What Works? Best Practice in Youth Work

Forums / Main Discussion Forum / What Works? Best Practice in Youth Work

Author	Message
ariana_youthworkers@xtra.co.nz Member	# Posted: 6 Nov 2007 15:02 Reply What works? Best Practice in Youth Work what does this mean to you?
Rod Baxter Member	# Posted: 15 Nov 2007 12:25 Reply LIVE TEST National Council hui 2007 says kia ora
John Harrington Member	# Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:32 Reply This could be a good place start
John Harrington Member	# Posted: 30 Nov 2007 14:22 Reply Best Practice This could be a good place to start this discussion. The 6 principles of the Youth Development Strategy, Aotearoa (YDSA) integrate perfectly into best Youth Work practice. The principles are: Big Picture When Youth Workers work with young people they need to understand the world and context young people live in and how they are impacted and influenced by their world and context eg. Globalisation, media, Government Policy, the community they live in and the context of their Family/Whanau etc. Good youth work practice will work with young people in the context they live in. Good information Good youth work practice will provide quality information to young people. Information in regards to such things as what services are in the community that they can access, where young people can have a say about the things that affect them, who can support them, where they can go to get help. Relationships Good youth work practice will form quality relationships with young people. Relationships that are professional and accountable to the young person/ people, they engage with. In the Youth Worker young person relationship the Youth Worker gives the young person the right to exercise genuine power, make decisions, follow them through and take responsibility for their consequences. Youth Work seeks to tip the balance of power in the young persons favour. The relationship a youth worker forms with a young person is at the heart of Youth Work practice no matter what context youth work is carried out in. A quality Youth Work relationship allows the Youth Worker to empower, support, advocate, challenge and mentor young people they engage with. Strengths based Good youth work practice will engage with young people holistically, supporting young people to reach their potential and allowing them to develop their strengths. Working from a strength based approach the Youth Worker won’t see the young person as a deficit or negative label Eg. an offender, truant, drug/alcohol dependent, troubled, a problem, and at risk. Good youth work practice will challenge when young people are labeled or stereotyped in this way. Connected Good Youth Work Practice will support a young person to stay connected to the 4 key enviros of their life; Family/whanau, Peers, Community, Education/training/employment. Research shows that keeping a young person connected to these four key enviros of their life will help them get through their adolescents relatively smoothly. If the Young person has quality relationships in each of the key areas this is one of the major factors to young people staying connected. Youth Participation Good Youth Work practice will activate the voice of young people and advocate that they are valued and involved as active citizens in their community and country. Youth Workers should challenge the perception that young people are only about our future All of the above principles are as important as each other, they all need to be integrated into our practices to bring about best practice.
Anonymous	# Posted: 16 Apr 2008 12:03 Reply What works best is when Government agencies Collaborate more with NGO's and actually support them! It would appear that often Government works to remove young people from Family/Whanau, Peers, Community, Education/training/employment and NGO's work to return them!

Please Login or Create An Account to post a message to our forum.