Youth Work - Jobs and training trends

Senior youth work lecturers were this week due to meet with heads of youth services to hammer out the future of youth work training and qualifications.

The Confederation of Heads of Young People's Services (Chyps) is holding the meeting with TAG, the Professional Association for Lecturers in Youth and Community Work. "We are having a seminar about youth work training now and in the future," says Chyps chief executive David Wright. "The traditional structures around youth work training are breaking down."

In the past few years, a number of youth work courses have closed, leading to concerns that youth work qualifications are becoming increasingly marginalised. The University of East London (UEL), for example, is shutting its two youth work undergraduate degrees, although it will retain its postgraduate youth work courses. However, data from the National Youth Agency (NYA) shows that last year there was actually a slight increase in the number of validated undergraduate degrees in youth and community work, bringing the number up to 36. The number of postgraduate programmes has remained static at 21. Fiona Blacke, chief executive of the National Youth Agency, says: "In recent years, there has been a lot of anxiety from the youth work sector, but our figures indicate the sector is evolving, rather than simply shrinking."

Changing trends

Youth work training is adapting to changing employment trends. According to the NYA, the proportion of students going into voluntary sector youth work has risen over the past year from 26 per cent to 33 per cent, while only 16 per cent go into the statutory youth service and five per cent into integrated youth support teams.

"The workplace is changing and the best higher education institutions are preparing students for a diverse range of employment opportunities," says Blacke. "Gone is the traditional route of a job with the council - students are more likely to find work with a local enterprise, in hospitals, in schools and in youth offending. This is also reflected by some of the modules students now study, which may include entrepreneurial aspects such as setting up a social enterprise."

Training standards were traditionally upheld by the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for youth and community workers. Since fewer youth workers are nowadays employed under JNC salary scales, Chyps's Wright believes the sector must decide how to preserve youth work standards and values in training and qualifications. "We have to have some vigour and urgency," he says.

UEL senior lecturer Tracie Trimmer-Platman says communication, leadership and management are key areas youth work courses must cover. "We felt we really needed modules around communication, especially in relation to counselling skills," she says. "Youth workers also need to learn how to communicate in a professional forum, to articulate what they are doing. And we need to be competent in fundraising and tendering."

Youth work specialist YMCA George Williams College aims to meet the need for leadership development with the launch of a postgraduate degree in Reflective Leadership and Management, starting in September. The college has opened a Centre for Reflective Leadership (http://yleadership.org/) offering MA-level short courses, seminars and opportunities for continuous professional development, an annual leadership retreat and leadership hubs nationwide where members of the centre can train, share practice and find support.

It has also launched an undergraduate degree in Social Pedagogy, which college principal and chief executive Maxine Green believes is "one of the new metamorphoses of youth work". The degree enables graduates to take youth work skills and informal education into a range of settings such as housing, the criminal justice system, schools and hospitals.

Many youth workers are concerned that when a role involves elements of youth work and social care, employers place a premium on social care qualifications.

Collette Cork-Hurst, national officer at union Unite, says that while course content may be evolving, some things must be preserved. "It continues to be important that youth work training is based on what we believe is the most positive basis of a youth service, which is a close partnership between local authorities and voluntary and community organisations, and a blend of universal and targeted services," she says.

Although the number of degree courses is on the rise, the number of students recruited onto youth work programmes is at a six-year low, according to the NYA, as is the number of students the courses aimed to attract. In 2007, universities set a target of 1,398 students and recruited 1,380 (99 per cent of the target); in 2013, the target was 824 and only 728 students were recruited (88 per cent). The percentage of students completing their courses has increased slightly from last year.

Student grants

The NYA has launched the Youth Work Foundation to raise funds and distribute them as grants to students. The foundation currently holds £40,000 in trust and aims to distribute this in the form of 10 scholarships of £2,000 each and up to 100 bursaries of £100. Scholarships will focus on encouraging academic achievement and bursaries on supporting disadvantaged students. Foundation chair Michael Bracey says: "After agreeing the format the awards will take, we are working on our online application portal and expect this to be ready by the end of the year."

While the sector works to ensure youth work training has relevance to students and employers alike, Trimmer-Platman has a more radical suggestion - a complete rebranding of youth work and youth work training. "I don't think people are interested in youth work any more," she says. "Perhaps we need to change the name, become something else, with all the principles and ethos that youth work has - 'youth work' is never going to get us where we want to be."

Blacke says: "The challenge for universities is to stay ahead of the game to ensure students are equipped for the changing employment market. My hope is that when mainstream youth work has its inevitable renaissance, there will be the workers and training that can make it happen."