The Education and Training Standards Committee (ETS) is a sub-committee of the National Youth Agency. On this page you will find details of why ETS exists, examples of its work, member information, and contact details for the ETS Officer.
The National Youth Agency (NYA) are the Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) for Youth Work in England. As the PSRB we are responsible for quality assurance and compliance of all Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) recognised programmes in the country from Level 2 to Level 7, and this function is overseen by the Education and Training Standards Committee (ETS).
As a sub-committee of NYA Board of Trustees, the Education and Training Standards Committee is chaired by a member of NYA Board and is supported by the ETS Officer. The current ETS Chair is Breda Leyne, who comes with a wealth of experience in education and training.
“I am delighted to work with the NYA to bring together stakeholders from across Youth Work in England who seek to ensure that there is high quality education and training for youth and community work and to maintain practice standards. There is a strong commitment to support the youth work workforce to achieve high level of skills and experience and to explore new and innovative approaches to professional development.” – Breda Leyne, ETS England Chair
The ETS Committee has three membership categories:
- Representative Members are from organisations within the Youth Work sector who have an interest in the training and education of Youth Workers. Our current Representative Members are – Awarding Bodies Forum; ESB for Community Development; Institute for Youth Work; JNC Employers side; JNC Staff side; Network of Regional Youth Work Units; Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work; UK Youth; Unison; Unite.
- Wider Field Members are individuals from across the Youth Work sector who bring specialist knowledge and experience to the ETS Committee. We currently have wider field work members with specialisms in Christian Youth Work; Rural Youth Work; Community Praxis; Residential Work.
- Co-opted Members are those individuals who bring specific experience or knowledge and can make an additional positive contribution to the role of ETS for a time limited period.
Examples of the work of ETS includes:
- Professional validation of Youth Work degree programmes which are recognised by JNC as professional qualifications in Youth Work
- Along with ETS Wales, setting the assessment standards and required content for Youth Support Worker qualifications at Levels 2 and 3 (recognised by JNC)
- Producing Annual Monitoring Reports on Youth Work qualifications across England as part of a quality assurance process and means of identifying trends in Youth Work training
- Collaborating with sister bodies in other UK jurisdictions on ensuring consistent standards for qualifications
- Reviewing the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work
The ETS Committee is supported by the ETS Officer. If you are interested in becoming a Committee member or would like to know more about the work of ETS you can contact Alia via email: aliap@nya.org.uk
Youth Work
JNC
Validation