teenagers – hardly high priorities for state policymakers and funders under pressure from a global pandemic and parents struggling to feed their children.
Open youth work
This was one key prompt for the sub-title of my book Youth Work Policies in England 2019-2023, Can Open Youth Work Survive? Another, justifying the label “open”, was this practice’s core assumption that young people will choose to engage – and, at any time, choose to leave. For negotiating such voluntary participation, its practitioners have to start, not from top-down definitions of “youth” and the statistical “measurement” of outcomes which policymakers often demand, but from how the young people they are actually meeting define their identities, their interests, their concerns – and their needs.
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
