Hardly any of us are just youth workers these days. Last time I worked for a local authority I was an "assistant youth support worker", which sounded both over-complicated and patronising. At the other end of the spectrum, we seem to have more operations managers, programme managers and office managers than frontline youth workers.
As well as being unnecessary, the Chyps proposal makes the old assumption that part-time workers and volunteers are neither experienced nor qualified. It overlooks the volunteers running my local youth club, most of whom have been there for decades. It misses out the qualified part-time youth workers who are bringing up children, caring for relatives, studying at university, or who prefer part-time work for other reasons. Professionalism does not necessarily relate to payment or number of hours worked.
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