Universal and targeted armies wage war
Howard Williamson
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
I was asked the other day where I stood on striking the balance between universal and targeted provision in youth work. I smiled at the juxtaposition. Such a stark division has caused a lot of argument, heartache and grief at ideological and political levels, and in policy and practice. It allows for the drawing up of battle lines: on the one side, those advocating value for money and reaching those somehow objectively assessed as most "in need", on the other, those espousing open doors, thus enabling responsiveness to all forms of "need" as subjectively expressed.
Those battle lines have attracted their generals and foot soldiers: Connexions and youth justice on one side, youth work and other youth services on the other. Youth justice has set out its stall on the basis of a range of targeted prevention programmes and, through the Aiming High youth strategy, we now have the emergence of something called targeted youth support. On account of these developments, the opposing camp appears to be losing ground with some of its members.
But do things have to be so polarised? It was, of course, the Connexions service that cleverly conjured up the memorable strapline "a universal service differentiated according to need". Others have talked of "progressive universalism". I favour the latter concept. It may often be no more than rhetoric, but it contains an important signpost for practice. Good open youth work has always worked in this way, though its capacity to continue doing so has become increasingly squeezed because of managerial and bureaucratic controls.
Any youth worker knows that when you open the youth club door or develop a project, you will slowly learn about the range of "needs" facing and affecting the young people who attend. This produces both proactive and reactive practice. There will be times when some individuals require a huge investment of time and support over a short period - in relation to friends, family, school, the police, or something else, or all of these things. There will be other young people who want and need additional attention and support over a much longer period - and good youth workers will provide this in response to particular requests.
I do not take issue with some forms of targeted intervention in the lives of young people. And I can understand the reservations about some kind of bland universalism. But effective practice, based on universal principles of access and inclusion, has always differentiated the support it provides according to the different needs of the young people with whom contact is made.
- Howard Williamson is professor of European youth policy at the University of Glamorgan, and a member of the Youth Justice Board. Email howard.williamson@haymarket.com.
