A pretty easy to answer question- isnt it? However, I was asked to do a 5 minute presentation on this question and could have probably expanded it to a 150 credit module length of study. I imagine, knowing what the point of youthwork is worth knowing so we know how to justify it and plead for its continuation. Here is what I think the point of youthwork is:

Youthwork is about young people, first and foremost, it makes it different from school, from social services and other institutions as young people are and should be placed first and foremost as the point for and at which the activity exists.

As a definition I would say that youthwork is a professional relationship with a young person who is the primary contributor in their social context.

Youthwork as a philosophy is geared towards and biased towards young people, being with them, not just for them, and has young peoples education, welfare and community as its core. Youthwork is about developing positive purposeful relationships between young people and adults, and learn, and create opportunities through these relationships.

Youthwork exists within the local community as it is affected by it, as young people learn to use, accept or reject the resources in their community, as youthworkers our role is to help young people navigate through these choices and also remove barriers that prevent them from participation.

The point of youthwork is to believe in young people and to work with them to use their gifts and accomplish dreams they may have for themselves and their local community.

1. Youthwork is about values – empowerment, inclusion, participation, valuing young people
2. Builds on what is already – turning open activity sessions in young person led and developed spaces of participation and empowerment
3. Youthwork opens the opportunities for young people and their participation, from attenders and deciders to creators (and challenging the barriers that prevent this)
4. Youthwork trusts young people and raises their game to take risks
5. Youthwork is a place of fun, social relationships and creativity.
6. Youthwork creates a safe space, a home for young people, where they can belong.
7. Youthwork values young people individuals and groups in their community
8. Youthwork challenges the narratives about young people and is inherently political
9. Youthwork recognises that young people have needs, but focus on their gifts and positives in order to overcome them
10. Youthwork creates a space for innovation and improvisation
11. Youthwork is a space to help young people reflect on their place in the world and contribute within it
12. Youthwork is also what people who do youthwork say that it is, it is an ongoing conversation. It continues and is future orientated.

The point of youthwork is that it strategises from the point of contact, it involves young people and believes in them to be better than what they may have been told about themselves. Youthwork changes young people, it changes all of us in the encounters we have.

You will notice a variety of influences here, from Howard Sercombe, Kerry Young, Jeffs and Smith, Goetchius and Tash, all deep thinkers and practitioners who have shaped the conversation so far and it’s our job to keep the conversation going. And help the conversation about young people be integral to other agencies and institutions.

What do you think – what’s the point of youth work?

See much more at James’s blog – Learning from the Streets