Getting it right...

You do have to agree that agencies involved in youth work (as any other intervention with children and young people) should be able to show how and why what they do makes a difference. And it is true that in the past evaluation of the impact of these services was not always given high priority, and there was very little good-quality research to draw on. More recently this has changed, and as some of those giving evidence to the current government review have argued, there is now more knowledge about what works.

However, it's not always that easy to "prove" a direct link between what we do now and what happens to those young people in future. Though of course there's plenty of examples of what happens when we get it wrong - or more usually do nothing at all. It is a bit more straightforward in the education world, because there are exam results, and there are statistics about staying on at school and going on to college and university. But beyond these results, it's clearly the quality of the experience which is equally important. I was very privileged to be invited to attend an event last week at a sixth form college where I learned a great deal about how to get it right.