So why was this study commissioned?
Support for youth work has often suffered because of the difficulty of pointing to a happy, emotionally literate, empowered active citizen and saying "look, youth work did that". Today's funding regimes want evidence, and the good people at the Department for Education and Skills wanted something they could produce when Treasury officials concerned with spending reviews turned their beady eyes on youth work.
Excellent. So what have they got?
Researchers were asked to "identify and explain" the impact of youth work in England. So they looked at documentary evidence from about a third of all local youth services plus a review of The National Youth Agency's audit data. Then they did reviews of 15 youth services, drawing on the testimony of young people, workers, managers and partner organisations. Some 880 people were interviewed. Then there were 30 detailed case studies of projects chosen to reflect the spread of current practice and a self-administered survey of some 630 young people focusing on what impact they felt youth work had had on them.
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
