Start from the street and work your way up

2 July 2009 1 min read Graeme Tiffany Youth Work

It's pretty much accepted that you learn about youth work first and detached work later, as a specialism. As the debate rages about "the future of youth work" and the state of our values, I'd like to suggest we turn that round. What would it look like if we started with detached youth work?

I'm on my way to Quebec this week for the international conference of street educators. In our language, they're detached youth workers, although I'm increasingly disposed to being called a street-based youth worker. I say this because one of the things that has enabled us to engage and help young people, our mobility, is the very thing that has seen us "posted" to an increasingly wide array of settings. No bad thing you might say but, invariably, these settings are institutional in character - the school or the alternative education project, for example. At least with the street we're back in the community, which is where youth work is supposed to be - a place where young people can be free of the demands of both home and the institution.

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