As I was driving to meet young people in Southend the other day, I was pondering the success of accreditation schemes in youth work. I know that accreditation is one of the key Resourcing Excellent Youth Services targets for youth services, and I would never dispute that achievements should be properly recognised. My only question is: do young people actually value the plethora of awards suddenly available to them through youth clubs?
Do opportunities such as AQAs, OCNs and Duke of Edinburgh's Awards really mean anything? Or are they just pieces of paper to be shoved in a drawer and forgotten? My hope is that the incentive of gaining a highly respected award inspires young people and creates achievement opportunities outside of formal education. Certainly, this fits with the Every Child Matters outcome to "Enjoy and Achieve". But might it be the case that for some, accreditation has had the reverse effect? Could they have been deterred from even coming through the youth club door in case a well-meaning youth worker tries to make them "work towards something?
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