Students demonstrated varied levels of confidence at this stage in answering the question about youth work values; their answers both reflected generic values in youth work (often drawn from their own experiences in youth work) and evidenced confusion over the broad use of the term values in youth work (and more generally) to encompass values, principles, standards, purposes, outcomes and functions/methods of youth work, as reflected in the uses of the term in youth work literature and the diversity of settings in which youth work is practiced.
In answering this question, Tom and Dani – the two second year students – immediately made reference to the ‘NYA’ (National Youth Agency) standards and ‘Every Child Matters’ (DfES, 2003), a Labour Government policy initiative around children’s and young people’s well-being, both of which they had learned about in their first year of the course. However, they spoke with some reservation about their own understanding of them. Dani began by referencing Every Child Matters (2003), alongside the ‘National Association’ (referring to the National Youth Agency).
Dani: So there’s like, erm, Every Child Matters, and National Association kind of you know… erm .. values, so there’s kind of like valuing them, and listening to them, being an advocate for them, not discriminating, accepting who they are, building up their knowledge, and supporting them, building a team, encouraging their leadership. I think that’s all National Association youth ministry stuff or youth work standards. I think that’s what it’s called, yeah.
Dani: [Laughs] I just should know this after doing a year of youth work. It should be on the flick of …[tails off]
Both referenced a solid mix of elements listed as both ‘values’ and ‘functions’ in the Youth Work National Occupational Standards (NOS) (LSIS, 2012). Dani’s felt pressure to ‘perform well’ and ‘know this’ after a year of youth work, and both her and Tom’s reticence in ‘listing’ the values, was later mirrored by other students in subsequent interviews.
As examples of youth work’s professional values, first year participants offered answers such as: listening, giving young people a voice, being young person centred, supporting them where they are, being empowering and participative, challenging oppressive behaviour; all of which could be mapped onto parts of the NOS values for youth work. Students also gave some answers framed as qualities of a ‘good’ or ‘professional’ youth worker, eg. being someone who was reliable and trustworthy, someone to whom young people could look up to, a good role model; again, evidencing that their conception of youth work was not only a function of work, but was ‘relational’, and involved the personhood of the worker, particularly as a person of integrity and virtue. This is not unusual in the Christian circles in which these students moved and the confessional and formational nature of the college at which they were studying. The students linked these understandings to their own positive and negative experiences of youth work, both as workers and young participants; demonstrating some prior ability to reflect on, critically evaluate and learn from experience.
Cate began by stating ‘one [value] is to kind of go on a journey with a young person’ and talked about the importance of listening. She followed this with a nuanced statement about the kind of ‘detachment’ a professional youth worker might be able to offer a young person.
[Young people] have got so many different figures or different people who have different roles in their life, to be another person that they can go to and understand that you’ve not got any attachment to them, …. that you’re just interested in them and listening to them, rather than - because it doesn’t show anything about you if - I don’t know, I know what I mean but I can’t explain it. I think, as an example, sometimes young people will maybe pick up from a teacher if they do bad or good that it’s a reflection on the teacher, so they might not always feel open to them, but as a youth worker you’re away from that, in a way. Cate, Interview 1
Samuel talked about work being ‘centred around the young person, not specifically what you
training in social care to discuss the idea of ‘reading behind’ a young person’s challenging behaviour;
So how he presents with his behaviour – I’m being a bit clinical now – he’s, I thought “He’s rude and x, y and z” but behind that he might be saying “Samuel, I need some space, or this has happened to me.... I know it’s not right but this is how I express myself. Can you see where I’m coming from? Will you give me a bit of time to engage?” And that means sometimes you have to step out of your own box to see that which is very challenging for you as well. Samuel, Interview 1
Laura said she had learned about empowerment as a youth work value through reading
Informal Education (Jeffs & Smith, 2005), in which various values in youth work are discussed.
However, empowerment was the only value Laura recalled, perhaps as a result of her personal struggle with it.
The one that’s coming into my head is empowering young people, because when I first came across that as a youth work value - I was reading a book on informal education - I wasn’t quite sure what that meant or whether that was a value I should hold, or… I think that was a confusing one for me to start off with…… I think at the time it was maybe in a context of other people shouldn’t be deciding for young people what’s good for them and that was a difficult dilemma for me, because part of me wanted to say “but what if I do know what’s better for that young person than them?”. Erm, and .. yeah, so, that was quite a difficult one. At the same time, now I realise it’s of much more value for the person to arrive at that point where they are empowered than it is for you to make decisions for them. But that took a lot of thinking. Laura, Interview 1
When asked about other values she had learned about, she replied:
Youth work values? Again, similar things to some of my values about equal opportunities and things like that….. Erm… ah… [pause] I really don’t know. I think I’ve looked a lot at the kind of sheet of youth work values and that’s been interesting, just going through it and seeing what that says, but I can’t remember any more of those [Laughs]. I’m not sure really. Laura, Interview 1
Jamie had learned about participation through an Open College Network course he had undertaken on his year out.
Well, participation would be a massive one and kind of inclusion. That was something that was drilled into me. It’s like pretty much the only thing I can remember from my year out because we did an introduction to youth work course, which was like equivalent to a GCSE. I’m just like, trying to think of the words, like I’ve always been the
person who will kind of try and notice like the people on the fringes and try and bring them in. Jamie, Interview 1
What is interesting in each case is that students remembered or spoke about youth work values that had a particular personal resonance with them, as Laura and Jamie demonstrated above. Cate and Samuel also evidenced this: Cate described youth work as a journey between worker and young person four times in her first interview, in answers to three different questions, and she re-iterated it at the end of the interview; and Samuel talked about the youth work values of non-oppression and liberation – themes from his personal values, which connect with youth work.
In summary, the second year students appeared eager to evidence the college teaching about professional values, by making reference to the NYA, Youth Work NOS and other policy documents, but struggled to expand further on them with coherence. Connected to this, Dani specifically expressed her feeling of ‘pressure to know’ and perform appropriately as a ‘professional’, even at this early stage of the interview process. All the values mentioned by the students as youth work values were consonant with those listed in the Youth Work NOS, although not expressed in the way outlined in the NOS; some students had learned these values through reading or training, others had assimilated them through practice and reflection on practice. The youth work values cited in almost all cases had a personal resonance with the participants – either because they particularly struggled to assent to them or enact them; or because they reflected values that the participants already strongly held themselves.