The National Youth Agency - Youth work and youth services improving young people's lives

Youth work and youth services improving young people's lives - 7.Jan.2008

Youth work and youth services are making a major contribution to improving the lives of children and young people according to information released by Ofsted, the office for standards in education.

Ofsted has published its 2007 Annual Performance Assessment (APA) letters which reveal an encouraging number of positive references to the role of youth work and youth services. Seventy-two per cent (90) of the 125 letters published make reference to the youth service and indicate that services are contributing to all five of the Every Child Matters outcomes for young people – being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and experiencing economic wellbeing. Youth services are particularly strong in helping young people to be healthy, make a positive contribution and achieve economic wellbeing.

A quarter of the letters (30) report that the number of young people in contact with the youth service has either reached or exceeded the national targets. In Haringey the participation rate has doubled to 58 per cent, Tameside reached 60 per cent, which represents 12,900 young people, and Plymouth reached almost 70 per cent.

Fiona Blacke, Chief Executive of The National Youth Agency, praised the efforts of all local authorities mentioned in the APA letters. ‘This is encouraging news’, she said. ‘The fact that almost three-quarters of local authority youth services are demonstrably contributing to the five Every Child Matters outcomes is clear recognition that youth work has the potential to be at the very heart of services for young people.

‘Youth service engagement with young people goes beyond health education, work on gang culture and personal, social and emotional development though. It also provides clear learning opportunities, particularly for those young people whom the formal education sector does not reach.’

‘The key lesson for all of us involved in the sector is to look at what is happening in those local authorities exceeding national targets so that the learning can be shared and replicated. The goal remains 100 per cent and The National Youth Agency remains keen to work with local authorities to help them achieve this figure and realise this ambition.’

A summary of some of the contributions youth work is making in local settings is on The NYA website at http://www.nya.org.uk/

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Notes to news editor

1. Annual Performance Assessments (APAs) assess a local authority’s contribution to improving the lives of children and young people through its education and social care functions, and cover other services such as health and youth justice provided by partner agencies. Annual Performance Assessments are linked with Joint Area Reviews to form an integrated approach. Judgments are made on the overall contribution of the local council’s children’s services to the five Every Child Matters outcomes for children and young people.

2. The National Youth Agency (NYA) supports those involved in young people's personal and social development and works to enable all young people to fulfil their potential within a just society. For more information, please visit The NYA’s website at www.nya.org.uk

For more information contact Andy Hopkinson, Head of Media Services, The National Youth Agency, Eastgate House, 19–23 Humberstone Road, Leicester LE5 3GJ. Tel: 0116 242 7480. E-mail: Andy Hopkinson, Head of Media Services.