The voluntary engagement of young people with youth workers is an expression of a unique contract that ensures the state provides professionals to enhance young people's voice, opportunities and education.
This is done outside of school and work, and on terms young people define. It is in leisure time, but not a leisure activity. It educates for social cohesion and democracy. It is the epitome of commitment to Big Society.
Relationship building, often undertaken through conversation and apparently unstructured events, is a proven way of advancing social engagement.
Inequality has broken many of our communities and the victims of the lack of hope have been young people. Social bonds have been evaporated in the culture of individualism encouraged by political and economic trends. A dysfunctional, greed-based economy leads to a dysfunctional society.
A spiral of decline has developed in young people's services with the chase for child protection consuming more resources from smaller budgets as social conditions worsen. Instead of professional specialisms, the worse integrated services have blended a variety of roles in a gruel of generic interventions. Some multi-disciplinary teams run without professional disciplines. Young people in some areas are getting neither protection, nor education.
A culture of fear prevails, and as the threat of cuts looms, real cuts in essential services occur daily before the storm begins. Managers need to stand up, defy the orders to reduce services and guard against the frightening zombie mentality that is creeping in. You can't just blame government if you are complicit in the decline.
In 1961, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan responded to demands of the union and the voluntary sector to create the modern youth service and Joint Negotiating Committee terms and conditions. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher tried to crush the service and rejected the Thompson Report that crystalised post-1961 progress. Then, under New Labour Tony Blair brought in bright young things who believed in learning beyond the classroom, but distrusted youth work with its unbreakable roots in working class communities.
Despite the efforts of various governments, youth work remains strong, and, as Ofsted has shown, it is improving. Whether the latest government can build on proven, cost-effective success remains to be seen.
Doug Nicholls, national officer for community and youth workers, Unite.
