It was difficult to capture the passion with which contributors spoke about young people and their work and to write up the definition in clear English. A lot of workers, especially from Murri or rural/remote communities, said they were completely fed up with “jargon” and many commented on interference from funding bodies or from within their own management which prevented them from working in ways they knew actually worked for young people. Anything from limitations on home visits couched as “OH&S requirements” but interpreted by staff as “checking up on us” to being unable to record extra or different information to the restricted set included in a government constructed data base to having reduced capacity to provide “practical support” (e.g. bus fares, food vouchers, clothes). Some also spoke of deeper concerns – pressure to divulge personal information or break confidentiality with young people, programs which linked young people into involuntary relationships with workers and the subsequent difficulty in developing the sort of working relationship most likely to benefit the young person, restricted service criteria which limited the amount or type of contact young people were able to have with them…

Despite all this, many of the youth workers I listened to impressed me greatly with their determination to keep on working ethically and on acceptable terms to young people, along with their preparedness and ability to think so clearly about what was essential to include in defining their work and sector.

Several years on from this, after massive cuts to youth services by the Queensland NLP government and now the Feds, it is timely to touch base with the definition again. Does it adequately reflect our aspirations as youth workers and for young people? Is there any way of strengthening it to support our remaining NGOs and allies to uphold the qualities, skills and knowledge developed over the past 25+ years which we accept as indispensable in ensuring we can fulfill our purpose: i.e “to resource and support young people who want help to access, navigate and make the best of their life choices.” What can we do as youth workers and what can we request of workers with young people (e.g. diversionary workers, teachers, statutory care workers, etc) to support grass roots youth work? Where do our varied roles intersect and how can we work together to ensure the very things which are most valued by young people about youth work aren’t eroded and replaced by the very things young people mistrust or dislike about other approaches? How can we keep young people in the center of our responses?

I’m looking forward to revisiting the state definition of youth work during workshops at the YANQ conference and considering how it may be used to strengthen support for and understanding of Youth Work across Queensland. And I can’t wait to hear more from Tony Taylor about the UK experience and what we Aussies might be able to learn from this.