CYP Now - Youth Work in Schools in Wales

In 2013, NYA led a national commission on the role of youth work in a school setting. Its recommendations were picked up by the children’s commissioner for England who recently called for schools to be open at evenings, weekends and holidays, with youth workers in schools.

The children’s commissioner for England recently called for youth workers in schools. Picture: WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobe Stock

This coincides with the new Ofsted school inspection framework (2019) which includes personal development beyond the academic, technical or vocational.

It chimes with the NYA Manifesto for youth work (2019) and its recommendations for two youth workers per school catchment area (2PS) within a team of youth support workers and trained volunteers. This will be taken up as part of the current review of statutory guidance and cited in the NYA Sufficiency Statement.

We can look to learning from Wales and an evaluation undertaken in 2014, when youth work was embedded within schools on a wider scale. This considers benefits to both the young people and the formal education system. The youth work provided is shown to not only develop the personal and social skills of young people, but to help prevent further reduction in attendance and attainment.

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