News
Publication of the Education Select Committee report into services for young people
28 June 2011
The NYA welcomes the publication of the Education Select Committee report into services for young people. The Committee announced in October last year its intention to conduct an investigation into the provision of out of school services for young people. It had a wide ranging brief covering a number of areas including workforce, volunteering, service provision and how to measure value.
During the evidence gathering period, the sector, including the National Youth Agency, put forward a strong case for the value and importance of youth work to society and the potential damage budget reductions will have on young people’s lives. And we are glad that this is reflected in the Committee’s findings. While we recognise that we face a very difficult economic climate, failure to invest in targeted and preventive services for young people is an economic ticking time bomb.
We endorse the Committee’s conclusion that:
There is little doubt that good youth services can have a transformational effect on young people's lives and can play a vital role both in supporting vulnerable young people and in enriching the lives of others without particular disadvantage
NYA welcomes the recognition by the Committee of the value of, and need to continue to secure, the professional core for youth work as well as the support of the Committee for work being established to explore the potential for and role of an Institute for Youth Work. We believe this work is of significant importance to the sector at this time and will provide a platform from which further debate on the role and place of a license to practise can be explored.
However, whilst we believe the report makes positive strides towards clarifying the difference between 'professionalisation' of youth work and the need for, and contribution made by, a core of professionally educated, trained and qualified workforce we feel it could have gone further.
Without doubt, the invaluable contribution made by non professionally qualified and volunteer workers is vital, but this absolutely needs to be underpinned, guided and developed by and with the support of those with professional qualifications.
We are pleased to see the spotlight placed by the Committee on CPD for the youth workforce. We believe investment in this area would yield clear and beneficial results, and secure standards that will raise confidence and competence within the workforce.
An unquestionable strength of professionally recognised education, training and qualifications for youth work is derived from the determination and continuous monitoring of requirements and standards by professionals at all levels within youth work. Our inclusive peer approach is well respected by other professions, and has served to secure a strong and unequivocally relevant base upon which qualification programmes are built and developed. Of additional and significant value is the plethora of additional and wide ranging qualifications, training and experience that non-professionally qualified members of the workforce bring to their practice. Equally, many programmes, such as those used by The Scouts, are highly valued, and whilst not equivalent to professionally recognised youth work qualifications they have a clear and relevant correlation.
The sector is awash with qualitative and quantitative evidence about the impact youth work has on young people’s lives. The NYA and others have published research of this kind over many years and the In partnership with the Local Government Association for example we recently published the Value of Youth Work, featuring case studies of youth projects around the country. The issue is not about the amount of evidence available, but the way in which it is presented. We therefore support the commitment from Government to deliver an outcomes framework for application across the sector to measure value and impact. The NYA is now working with partners to bring the tools together to create such a system which can be used and recognised by councils and is owned by the sector.