ESSENTIAL
SKILLS FOR
YOUTH WORK
PRACTICE
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KATE SAPIN
ESSENTIAL
SKILLS FOR
YOUTH WORK
PRACTICE
2ND EDITION
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Kate Sapin 2013
First edition published 2009
This edition first published 2013
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012939780
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-85702-832-7
ISBN 978-0-85702-833-4 (pbk)
CONTENTS
LIST OF BOXES
LIST OF PRACTICE EXAMPLES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kate Sapin is Programme Director of Community and Youth Work Studies in the School of Education at The University of Manchester, England, where she has worked with others to develop participative programmes of learning about community and youth work since 1985. Her community and youth work experience includes work with young parents, economic migrants and homeless people as well as area and centre-based work, education outreach (IT skills, English language) and campaigns.
AUTHORS NOTES ON THE SECOND EDITION
This second edition of Essential Skills for Youth Work Practice has been hugely supported by positive feedback from youth work practitioners, students and colleagues involved in the professional education of community and youth workers on the first edition. Thank you for your encouragement and ideas, which I have attempted to incorporate into this new version. Since the first edition was published, I have also had the advantage of more experience of work with full-time students who are new to the field. Their perspectives and questions have helped to structure a new chapter that specifically addresses the issues involved in setting up and undertaking fieldwork practice placements (Organising student placements, ). So, thank you! I hope that experienced practitioners will continue to find the book relevant to their thinking, particularly when taking up a new post, as I have also slightly reoriented the early chapters to reflect the first stages of starting work in a new community.
Thank you to the young people and colleagues I have met through youth work practice. Thanks also to past and present course participants, tutors, assessors and supervisors, employers and other colleagues I have worked with on the University of Manchesters community and youth work learning programmes. Your experiences and insights have formed this book. Thanks also to those who contributed to the first edition: Tania de St Croix, Leigh Cook and Amelia Lee.
My love and thanks to family and friends for their encouragement and support, especially Leah Sapin for her helpful comments on the text and Sam Sapin for his assistance with diagrams. Special thanks, too, to Anita Baishnab, Joanna Connor, Alison Healicon, Mary Kenny, Kathy Lawson and Marcella Walsh for keeping me on track.
INTRODUCTION
Youth work, as defined and outlined in Essential Skills for Youth Work Practice, is a form of professional practice with young people that can be carried out by individuals and organisations in a wide range of settings. The distinguishing characteristics are associated with practice, that is, in the ways in which youth workers interact with young people and their communities. Youth workers exercise their power judiciously, approach young people positively and informally, and engage them in enjoyable activities; most importantly, youth work is based on voluntary relationships with young people who choose to participate. Youth work practice involves a commitment to developing relationships based on respect for young people, listening to them and valuing mutual learning. The aim is to involve young people in decisions about issues that affect them, rather than simply to provide information, advice or services. Young people have fun, learn from each other and participate in the design and implementation of activities, projects and services. The intention is not to prescribe methods and outcomes. Although often serving a positive, therapeutic and preventative function for young people and society, youth work attempts to focus on developing opportunities for young people to explore their options and develop their understanding of choices and consequences.
Youth workers might work with young people aged anywhere between six and eighteen years old although many organisations or projects would focus on a more specific age group within that range. Abilities, rates of maturation and circumstances vary widely amongst individuals, but, in general, children below the lower end of the spectrum usually require more supervision of activities and adult intervention than is typically provided by youth workers. Younger children are often less ready to undertake responsibility for social interactions outside of their family or structured environment such as school. Individuals above the upper age range are usually more interested in and ready for adult responsibilities, activities and services. Statutory services in the UK have suggested that youth workers work primarily with young people aged 1319 (National Youth Agency, 2004) although this is by no means universal. The young people who participate are those who enjoy the independent social opportunities provided by youth work. Most youth workers also work with others in the community through volunteer programmes and cross-generational work.
