"The temperament of a Northern Irish person is to say, 'it looks like rain'," explains the chief executive of The National Youth Agency (NYA), who was brought up a Quaker. "Youth workers can be a bit like that too."
As he points out, practitioners were similarly worried when Connexions came along. However, four years on, they're still working with young people pretty much as before.
Wylie, who joined The NYA in 1996 from education watchdog Ofsted, where he was assistant director of inspection, isn't sure there is such a thing as a "traditional" youth service. "The service has always changed to reflect its environment," he says. "But there has been a form of work with young people since the launch of the YMCA in 1844, and those values and methods will continue."
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