A chance to create a strong youth work sector

It was the previous spate of shootings at Dunblane that led directly to the earlier alliance between youth work organisations across the four nations of the UK. On both occasions, the anticipated threat to youth work on account of non-believers in government and funding restraint has been the catalyst.

It was the UK Youth Work Alliance that produced the landmark document Agenda for a Generation — a generation ago. Like the Youth Work Sector Expert Group, it was composed of the national umbrella bodies for the statutory and voluntary sectors, representative youth organisations, youth work managers and trade union representatives. And like the latest expert group, it sought to create a high-profile debate around youth work.

Although the UK Youth Work Alliance plodded on, it soon lost focus and direction. Old divisions within the youth work sector resurfaced. This is the rub. Only when times are very hard are alliances forged and formed. As soon as there is light at the end of the tunnel, the in-fighting over resources, political access and support, base philosophy and strategic objectives resumes.

In the previous alliance, there even had to be some compromise over the term "youth work". Scotland had "community education", not youth work, and this fact had to be accommodated.

The National Youth Agency (NYA) commendably led on both the production and publication of Agenda for a Generation. But even that didn't stop the incoming Labour government denigrating youth work and its first youth minister disparaging the youth service as the "can't do, won't do" service. Let's hope this "alignment of the planets", as the NYA described the new alliance last week, does not get eclipsed.

Howard Williamson is professor of European youth policy at the University of Glamorgan