I’ll resist sliding into what seems the standard ‘youth sector’ account of anything it does, namely somehow that it’s always overwhelmingly new, innovative and inspiring. My caution aside the reports from the medley of ‘Is the tide turning’ events and discussions held in the last week or so do give grounds for a measure of hope and optimism. Here are a few quotes and photos to back up a collective sense that the struggle to reclaim and reimagine a youth work freed from the shackles of neoliberal dogma is alive and even flourishing.

A great IDYW Turning the Tide Event hosted by the D2N2 Youth Work Alliance at the University of Derby today. Over 65 practitioners and youth work students in attendance. A constructive discussion took place about the political responsibility for valuing young people and professional youth work… ideas for what youth work needs to address and look like in the future.

Is The Tide Turning? Event in Birmingham today. Should Youth Work be statutory is a question being asked a lot at the moment!

Thank you In Defence of Youth Work and to Bernard Davies who led our discussions on the future of youth work. Brilliant to get together and imagine what we want from the future. We’re inspired and motivated to make it happen. The young people enjoyed it and said they were proud to contribute to making change happen 😃

At this moment we are in the middle of receiving feedback from events/workshops in Brighton, Cardiff, Cumbria, Derby, Doncaster, London, Northampton and Manchester. The task now is to draft a discussion paper based on the rich range of material emerging from the gatherings. Given that the Christmas midwinter break is relatively close we’ll aim to circulate this early in the New Year. From there all being well we’d like to put what we might call a position paper to our national conference on March 9 in Birmingham.

In the meantime, we must pay tribute to everyone for their part in making happen the ‘Is the tide turning’ debate. Thanks collectively for raising all our spirits.