Youth workers invariably overlook the detail

In Norway, there has been exploration of the "romantic ethic" in detached work that allegedly tries to keep the realities of practice concealed from external scrutiny on the grounds that it is almost impossible for the outsider to understand. In the Netherlands, researchers are tracking youth workers to observe their engagement with young people and then asking them how and why they have behaved in that way. When youth workers speak or write about their work, how can we be sure that this is what they practice?

All this comes to mind on an annual basis when I work as an external examiner for professional qualifying courses in youth and community work. My role is to read the assignments and to consider the general academic quality of student performance. Another external examiner colleague takes the lead responsibility for the fieldwork elements of the course. Over the years, they have often commented that while most of the recordings made by students of their actual practice are "reflective" and well written, they rarely get down to the detail. In other words, general objectives framed in reference to prevailing theories and acronyms informing "good practice" were well mapped out. But concrete practicalities were hardly ever discussed, and there were few specifics about the reactions and perspectives expressed by young people themselves.